Do I want a tenor with low g or baritone?

hey_day

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I currently have two tenors, one low g one in high g. I'm selling the low g and looking to replace it. I'm a guitarist and love having the low g sitting around and a high g. Instead of buying another to string low g should I just get a baritone? I use low g mostly for finger style and use my high g for strumming.
 
I have both a baritone and a low g tenor. A baritone is not the equivalent of a low g tenor, so there are factors to consider that you haven't mentioned. For example, a baritone has a longer scale and a larger body. You're a guitarist, so maybe you want something bigger than a tenor. In addition, you can tune a baritone GCEA, like a tenor, but they're generally tuned DGBE, like tjhe lower four strings of a guitar. If tuned GCEA, a baritone may still have a deeper voice because of the longescale and the bigger body, and when it's tuned DGBE, it will have also a lower voice because it's tuned in a lower key. So, do you want the longer scale, bigger body and the lower voice in GCEA tuning? Do you want DGBE tuning?
 
As a guitarist myself, I find the baritone uke to be too much like a guitar. It just feels redundant to me to own a guitar and a baritone uke. I'd rather spend my money on an instrument that is less like something I already own.
But that's just me. YMMV.
 
Thanks for the response, j-peg part of the concern is I want it to be a ukulele not a small guitar.
 
Here's a thought.

Get a baritone uke, and tune it DGBE. With a capo on the fifth fret, and it becomes GCEA with a low G.

Two for the price of one! ;)
 
I have two, and they sound great. I suppose with a deeper tone, in a linear tuning, it sounds more like a guitar than a tenor uke does, but they still sound like a uke to me.

If you tune it high re-entrant DGBE, it will sound nothing like a guitar (but also won't sound like the low G tenor you had).

You can tune them low G (linear) GCEA, high D (re-entrant) DGBE, linear key of A, linear key of Bb, key of D like a cuatro (low re-entrant)...

They are much more flexible than a tenor. The only disadvantages I can see are:

deeper voice (if you don't want a deeper voice)
greater stretch between frets (if you have small hands)
not quite as ultra-portable

I had a tenor, and while I liked it, am now really happy with the baritone.

Thanks for the response, j-peg part of the concern is I want it to be a ukulele not a small guitar.
 
To me (just my opinion), an ukulele is a re-entrant instrument, a guitar has six strings and a baritone uke is perfectly half way between. If I could only have two ukes, I'd have a tenor tuned high G and my Bari strung low g just like it is now (tuned to C with Southcoast linear non-wound strings). My bari is my only linear tuned uke and with the bigger body it has a beautiful rich tone and sounds like a completely different instrument to my smaller ukes and different again to my guitar. I reckon the bari is perfect for fingerstyle, and I use my re-entrant ukes much more for strumming. My vote is for baritone!
 
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