Southcoast DGBE Baritone Strings with Wound Low G

Dirk sent me a new set to try out. Here is his description: "Key of G - high D & wound 3rd string (d' -g - b - e'). That's basically our Heavy Gauge set with a wound 3rd instead of the standard plain 3rd." Put another way, it's "My Dog Has Fleas" in G instead of C.

These went on my mahogany Pono Baritone, which was strung with the Southcoast linear set and was not quite measuring up in comparison with a Kamaka baritone with the same strings. The Pono needed something different and I'm very pleased with the new set after letting them settle in for a week or so. The sound is very rich and clear and is nothing like any other ukulele in the stable. Here is a sample:

http://soundcloud.com/saltytri/sbc

Dirk tells me that this may be in his lineup soon and it is certainly worth a try for baritone players looking for a unique sound in the key of G.

Re entrent tuning is G is is what I always have mine at David..sweeeeet.....yup southcoast strings are the way to go too....Dirks awesome and a knowledgeable guy...

Mahalo for that info. BTW, how's the Redwood/rosewood doing? lol.........................BO......................

808boy said:

Mahalo for that info. BTW, how's the Redwood/rosewood doing? lol.........................BO......................

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It's hitting the road with me tomorrow to visit Brad.

mm stan said:

Re entrent tuning is G is is what I always have mine at David..sweeeeet.....yup southcoast strings are the way to go too....Dirks awesome and a knowledgeable guy...

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Yep, Stan, I agree. And this instrument now sounds like a million bucks. What's not to like?

Aloha

I play a Pono bari with re-entrant D and want to replace the strings, but not with wound strings, just smooth... I have low-D wound sets on other baris, BTW...

You might want to contact Dirk. Chances are he will have a solution for you.

ichadwick said:

I play a Pono bari with re-entrant D and want to replace the strings, but not with wound strings, just smooth... I have low-D wound sets on other baris, BTW...

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Call Dirk at Southcoast. I have an unwound set on my Pono and it sounds great.

Hello all,

We've had our standard Heavy Gauge set for 5 years now - that one has no wound strings, and will give you d' -g - b - e' @ 20". The set with the wound 3rd will be offered in addition to the plain set - we'll be adding it on the new website.

Thanks, David, for taking it for a spin (he plays nice, huh?). This was actually the original Tenor tuning, abandoned after time because the feeling was it was too low for a Tenor. On a Baritone - well, you hear it for yourself.

This setup is definitely a keeper!

Do I have to sign up for Soundcloud? I can never get it to play.

The Southcoast reentrant heavy gauge unwound set is fantastic. I might keep my baritone after all.

PhilUSAFRet said:

Do I have to sign up for Soundcloud? I can never get it to play.

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I used it for the first time to do this sample and it was easy to sign up. So I'd say try signing up and see how it goes. It was recommended by eugene ukulele and he pretty much knows his way around this sort of thing so my assumption is that it is a workable service.

ichadwick said:

I play a Pono bari with re-entrant D and want to replace the strings, but not with wound strings, just smooth... I have low-D wound sets on other baris, BTW...

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I've got Ken Middleton's Living Water Strings on my Pono Baritone and they sound fantastic. I am going to try the Southcoast's next

Just got back from a little trip and am about to hunker down for a hurricane - wanted to add a little something here before things get - well, you never know exactly how they're going to get.

At any rate, often when choosing between a set with wound strings or a plain set, there's "what we want" and "what the ukulele wants". Sometimes the ukulele won't like our choices.

We've built the plain string Heavy Gauge set for quite some time, and on our Baritones, nothing else was needed. Then again ours are built waaaaaay lighter than a standard Baritone - more like typical Ukuleles. Standard Baritones, on the other hand, are typically the heaviest construction that can be found on a 4-string instrument made for classical strings. So while one reason we're adding a wound 3rd option is because some people will simply like more "bottom end", no matter what the circumstances, in other cases a heavily built Baritone will often benefit from the extra power.

If you ever try this tuning with a plain set and find it a little low on projection, don't give up until you try the wound string option. A top quality polished wound string has a beautiful sonority with good durability and very little squeak or metallic sound. A properly selected single wound 3rd should also not suffer from the "out of place" sound that typically occurs with a single wound 4th.

And now comes wind & water!