Loving the Baritone Tone

lambchop

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Getting my friend's vintage Harmony Baritone has got me hooked on these amazing instruments. I still have my friends on loan, and I am amazed at how good that Harmony sounds. I never expected it, but wow.

It's a 40s-50s model and it just has amazing depth, lots of tone from the soundhole yet the highs are very clear - not muddy at all. I am playing hi-D by using two sets of D'Addario Pro Arte classical strings and using one high e as the high d string and the other high e as the usual high e. That way I get a nice all nylon set when adding the G and B strings. Here's an example of it:



It sounds even better in person. I hope, hope, hope my friend will let me buy it from her - she's the original owner but has no sentimental attachment to it so maybe....

Now when I play tenor I really notice the lack of volume, but, of course I still love it. But this is a nice change of pace, ncie to be able to play a little lower.

Mike
 
Yep, bout all I touch anymore are my baris and sopranos. Right now I'm working through my songbook trying to get them all into "muscle memory" in the same key on both ukes so I don't screw up and inadvertently mix keys like happened to me two Sundays ago. Lol
 
Yep, bout all I touch anymore are my baris and sopranos. Right now I'm working through my songbook trying to get them all into "muscle memory" in the same key on both ukes so I don't screw up and inadvertently mix keys like happened to me two Sundays ago. Lol

I'm being kind of dangerous in that I am transposing everything down those 5 half steps and still thinking of the chords in gCEA tuning. It works and my voice works a bit better with it, but I really have got to think about what chords I am actually playing, save for the "D" of course which now looks again like the good old first-position "D" I've know and loved for 35 years! Take care. Mike
 
Yep, bout all I touch anymore are my baris and sopranos. Right now I'm working through my songbook trying to get them all into "muscle memory" in the same key on both ukes so I don't screw up and inadvertently mix keys like happened to me two Sundays ago. Lol

Hmmm. This makes me think maybe I should buy a Martin vintage Barry first instead of a tenor. I love sopranos and and want to try a different scale and want it to be really a contrast. Clean Martin Barrys are a few hundred bucks cheaper than clean tenors. Do you re-entrant tune yours, or stick with tradition?
 
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Hmmm. This makes me think maybe I should buy a Martin vintage Barry first instead of a tenor. I love sopranos and and want to try a different scale and want it to be really a contrast. Clean Martin Barrys are a few hundred bucks cheaper than clean tenors. Do you re-entrant tune yours, or stick with tradition?

Brother pdx, I slapped some Southcoast High Tension strings tuned dGBE (re-entrant) on my Pohaku bari, as recommended to me by DrBekken, and it is awesome awesome awesome! The familiar re-entrant sound, but lower and growlier, and just downright bluesy and off the hook.

Here's the man himself playing the re-entrant Souths:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FMgv1jBc6Eg

But, keep in mind, we've all thrown you tons of concerted effort finding tenors for you in the other thread, so, pretty much, you can't step down to the lowly Martin bari now or you'd flame us. :p
 
Brother pdx, I slapped some Southcoast High Tension strings tuned dGBE (re-entrant) on my Pohaku bari, as recommended to me by DrBekken, and it is awesome awesome awesome! The familiar re-entrant sound, but lower and growlier, and just downright bluesy and off the hook.

Here's the man himself playing the re-entrant Souths:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FMgv1jBc6Eg

But, keep in mind, we've all thrown you tons of concerted effort finding tenors for you in the other thread, so, pretty much, you can't step down to the lowly Martin bari now or you'd flame us. :p

There is nothing ever lowly about ANY vintage Martin! :)

And wow--- love the Doc and the Southcoasts!
 
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Wow, I can get used that reentrant sound...only if I had the money....already spent my uke funds this year......ok, this month
 
I wish I hadn't read this thread. I should be spending my money on diapers and milk.
 
Brother pdx, I slapped some Southcoast High Tension strings tuned dGBE (re-entrant) on my Pohaku bari, as recommended to me by DrBekken, and it is awesome awesome awesome! The familiar re-entrant sound, but lower and growlier, and just downright bluesy and off the hook.

Here's the man himself playing the re-entrant Souths:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FMgv1jBc6Eg

But, keep in mind, we've all thrown you tons of concerted effort finding tenors for you in the other thread, so, pretty much, you can't step down to the lowly Martin bari now or you'd flame us. :p

Great video, thanks for posting. Just "won" a "Stadium" baritone ukulele on Ebay - may very well be the same kind of baritone as this "Richwood" as it is the exact same style and I was reading that these were manufactured by "no one really knows" under many different names. I'll have to get some of these strings for it.
 
Hmmm. This makes me think maybe I should buy a Martin vintage Barry first instead of a tenor. I love sopranos and and want to try a different scale and want it to be really a contrast. Clean Martin Barrys are a few hundred bucks cheaper than clean tenors. Do you re-entrant tune yours, or stick with tradition?

I've currently got one of each. My Pono is strung traditional and I just today put my Mainland back to reentrant, all plain fluorocarbon (I had a low D on it for a while because I wanted to compare the Pono and Mainland with similar strings). My goal is to add a Koa bari and use that one for reentrant tuning.

Curiously, I was just checking the humidifiers in all my cases and pulled out one of the tenors to play for a little bit. I realized that I really do like the tenor scale - but the sound doesn't grab me the way a soprano or bari does. I may have to try a soprano body with tenor scale in spite of how awkward they look. I have a couple of longneck sopranos and love them but the fretboards are as narrow as a soprano and I'm finding that since I've started doing a lot of pattern picking and such that I really wish the neck was wider.

In any case, I guess I'll probably be keeping my tenors (I'd been planning to sell them) since I really do like the fretboard better than soprano or longneck soprano.

John
 
Man, I've got a 1950's Harmony Baritone as well, and it's a great sounding uke. Of course, your playing makes it sound great! I was on a two-year search for an affordable Harmony Baritone, and finally found one for $25 that needed a neck reset. More than worth it. Thanks for sharing the sound of yours. Now I want to go home and play mine.

Dan
 
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