Different Stringing When Owning Multiple Ukes of Same Size or All the Same?

Ukulele Eddie

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I am currently a newbie and one uke owner (tenor, gCEA). I'm curious for those who own multiple ukes in the same size, do you tend to stick with one stringing (e.g., all gCEA) or do you maybe do one in your non-dominant style (e.g., one GCEA if you tend to favor gCEA or vice-versa)?

I have played with some strung GCEA at the music shop I frequent (McCabe's in Santa Monica) and know I will be adding a few more tenor ukes over the coming years. I have yet to develop the same appreciation for low G as I have for high G, but rationally, it makes sense to me to have one strung GCEA.

But I wondered what others tend to do?

Regards, Eddie
 
I have several ukes and some are tuned with high-g and others have low-g.
I also play with non-standard tunings like G-C-Eb-A or G-C-Eb-Ab, for example, just to noodle around and see what comes out. I love the surprise of tuning the ukulele differently and then playing around to find some cool sounds and melodies. If you want to listen to some music made with non-standard tunings, you can look up Lisa Hannigan or Jherick Bishoff.

I always keep one uke in a standard tuning so that I can grab it and play along with the radio or run out the door to meet with friends.
 
Personally I would string my ukes differently just to have the variations in my playing. Otherwise it cannot really justify owning more than one type of uke.
 
I like high G for Hawaiian songs and for clawhammer songs. I like Low G for classic jazz and most country/R&B/Rock.
 
I have two tenors and now tune them both reentrant C. I used to have one linear C and the other reentrant Bb but I find it simpler to have one tuning while I continue working on music theory.

One tenor is Cedar/Maple with Southcoast mediums and the other is Redwood/Walnut with D'Addario T2s. They have two distinct tones with the differences in wood and strings so that's a good enough difference for me.

After over a year of experimenting, I decided that I do love the reentrant tuning on my tenors.
 
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A bit late in the day, but I've only recently joined, so I thought I'd throw in my tuppence worth ... having tried different tunings on the same instrument, and got totally annoyed with having to re-stretch the strings after changing them, I've ended up with four instruments, a concert "Kala" in gCEA (standard re-entrant tuning), as is my 1930's "John Grey" banjolele, which sounds rather different, inevitably, thereby justifying it's existance :) , a pineapple "Mahalo" soprano with a set of red Aquila low-G strings for that nice bassy response, and my first ukulele, a "Vintage", which now wears a set of Aquila "fifths" strings, strung GDAE with a low-G (wound), so it plays like a mandolin and really does sound suprisingly nice for a "budget" instrument!
 
Thanks to Dirk at Southcoast, I have strung some my ukuleles with a low G- regular C-E and a low G string pulled up a full tone as a low A. I've also done it on a D G B e baritone. What a sound!! My Lehua soprano is low on the outsides. It is a game changer for sound.
 
I always have most of my ukes with a high G and at least one concert and one tenor with low G. i prefer high G but some of the tabs I have are for low G and some things just work better with low G. Occasionally I will mess around with other tunings, either higher or lower or an open tuning, but it's hard enough to keep track of chords as it is.
 
I choose string to fit the uke...it depends on the tone or voice and what I want it to sound like....Also keeping in mind if it's a light or heavy build....also your style and if you prefer comfort and playability over tone...best thing is to try several if
you have no idea what you want...I think southcoast has a test pack..
 
I used to have them all strung the same (with the same string set), but have since done a lot of changing. Especially with the job, having the ability to change tunings and strings on different ukes helps to get a better idea of what's out there, as well as what kind of different sounds you can coax out of a ukulele in different tunings.
 
But of course, let's see.

There's
High G (re-entrant)
Low G Wound
Low G Non-Wound
5 string with both Low & High G

I also prefer the low g's on tenors, not on sopranos' so Sopranos are usually re-entrant and Tenors in the various configurations mentioned above.

And that's just for the standard GCEA tuning.

Then there's alternate tunings, and of course a Baritone and a UBass.

Never mind different woods, sizes, shapes, acoustic, electro-acustic and of course a Risa Les Paul Metal String electric...

and THAT is why I only have one Classical guitar and a herd\wall\collection of Ukuleles :shaka:
 
Cuatro tuning is with a low pitch string on each outside string. instead of being linear or reentrant it is a linear reentrant. Mostly it is done on tenors and baritones, but it completely changes the voicing on a soprano or a concert.
The nut and bridge did not need widened or deepend.
 
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