5 String ukes, Low G or High G on the outside for the double G?

Doc_J

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My 5 string tenor (spruce/pheasant wood from JC Clark) is nearing completion (yeah!). The very last decision is whether the Low G or High G should be first (on the outside). I've seen it done both ways. Ko'olau has their low G on the outside, Maui Music and Ohana have the high G on the outside.

Since I have not played a 5 string (just a 6 string), I'm not sure what the pros and cons are of having the high or low G first (maybe it doesn't matter).

My 6 strings always had the low octave first on the doubles.

Anyone got experience and/or advice?

Thanks.
 
My ohana has a high g in the end I like it because the log g rings really easy, so i can actually choose high, low or both. I don't thin it would be as easy if I had the high thinner g string on the inside....
 
I haven't tried it both ways. My Oscar Schmidt Willie K tenor has the high G on the outside, where the 8-string has the low G outside. With the 5-string, it's relatively easy to pluck the single low G by itself, since it's larger than the high G. You can either snag it with the thumbnail, or just orient the pluck at an angle that only hits the low string (usually). Even though the high string is on the outside, plucking it by itself is harder and requires an upward-angled movement (or better, an upward snag with the nail) to avoid hitting the low string. I was surprised at the number of picking tunes that used the re-entrant G with normal ukes, where you can just pluck the combined strings and it sounds fine.

I would think that with it reversed, plucking the high string by itself, on the inside, would be really hard, being down lower and on the inside. It can be tricky even when it's on the outside, because of the larger low G string being so close. You would have to precisely dig the thumbnail in between the strings to get the high G by itself.

The difference may not matter all that much. In practice, I find that plucking both strings usually works fine for when you want either the high or low note. I doubt I'd change the way mine is now, with high G outside, because I don't see any advantage...it might make just picking just the low string even easier, but it's not all that hard now.

I bought mine after a recent thread on 5 strings, which I had never considered worthwhile, but I really like the configuration now; the double sets on 8 strings can be too much in a lot of cases, and this seems to give the best of both, along with the ability to use either high or low G, which I can't do on the 8 string due to the high string being on the inside.
 
Just a side question, would it not be possible to hit the low g (on the inside) using your index finger? I play by picking with a finger on each string so it wouldn't be so hard in my case to move my index down from the C string to an inside low g string. I have an octaved E string on my charango (in this case this pair is in the middle of 5 paired strings) and if I want I can use my thumb to catch the high E (and only slightly the low E) and I can easily play the low E using my index finger playing down without catching the high E. Have you people found this possible on the 5 string ukulele?
 
the High should be last. When finger picking it will sound "right". High G, Low G, C, E A
I got my five string Boat paddle the other way and hated it.
 
Depends on your style and what sound you want. I'm a picker who is alternate picking with my thumb and I like a deep bass sound. Therefore I would place the low G string on the outside. Mindyou if you want the higher pitched, chiming sound then you would put the high G string on the outside. Different techniques would change things. Thats my experience with 8 string ukulele's anyway.

Anthony
 
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