Renaissance Guitar Strings on Baritone Uke?

Paul December

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Thinking out-loud here...
...I have a Pono Baritone that I use to play Renaissance & Baroque transcriptions. Presently I have it strung with SouthCoast GCEA strings. I noticed that La Bella makes strings for Renaissance guitars:
http://www.labella.com/products/reinaissance-guitar/
Renaissance guitars are also strung GCEA and the scale is 50cm, which is close to my Baritone's of 51.1cm.
:confused: I'm wondering how they would sound on my Pono...
...more authentic, or are they just re-branded uke strings anyway?
 
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..more authentic, or are they just re-branded uke strings anyway?

There is no dedicated ukulele string, or ANY instrument string, for that matter. Nylon strings with tie ends can be used on a number of instruments, and many manufacturers will have a number of string sets based off of a smaller handful of types of string. No one buys specific ukulele-nylon and classical guitar-nylon. It's all the same.

Case in point: our loop end strings can be used for banjo, mandolin, dulcimer, or really any instrument that needs a loop end string. It's all packaged the same in terms of the envelopes, and then just put into separate overall packaging.

That said, given the scale of the reniassance guitar and baritone uke are the same, they should work fine. Will they sound more authentic or not is more based on the build of the renaissance guitar vs. the baritone uke, to see if there are any significant differences that would affect sound quality. If they're similar enough in build and tuning, both "should" sound fairly similar.
 
There is no dedicated ukulele string, or ANY instrument string, for that matter. Nylon strings with tie ends can be used on a number of instruments, and many manufacturers will have a number of string sets based off of a smaller handful of types of string. No one buys specific ukulele-nylon and classical guitar-nylon. It's all the same.

Case in point: our loop end strings can be used for banjo, mandolin, dulcimer, or really any instrument that needs a loop end string. It's all packaged the same in terms of the envelopes, and then just put into separate overall packaging.

That said, given the scale of the reniassance guitar and baritone uke are the same, they should work fine. Will they sound more authentic or not is more based on the build of the renaissance guitar vs. the baritone uke, to see if there are any significant differences that would affect sound quality. If they're similar enough in build and tuning, both "should" sound fairly similar.

What you write makes sense, but I guess I'm hoping for them to be a bit lower tension than the SouthCoasts that are on them now. I presume that would affect the tone. Additionally, I wouldn't mind them to sound a hint twangy... I suspect that has something to do with tension. I had a set of La Bella banjo uke strings on my Firefly and they sounded considerably more different than the Aquilla & Worh sets, kind-of in the way I hope these will.
 
There is no dedicated ukulele string, or ANY instrument string, for that matter. Nylon strings with tie ends can be used on a number of instruments, and many manufacturers will have a number of string sets based off of a smaller handful of types of string. No one buys specific ukulele-nylon and classical guitar-nylon. It's all the same.

Case in point: our loop end strings can be used for banjo, mandolin, dulcimer, or really any instrument that needs a loop end string. It's all packaged the same in terms of the envelopes, and then just put into separate overall packaging.

That said, given the scale of the reniassance guitar and baritone uke are the same, they should work fine. Will they sound more authentic or not is more based on the build of the renaissance guitar vs. the baritone uke, to see if there are any significant differences that would affect sound quality. If they're similar enough in build and tuning, both "should" sound fairly similar.

Agree wtih this pots. Any string can be a uke string. That's why guitar companies make uke string "Packages" which are just the guitar strings of a certain gauage and tension wrapped up with "UKE" put on the package. It's not something they made special for ukuleles (except the packaging). It's funny as I have used the same string on a concert and tenor yet I see folks selling concert uke sets and tenor uke sets and have different prices on those sets. I think they call that "marketing".

There is no such thing as a "ukulele string" if it's the appropriate tension for the scale of your instrument. They are all just strings that will work, and some will work better than others. Better as in creating the maximum vibration of the top, and in many cases eliminating a thuddy fretted C string, especially with a unwound C v. wound C. Tension will absolutely affect the tone as will the wound v. unwound.

I used several string sets for guitars on uke when the prices were cheaper to buy them (which allows me to get two sets of strings), but now they all have essentially jacked the price of the uke strings to be exactly 50% of the guitar string sets so now it does not matter if you get the guitar or uke set. You are paying the exact same price. They caught on ;-0
 
What you write makes sense, but I guess I'm hoping for them to be a bit lower tension than the SouthCoasts that are on them now. I presume that would affect the tone. Additionally, I wouldn't mind them to sound a hint twangy... I suspect that has something to do with tension. I had a set of La Bella banjo uke strings on my Firefly and they sounded considerably more different than the Aquilla & Worh sets, kind-of in the way I hope these will.

They could be lower tension; it all depends on what the La Bella strings are made out of. Unless both companies are getting the exact same string (which, when talking about a nylon, fluorocarbon, etc.. there really are a small group of manufacturers), the tension is going to vary somewhat.

That's a large misconception. Tension is the amount of force a string puts on a particular instrument, when it's tuned to a selected pitch; that's it. That can affect a number of things, but it is not THE crucial factor, especially when talking about acoustic instruments. What tension does on an acoustic instrument, when it reaches a certain point, is that it will kill sustain and also start to pinch the sound of the instrument (because the combined amount of tension on the soundboard is not allowing it to speak freely, or as the builder intended)

Your findings with three different sets of strings on your Firefly is also due to three different types of strings made from different materials that are at different densities, which will put a different amount of tension on that neck, even though all of the strings could be the same gauge. That's not a true apples/apples comparison.

If you really want something that is a bit lower tension than what you have now, ask Dirk if he's got something that's a lighter gauge. In this case, you can hopefully get the same set of strings that are less tension than completely switching brands and finding out that the set you thought would have less tension, actually doesn't.
 
UPDATE - I got the LaBella Renaissance Guitar string set last week and they have now fully stretched. These are my observations compared to the SouthCoast GCEA strings:
- Overall, less tension - something I was hoping for
- Brighter and a bit more complex
- Longer sustain
- Took much longer to settle (SouthCoasts settled very quickly) and initially sounded bad but progressively much better.
- The wound low G had far too little tension, so buzzed against the frets - I think Renaissance guitars have much higher bridges.
- Must be a better match for my instrument, resonance wise, since I can now feel the body vibrate more including the neck.
I put the SouthCoast Low G back on and it matches the others quite well.
My Baritone is a Pono with a Cedar top, and once paired with these strings it does not sound uke-like at all. Compared to the sound clips of Renaissance guitars, I would say it would be hard to tell the difference.
The LaBella string set comes as Gg cc ee a, so I have a couple of back-up strings if the c or e string breaks.
Oh, and the set looks and feels very much like Aquila Nylgut strings (LaBell calles them "rectified nylon").
 
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Did a bit of searching and found this information on "Rectified" strings..

Nylon guitar strings can be made with clear or rectified nylon. Clear nylon strings are extruded and then calibrated for accuracy. Rectified nylon strings are extruded and then ground to produce a string that will play in tune. They have a very fine roughness of texture.

As a uke player, I only knew of Aquila having them, but it seems pretty common for classical guitar and lute players.
 
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- The wound low G had far too little tension, so buzzed against the frets - I think Renaissance guitars have much higher bridges.
- Must be a better match for my instrument, resonance wise, since I can now feel the body vibrate more including the neck.

The La Bella calculations for early instruments are kinda off in the lower courses. Renaissance guitars actually have bridges slightly lower than uke bridges. Almost all of La Bella's recommendations for wound strings are too loose and their strings tend to flop about and buzz. I play lute and a student of mine picked up one of La Bella's sets for lute - buzz and flop. I suggest ordering a single wound string one or two diameters thicker and trying that out.
 
..I have a Pono Baritone that I use to play Renaissance & Baroque transcriptions
Could you share with us what these transcriptions are? I've been using the Tony Mizen/Rob Mackillop/John King. Daniel Ho and Mark Nelson have a few in their books, and then there are the Keith Calmes Ren. Guitar book and Pascale Bouquet (in French tab) as recommended by UkeVal. Are you using something else? Thanks for sharing.
 
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gut strings from gamut would sound amazingly good - the oldfashioned uke sound, but gosh, they're expensive and don't last :(
 
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