Suggestions for a Baritone Ukulele, with a Cutaway

Any suggestions in purchasing a baritone or long neck (like 19”) tenor ukulele, with a pickup and cutaway. I am open to fully acoustic/hollow-body, semi-hollow body, or solid body.

I like the cutaway for a few songs that take me up to the 14th fret.

I already have a tenor acoustic. So I’m kind of leaning towards a steel string so that I have the option of a new sound. Plus it is quitter to play at night, and I would not have use one of those things to mute the ukulele. I find the tenor is a little too small.

One choice is the Oscar Schmidt by Washburn OU55CE Baritone Acoustic-Electric Ukulele for like $270 (Amazon). But I appears as though I may need to have it “set-up” after I receive it. (A few on Amazon have commented about it not being set up.)

Another choice is the Pono ABC, Acacia Baritone Pro Classic, Cedar Top Cutaway, Radius+ ($980). But this is not even with any pickup. So we are talking another like $200 for that; plus I don’t feel that great about having a $1,000 ukulele cut open, even if it is done by the luthiers at Koolau.
http://www.theukulelesite.com/pono-abc-acacia-baritone-pro-classic-cedar-top-cutaway-radius.html

Then there is Monkey Wrench’s steel string Long Scale Tenor Electric Ukulele ($750.00) single Prodigy Humbucker dual blade pickup
http://monkeywrenchmusic.com/for-sale

Pono. I say that cuz I got one for Christmas. PCBC-S.

See your PM box. I just sent you a message.

I would not get a cutaway...just saying..
my best baritone is my kanilea.....like owned many and played plentee...

I found these two:

Ohana BK-20CE Baritone Ukulele w/ EQ (for $405)
http://ukuleleparadise.com/index.php/ukuleles/baritone-ukes/ohana-bk-20ce.html
solid mahogany top and mahogany laminate sides and back

Oscar Schmidt by Washburn OU55CE Baritone Acoustic-Electric Ukulele
(on amazon for $270)
according to Amazon, select Hawaiian Koa top, back & sides

Any comments about Ohana or Oscar Schmidt by Washburn?

Do any of you know if any of these companies do a decent "set-up" (i.e., check/fix buzzing, string-to-fret distance, etc.)?

Did you look in your mailbox for the PM that I sent you?

bariukish said:

Did you look in your mailbox for the PM that I sent you?

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Yes, thank you very much. (Just a friendly head's up ... I sent you a PM back.)

My two cents:

I think there are a few Eddy Finn ukes that are exceptional values. Very beautiful woods and finishes, with excellent electronics and cutaways.
I selected and offer just a few at my online store. They come with an excellent setup. Those tenors can be strung
as Tenor GCEA or Baritone DGBE.

UkeKiddinMe said:

... I think there are a few Eddy Finn ukes that are exceptional values. Very beautiful woods and finishes, with excellent electronics and cutaways. ... They come with an excellent setup. Those tenors can be strung
as Tenor GCEA or Baritone DGBE.

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Does Eddy Finn make the baritone size, with the 19+" scale (nut to bridge)? I could not find any on their web site. But their mini-bass (or u-bass) does have that 20" scale.

That Pono, if within your budget, is an amazing Baritone ukulele. Definitely highly recommend; it's a gem!

If you're after a steel string electric, very hard to beat Monkey Wrench.

I have also had good experience with this Eastwood electric "tenor guitar", which can easily be tuned as a Baritone ukulele using electric guitar strings:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Eastwood-Wa...d-/360803842636?pt=Guitar&hash=item540195ba4c



Some people don't like cutaways because they believe it reduces the tone a bit.
I'm on the other end of the spectrum and prefer all my stringed instruments to have cutaway. I do find it useful for getting to those upper frets, and generally don't think it makes a noticeable difference in tone.

If the reduction in body space due to a cutaway is a concern for a ukulele, then clearly we should all be playing guitars.
The ukulele's signature tone comes from a smaller body cavity, as opposed to guitars which require as much bass-end as possible and are hence humungous.

kissing said:

That Pono, if within your budget, is an amazing Baritone ukulele. Definitely highly recommend; it's a gem!

If you're after a steel string electric, very hard to beat Monkey Wrench.

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Thank you very much for your feedback.

kissing said:

I have also had good experience with this Eastwood electric "tenor guitar", which can easily be tuned as a Baritone ukulele using electric guitar strings: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Eastwood-Wa...d-/360803842636?pt=Guitar&hash=item540195ba4c

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Would you know if this "tenor guitar" (which as a 23" scale and D'Addario 42, 30, 17, 13 strings) can be tuned g-c-e-a, even if you have to change the strings?



Anyone try this Blue Start Konablaster?
http://elderly.com/new_instruments/items/BSBK-BLUB-RSWD.htm

SonSprinter said:

.... Anyone try this Blue Start Konablaster?
http://elderly.com/new_instruments/items/BSBK-BLUB-RSWD.htm

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I think UU member iamesperambient has one of those (there's one in his signature photo) and seems to love it. If he doesn't see this thread, you could PM him about his.

SonSprinter said:

Does Eddy Finn make the baritone size, with the 19+" scale (nut to bridge)? I could not find any on their web site. But their mini-bass (or u-bass) does have that 20" scale.

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No baritone scale, but if you like what they do, you can tune a Tenor to DGBE.

A few of the Tenor Electric Cuataways are extremely beautiful, IMHO.

SonSprinter said:

Would you know if this "tenor guitar" (which as a 23" scale and D'Addario 42, 30, 17, 13 strings) can be tuned g-c-e-a, even if you have to change the strings?http://elderly.com/new_instruments/items/BSBK-BLUB-RSWD.htm

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Traditional standard tuning for a tenor guitar is CGDA, and GCEA uke tuning is within that range (the G and A are the same). You would just need to work out the right string gauges. The 42-30-17-13 sounds like it's meant for GDAE (octave mandolin) tuning. The high A for either standard or uke tuning would need a .009 or .010 gauge, and that's about as high as you can tune an open string at that scale length.

Check out this thread by cb56 reviewing a similar electric tenor guitar - he switched to GCEA tuning so you could ask him what gauges he used.

From my experience of owning the Eastwood tenor guitar, I think the scale is too long for GCEA in the same key as ukulele.

However you can definitely achieve low GCEA (one octave lower than ukulele).

I got a comfortable DGBE tuning using a medium or heavy gauge of D'addarios and using the DGBE strings only. Because of shorter scale, heavy gauge would reduce to medium/light.

Dunno which gauge would tune lower to GCEA but shouldnt be too hard with a bit of estimation and trial and error.

Though personally i preferred keeping it DGBE and using a capo at 5th fret when wanting gcea.

http://rycooder.nl/pages/tenor_gauges.htm

this page has various tenor guitar tunings and recomended string gauges. I have one of my tenor guitars strung GCEA using these recomendations (Or as close as I could get buying single strings from my local shop - three plain and one wound for the G). Plays very nicely with the rest of my uke group (adds a bit of extra spice with the steel strings). I do prefer DGBE though