Two Tenors

[peanuts56]

I have both and use re-entrant Fremont Blackline on them. The stock Kamaka's are awful. The KoAloha came with Aquila if my memory is intact. Some people love them, and some can't stand them. I'm in the latter category. I tune the KoAloha down a whole step.

 

[efiscella]

When you do go digging through those old posts or SbM receipts to find out which strings they were, can you post on here...? I'm curious!

Savarez Alliance KF (Carbon) Single Strings | Classical Guitar Strings - stringsbymail.com Savarez Alliance KF (Carbon) Classical Guitar Strings Alliance KF (Carbon) Savarez Classical Guitar Strings available in various lengths: KF30 (.30mm/0.0118") - KF190 (1.90mm/0.0748") The 0.60 / 0.62 mm combination provides a little more balance and fatter tone. prefer the G string to be slightly bigger than the A string Savarez Alliance KF (Carbon) Single Strings | Classical Guitar Strings www.stringsbymail.com

 

[hands_on_lanzon]

Or you could just down-tune. What I usually do is tighten the A string until it is a tension I like and then I make the other strings match it. Currently I am enjoying the tuning E A C# F#. Of course that means that you cannot play with other people because all your notes will be 3 half steps lower than theirs.

I love this and never really thought of tuning down for the sake of tone! I just re-watched the HMS podcast with David Ingalls and they discussed various lower tunings for the tenor uke, tuning down an 18" scale a whole step. Corey mentioned he grew up playing a lot of songs down a half step and Kalei mentioned that tenors were actually traditionally tuned this way.

I tried tuning my 17" scale tenor Ono down a whole step then a half step and found a different sweetness at this tuning, while still maintaining all the clarity with balanced brightness and warmth. It works for me, since all my playing is done solo in the comfort of my home!

 

[about2]

Love the comments. Very helpful. I have a koaloha tenor and have tried a variety of strings on it. Currently I have a set of Martin premiums on it as I like their texture. However, the next string order I will order a set of the new hannabach 243MHT gold strings. They are carbon strings and are on the high tension side of things (but seem less than uke logic). I tried them on a Pono tenor and like em a lot. Always fun to try a new set of strings.

 

[LaserWater]

I have a KoAloha Mango tenor and I have tried more string sets than I can count. While many sound great (especially fremont blackline), in the end, the worth clear mediums with a Thomastic Infeld CF-30 for the low g shines as the best fit for me. They have a fat warm sound while still mainting those bright overtones of flurocarbon, which matches the classic KoaAloha tone. The TI CF-30 accentuates the roundness of the bass without overpowering the other strings.