Baritone to Bass

Dear Friends!
I appologize in advance for my silly question, but since few days of using Baritone I've started thinking how to change it to something other. I like ukes, have one soprano and one concert, playing them - there are enough strings for me, no need more. But with Baritone another thing. It's not so interesting for playing and so on. I miss 2 string when the uke is tuned like this. So, enough words.
In my opinion - sizes are almost similar (i've checked few variants in ebay), frets dimensions looks same. It just needs stronger tunning pegs and new bridge and nut suitable for stings. May be something else to reach normal level of strings.
How you think, is it possible? Baritone is not the expensive one (HORA, Romania for 100 eur aproximately).
Waiting for your advices.

P.S. Sorry if i choose the wrong topic.

Thanks in advance!

User error.

There are short scale basses available like the Kala Ubass that would give you standard bass EADG tuning in a ukulele sized instrument. A normal baritone uke is not really made for this setup. I have seen some "conversions" on eBay and maybe here but they seemed "contrived" at best. You should be able to get EADG tuning on a baritone but it would be two octaves higher than a bass guitar and you would have to combine string sets to get a suitable first G string.

The original "ubass" was a converted baritone uke. If you haven't Googled it, here ya go:

https://www.google.com/#q=converting+a+baritone+uke+into+bass

If I understand correctly, you are thinking about modifying your baritone to get the same tuning as a Bass Guitar or a Ukulele U-Bass.

I have a different recommendation. Search here on Ukulele Underground for posts about "Octave Ukulele". The idea is to tune a baritone an entire octave lower simply by changing strings. This tuning is an octave higher than a Bass Guitar, but an octave below a regular Baritone (~half an octave below if you go with GCEA). The posts you find will include videos to give you an idea about the sound.

Guadalupe makes strings for this, and Mainland sells them. I have some and like the sound a lot. Southcoast Strings also makes strings for this which I have not tried. Here is the link for Mainland;
http://shop.mainlandukuleles.com/category.sc;jsessionid=F54686A40160122207B54E56590B0EEB.m1plqscsfapp01?categoryId=2

Here is the link for Southcoast;
http://www.southcoastukes.com/specialty.htm

Strings are much cheaper than modifying your instrument. If you don't like the sound, you can easily change strings again--or sell your Baritone and buy a U-Bass.

Interesting concept. I would think you may be able to get strings to tune it to the lower 4 strings if a normal guitar. Basically you would be an octave lower than what you have now.

Luna sells a ukulele bass that is tuned this way. It might be the lowest cost alternative that would only require a string change. The problem will be figuring out what strings will work without too much tension but still giving you a good bass tone.

John

Edit: I was typing and didn't see the excellent post above.

If you're really interested in a bass uke, go to Rondomusic.com, they have them for about $150-$170 and they're very good.

Thanks to all! To get the set of strings is a good idea (as Futurethink wrote).
But still thinking about converting. I found here several topics concerning experiment.
Will keep reading and checking details! Thanks a lot.

I've been preparing to do a u-bass project or two. There is lots of info available on various forums. Here is a youtube vid below that shows an inexpensive baritone to ubass conversion.

Buzzards Field in the UK sell parts and kits to do your own conversion. Here is a video review of the BF ukes by gotaukulele.

Also take a peek in the bass forum here at UU. Here is a thread on a conversion.

PS: There's a pretty, zebra wood, Caramel acoustic electric baritone on ebay from international seller for $85 with free shipping. Looks sturdily constructed and other sizes of that brand have gotten really good reviews for the money. With a pickup already installed, I'd have used it for a conversion before I decided to buy the OS curley maple bass uke:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Caramel-CB1...756272?hash=item3abb6056f0:g:yD8AAOSw5dNWmL3d

I converted my Kala baritone by changing the tuners, (pretty easy to find online), making a new saddle and nut and changing to U-bass strings. It worked pretty well, except the width of the gummi-strings makes the neck a bit narrow. After finding a nice used U-bass, I switched back to the original tuners, nut and saddle, then shifted the three lower (pitch) strings each up a position and added a slightly thicker guitar string so now it's tuned EADG, but an octave higher than standard bass tuning. This one lives in my office for impromptu bass practice. Works for me...
If you're interested, I still have the bas tuners around somewhere.
Cheers, Bill

Futurethink said:

If I understand correctly, you are thinking about modifying your baritone to get the same tuning as a Bass Guitar or a Ukulele U-Bass.

I have a different recommendation. Search here on Ukulele Underground for posts about "Octave Ukulele". The idea is to tune a baritone an entire octave lower simply by changing strings. This tuning is an octave higher than a Bass Guitar, but an octave below a regular Baritone (~half an octave below if you go with GCEA). The posts you find will include videos to give you an idea about the sound.

Guadalupe makes strings for this, and Mainland sells them. I have some and like the sound a lot. Southcoast Strings also makes strings for this which I have not tried. Here is the link for Mainland;
http://shop.mainlandukuleles.com/category.sc;jsessionid=F54686A40160122207B54E56590B0EEB.m1plqscsfapp01?categoryId=2

Here is the link for Southcoast;
http://www.southcoastukes.com/specialty.htm

Strings are much cheaper than modifying your instrument. If you don't like the sound, you can easily change strings again--or sell your Baritone and buy a U-Bass.

Click to expand...

Actually, I believe that the term "octave ukulele" refers to a baritone scale ukulele that is tuned one octave lower than a tenor, concert or soprano ukulele (i.e., GCEA), NOT an octave lower than a traditional baritone ukulele. The string sets to which you have provided links are octave lower GCEA, not octave lower DGBE.

mds725 said:

The string sets to which you have provided links are octave lower GCEA, not octave lower DGBE.

Click to expand...

Call Mike at Mainland and ask him. He offers a Guadalupe DGBE set and a Guadalupe GCEA set. The site description is a bit unclear, but mine are definitely an octave lower.

Having just been reading up on these strings, these are an octave lower than the normal GCEA,

which is 4 steps down from the normal bari DGBE.

Click to expand...

(That is, 4 full steps down.)
Hope that helps.

Edit: https://ivanolarte.com/2015/06/28/guadalupe-custom-ukulele-baritone-gcea-strings-review/

Hi , I have converted a baritone uke to a bass-uke and play regularly with ukulele groups . U-bass type synthetic strings don't appeal to me , I use regular bass round wound steel . The string length on a conventional short scale bass stopped at the 5th fret is about 22 inches . This is the scale length of my converted baritone . You can use the 5th 4th 3rd and 2nd strings from a 5 string bass , ie the B E A D strings , fit them to a 22 inch scale instument and tune them to E A D G . Of course it's not that simple .
You need to remove the fixed bridge so that you can reposition and adjust the scale length and intonation to suit the fretboard . The body may need additional internal bracing , I use a shortened archtop style tailpiece and a floating bridge . The strings will need to be cut to length , I shorten the B and E strings , reverse them on the uke , thread guitar solid g string through the eyelet and fit to the existing machine heads , screw or crimp on some some kind of ferrule on the free end to fit into the tailpiece , the D and E strings are thin enough to fit the right way round , or you could change the tuners to bass guitar tuners . I use a guitar single pu and an active tuner-preamp . You may need to experiment with the make and guage of the strings , especially the low B . I use a ni-stainless steel ground 130 gauge for this one , and a 105 gauge roundwound for the A . The result is not perfect , the E string sounds a bit dead acousticly but through the amp I think the sound is fine and it's a lot of fun to play

Lanikai LU-21BE Conversion to 'Bass' Ukulele

I know this is an old thread, but felt there was no point to starting a new one.

I, too, had tried out a few bass ukuleles and found the strings not to my liking. This I like. So...

I used the 4 bass strings from a D'Addario EJ27N set on a Lanikai baritone, and tuned it exactly like the 4 bass notes of a guitar.

A bass guitar tuned in this way is called a "Piccolo Bass."

I did not have to make any changes to the bridge, but did have to widen (not deepen) the nut slots. The strings wound on the pegs just fine.

What prompted this was: I picked up a short-scale bass and now want to start reading bass notation. I wanted something to just grab (like a uke) and practice without have to lug around the real bass. Note that it is tuned 1 octave higher than a standard upright or electric bass; just back off the treble. It sounds great through my Acoustic 260 mini-stack.

-Wiggy

<updates> I also restrung my Mitchell MUB-70S to a Piccolo Bass, as it has a much wider fret board with a 1.5 inch nut.

I have ordered a Classical Hard set as the feel is a bit soft on the MUB, but this was a good proof-of-concept.

It's pretty cool sounding. I have always had a hard time separating (discerning) the actual note at the lowest frequencies of 40-65hz, low E thru C, while trying to "feel out" the root of a bass line when attempting to play along "by ear" with recordings.

This tuning allows me to clearly hear all the notes as I learn bass notation (bass clef) and fingering. It easily transfers to the standard bass tuned short-scale bass, as I have no problem with the difference in fret spacing.

Plus, as noted above, it is really easy to just "grab and plunk," allowing the opportunity of instant practice moments.