Can you?

Rllink

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Quick and too the point, can one string up a baritone and tune it same as a ukulele? Sorry, I couldn't help my snarky self. Maybe use tenor strings? I was just thinking that I might get a deeper tone without learning to play a whole different instrument. I honestly searched this and found nothing really definitive.
 
Quick and too the point, can one string up a baritone and tune it same as a ukulele? Sorry, I couldn't help my snarky self. Maybe use tenor strings? I was just thinking that I might get a deeper tone without learning to play a whole different instrument. I honestly searched this and found nothing really definitive.

IIRC then yes you can string a Baritone gCEA. IIRC Aquila do a string set and Ken Middleton does too.

Edit, after a quick check:
Aquila 23u https://www.stringsandbeyond.com/aq23unysofit.html
KM does a custom set too : http://www.kenmiddleton.co.uk/living-water-strings/
 
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You will need thinner strings than normal. In simplistic terms, the longer the neck (scale length) and the higher the tuning (standard uke C) the thinner the strings. There is no reason you can’t use a concert or soprano set on a baritone if you can’t get a gCEA baritone set. If you check the string gauges you can find a close enough match.

John
 
I asked MIM about this once -- her answer was yes AND she would set up the uke with the gCEA strings :)
 
So many choices out there for you. I didn’t take me long with a search here on UU to come up with many sources for strings.
You must give it a try. I find the low G tuning on a Baritone so wonderful sounding.
So much so I have 2 Baritones turned into “Super Tenors” and intend to keep them that way.

Cheers,

Steve.
 
I agree with Ubulele. Just play the same chord shapes as though it were a tenor. Even read standard notation as though it were a tenor. It will sound fine. If you’re going to play with others get one of those moveable chord wheels that will help you transpose.

Glen Rose plays with tenor strings on a baritone. He does so because it has a fuller sound than a tenor and maybe because it’s easier on the fingers than a tenor, easier in the sense that it’s less cramped, even if stretches are a little longer.

I play baritone mostly these days and I’m getting to the point where I think I might actually learn the correct names of the chords. I mostly think in terms of Roman numerals, chord functions.
 
I told myself I would never get a baritone because I didn’t want to have to learn new chords. Well, I had some store credit at HMS and thought to myself, “If I’ve learned all these chords for GCEA, why can’t I pick up some more chords?” Corey’s deeply satisfied smile at the end of a Pono baritone sound clip cinched it. Now I can’t stop playing the thing (received the bari in August). I’ve learned the new names of the chords, which are the same old shapes. But I also play it as if it’s strung GCEA, which transposes the key. It can get confusing switching back and forth sometimes but it’s getting easier. And it’s fun.

One thing I like about the baritone and DGBE tuning is the lower string tension compared to GCEA on my Pono tenor. Now it sounds like I need another baritone on hand so I can switch tunings. Thanks UU for more rational for my UAS.
 
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I had tried gcea tuning on a bari, using Ken’s strings long ago. In linear tuning, the G string is quite fat and you may need to widen the nut slot. I did not like the sound compared to dgbe (warm, more resonant, light tension). If you don’t want to adjust your nut slot, I’d do high G. I later tried Southcoast gcea and think at the time using his chart re: optimum resonance I went with high G and still did not like the sound. Recently I tried the Aquila set re-entrant gcea and still dont like it. These were all on the same baritone btw. I will go back to dgbe next string change.

As for learning new chords…you aren’t. You are just remember a different name. C on reg, G on bari; F on reg, C on bari; G on reg, D on bari, etc. It really is uncomplicated. It shortly becomes second nature.
 
If you use low G tenor strings would that make the tension really heavy on a bari?
 
This will likely be my next step with my bari. Currently I'm mix matching nylon guitar strings for an all non-wound set with re-entrant tuning in dgbe... but I can't get around the booming G..even nonwound. I really dislike the sound. If reentrant gcea doesn't work I'll probably give up on baris.Life's too short to play ukes you dislike :D
 
After playing tenor ukuleles for several years I started playing the Baritone Ukulele about a year and a half ago. I mostly play the Baritone although I pick up a tenor every now and then. After a few minutes I find my brain switches to the uke I am playing and I don’t have too much trouble getting the chords right.
 
IIRC then yes you can string a Baritone gCEA. IIRC Aquila do a string set and Ken Middleton does too.

Edit, after a quick check:
Aquila 23u https://www.stringsandbeyond.com/aq23unysofit.html
KM does a custom set too : http://www.kenmiddleton.co.uk/living-water-strings/

I really appreciate all of the thought that people have put into this thread. I can see that like many things it can be as complicated or as simple as one wishes to make it. But I think that Graham Greenbag answered my question on the second post. It seems simple enough to just get a set of Aquila 23U Nylgut Baritone High G GCEA Ukulele Strings for $4.59 and string it up. Unless someone knows of a reason that won't work? Thank you Graham. I buy my strings from Strings and Beyond all of the times and I did not find those strings when I looked there. I don't know why. Maybe what one is looking for just gets buried and lost in the mountain of string sets and information available. I'm glad that you took the time to post the URL. Honestly, when I asked the question I didn't know if it was something that I wanted to do or not, so I'm just going to think about it for a while. Thanks all.
 
Rollie, I'd like to change your mind about how "difficult" it is to play a standard bari. Video session? I think that putting a bari in C tuning like all your other ukes is a mistake (well, maybe having one tuned an octave lower than the rest isn't a total waste). The standard bari tuning has so much to offer, and it's simpler than you think to adapt to the remapping between names and shapes—if you follow one of two simple techniques.

Edit: Steve has a point: linear C tuning is a quite viable option, especially if you don't yet have a linearly tuned uke. But it still doesn't compensate for the other weaknesses of C tuning.

After playing tenor ukuleles for several years I started playing the Baritone Ukulele about a year and a half ago. I mostly play the Baritone although I pick up a tenor every now and then. After a few minutes I find my brain switches to the uke I am playing and I don’t have too much trouble getting the chords right.
I have no doubt that is true. That is not my concern either really. I do not think that it would be hard to learn to play the baritone. I'm sure that it is like speaking two languages, the brain just switches back and forth. Or more to the subject, different musical instruments in general. I mean, my wife plays the flute and the piano, she doesn't seem to get confused when playing one or the other. I think that if I were going to learn a new instrument though I would just jump to guitar and skip the baritone. But I'm just voicing my thoughts out loud so to speak. I'm sharing what I'm thinking. Maybe I won't do either.
 
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If you memorize song chords and then sing to them, going to a baritone tuned to dgbe, same as a guitar, you could probably do fine because they are the same chord shapes, but a different chord... g chord is a baritone d. But once you get going it is just relative to the other chords. Reading chord sheets on the fly would require thought.

John
 
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