pizzawillcome
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Is there an "ideal" ukulele body size that can be considered optimal for re-entrant GCEA tuning?
Having played the soprano, concert, and tenor ukuleles over the years and experimented different tunings, I have settled with the tenor scale and re-entrant GCEA tuning. However, recently I went down the rabbit hole of learning about instrument's air resonance and tuning after reading Southcoast's and Kawika's websites. Since then I can't stop wondering if the tenor ukulele body size is optimized for re-entrant GCEA tuning, and if not, what size is.
The concern is that tenor ukulele bodies usually have air resonance frequencies around F#3 to Ab3, good if the tuning has the lowest note within a few semitones above G3, but possibly not for optimal tone production in re-entrant GCEA tuning? I don't know if this concern is truly relevant because so many different factors determine whether an instrument sounds good. But if it is relevant, then to counter the problem, one option would be to tune down the strings, and another option would be to play a smaller-body instrument. I tried both.
For the first option, I tuned my tenor down to re-entrant F-Bb-D-G like what was discussed in a previous thread, and felt the ukulele did seem to resonate well, probably better than when it was in re-entrant GCEA. However, after a while I really missed the GCEA sound and feel, so I tuned back up to GCEA. I have tried this more than one time, and each time I gravitated back to GCEA. This helped me to confirm that my ideal ukulele is not an instrument that sounds fantastic when tuned lower than re-entrant GCEA, but an instrument that sounds fantastic and is at its best when tuned to re-entrant GCEA.
For the second option, I tried long neck concerts from KoAloha and Kamaka. Even though these instruments sound great because they are well-built, I did not perceive the sounds to be resonating better than a tenor body KoAloha or Kamaka in re-entrant GCEA turning. I certainly did not feel "hey this instrument fits the re-entrant GCEA better than tenor".
I then tried reading anything I can find related to air resonance, such as coupling of the soundboard frequency and the back frequency, body depth, sound hole size, etc, but only became even more confused. At this point I am getting the feeling I am possibly not thinking about this question in the right way. Any guidance/opinion will be greatly appreciated!
Having played the soprano, concert, and tenor ukuleles over the years and experimented different tunings, I have settled with the tenor scale and re-entrant GCEA tuning. However, recently I went down the rabbit hole of learning about instrument's air resonance and tuning after reading Southcoast's and Kawika's websites. Since then I can't stop wondering if the tenor ukulele body size is optimized for re-entrant GCEA tuning, and if not, what size is.
The concern is that tenor ukulele bodies usually have air resonance frequencies around F#3 to Ab3, good if the tuning has the lowest note within a few semitones above G3, but possibly not for optimal tone production in re-entrant GCEA tuning? I don't know if this concern is truly relevant because so many different factors determine whether an instrument sounds good. But if it is relevant, then to counter the problem, one option would be to tune down the strings, and another option would be to play a smaller-body instrument. I tried both.
For the first option, I tuned my tenor down to re-entrant F-Bb-D-G like what was discussed in a previous thread, and felt the ukulele did seem to resonate well, probably better than when it was in re-entrant GCEA. However, after a while I really missed the GCEA sound and feel, so I tuned back up to GCEA. I have tried this more than one time, and each time I gravitated back to GCEA. This helped me to confirm that my ideal ukulele is not an instrument that sounds fantastic when tuned lower than re-entrant GCEA, but an instrument that sounds fantastic and is at its best when tuned to re-entrant GCEA.
For the second option, I tried long neck concerts from KoAloha and Kamaka. Even though these instruments sound great because they are well-built, I did not perceive the sounds to be resonating better than a tenor body KoAloha or Kamaka in re-entrant GCEA turning. I certainly did not feel "hey this instrument fits the re-entrant GCEA better than tenor".
I then tried reading anything I can find related to air resonance, such as coupling of the soundboard frequency and the back frequency, body depth, sound hole size, etc, but only became even more confused. At this point I am getting the feeling I am possibly not thinking about this question in the right way. Any guidance/opinion will be greatly appreciated!