Low G for Kamaka Tenor

fretie

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Hey there string gurus, my Kamaka tenor is currently strung with high G Martins. I find the strings somewhat high tension compared to Worths or Oasis strings.

If I switched to a low G set but did not want to file down the nut what would you suggest?

Or maybe I’ll stay high G but go to a lower tension string set but still keep clarity of sound from the koa. What would you suggest in that case?

BYW, I usually buy my strings at Strings by Mail because we have very little selection here in town.
 
Yes, Fremont Soloist. I have one on everything. It is the string of the decade.
 
The Fremont Soloist wound low G is great, fits all my ukes fine, no nut worries.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Fremont-SO...925099?hash=item2880ff942b:g:9yMAAOSw9uBanE4N

+1 for the Fremont Soloist. That's what I use for low G on my ukuleles. No need to file the nut on any ukuleles I've tried it on.

I really like Living Water strings for the other strings, and/or for my ukuleles strung high g. They feel lower tension to me than Martins or Worth, (don't know if they actually are), and I really like the sound. I haven't tried Oasis yet. I've purchased Living Water strings from Uke Republic and also directly from Ken Middleton. Getting them from England was surprisingly fast. Almost like they shipped from one town over instead of another country.

I play concert, and strings are a personal preference, of course, so none of that might work for you, but it's a suggestion, anyway.
 
I have a low G on my Kamaka tenor right now... the clarity of sound is very nice, and no need to file down the nut! Your Oasis strings may be higher or lower tension, depending on the direction you go (i.e., warm vs loud).
 
As others have already stated, there is no need to file down your nut.

On my Kamaka I currently have Fremont blacklines (unwound G string). To get the tension I like I, first of all, use concert strings versus tenor strings and, secondly, I only tighten the strings to the point of comfort for me. For instance right now the Kamaka is tuned to D# G# C F (four half-steps below GCEA)
 
Try the Fremont Soloist with a set of Living Waters CONCERT strings. The concert strings will result in lower tension on a tenor, while maintaining that beautiful LW tone.
 
Humm... good idea about the Freemonts and never thought of going with the concert strings.
I guess I figured concert strings, meant for a shorter neck, would be even tighter on a tenor size neck.
 
My Kamaka Tenor wears Worth clear low G strings without any mods to the nut.
 
I have my HF-3 fitted with a set of Low-G Living Waters Fluorocarbons. I asked for Low-G plain strings to be installed by HMS when I bought it. They put Worth Low-G Clears on.
 
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Humm... good idea about the Freemonts and never thought of going with the concert strings.
I guess I figured concert strings, meant for a shorter neck, would be even tighter on a tenor size neck.

That's my thought:confused: too...

I've also heard of the fremont soloist recommended for concert size and for tenor...

"For ukulele, I've found the Thomastik-Infeld CF30 chrome flatwound classical guitar string to be really great and has about 11-12lbs of tension which is what you'd need to have in order to approach decent intonation possibility.

The Thomastik chrome flatwound strings are onsidered high-tension, AND to be just perfect for any time I wanted a low-G and also consider it to be significantly smoother than the Fremont Soloist, and with near-zero string noise.

stringsbymail.com sells these as single strings - just search for CF30 and you will find them..." Booli
 
It's a really weird quirk of tenor strings that they tend to be higher gauge than the smaller sizes for the same tuning. Completely counter-intuitive, especially if you come from a guitar background. I think somewhere on the old Southcoast site Dirk explained that the extra tension was needed to drive the soundboard a bit better on the larger instrument. This is very much from ancient memory for me so I may be way off!
 
It's a really weird quirk of tenor strings that they tend to be higher gauge than the smaller sizes for the same tuning. Completely counter-intuitive, especially if you come from a guitar background.

Not at all. On a Jumbo or Dreadnaught sized guitar usually medium or heavy gauge strings are used, whereas on 000 or 0M or smaller sized guitars lights or extra lights are more appropriate, as they require much less tension and will be more comfortable at shorter scale.
 
Not at all. On a Jumbo or Dreadnaught sized guitar usually medium or heavy gauge strings are used, whereas on 000 or 0M or smaller sized guitars lights or extra lights are more appropriate, as they require much less tension and will be more comfortable at shorter scale.

And is that because more tension is needed to drive the larger soundboard? I feel like I'm finally understanding this!
 
And is that because more tension is needed to drive the larger soundboard? I feel like I'm finally understanding this!

No, the tension required for a string to vibrate at a given frequency at is a function of string thickness, length, and of several specific material properties (such as density) of the string. If material, length, and frequency are the same then the tension gets higher as the string gets thicker. You can change the various characteristics and see the outcome in the cool d'Addario string tension calculator:

http://stringtensionpro.com/Home

A smaller instrument with thinner strings will be more bright, and an instrument with longer scale and a larger volume body can support thicker strings and be able to produce more lower frequency bassy sounds. I have a concert ukulele set up in CDGA tuning with two thick wound strings, that have fairly low tension and the small body is not able to make them sound good. That's why linear tuning with a low G is mainly used for tenor and larger bodies.
 
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