D6 re-entrant baritone

Jupu

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For me it would make sense to have a baritone tuned a-D-F#-B (high A, if you will). It would give the best of both worlds: lowest possible note that the baritones are designed for and re-entrantness. And the same "standard" shapes would work.

Anyone tried one? Would probably need a newly compensated bridge? Probably would work with high D too.

Would it be hard to find strings? Some classical guitar ones, or just fishing line?

Might be fun to pair it with a soprano/issimo tuned an octave higher (and another uke with the standard tuning, in between)?

I didn't find discussion about this.
 
One of my baritones is tuned A-D-F#-B but not re-entrant. I use a classical guitar A string for the low A, and regular DGB baritone uke strings for the others. If you want to do re=entrant A, couldn't you use a baritone uke G string and tune up to A, or a baritone B string and tune down to A?
 
I have often thought about getting a baritone and tuning it re-entrant GCEA, just for consistency. I would like to hear one first though. I've played baritones with standard tuning and I kind of like the sound, but to me they are a different instrument. I don't want to learn how to play a different instrument.
 
For me it would make sense to have a baritone tuned a-D-F#-B (high A, if you will). It would give the best of both worlds: lowest possible note that the baritones are designed for and re-entrantness. And the same "standard" shapes would work.

Anyone tried one? Would probably need a newly compensated bridge? Probably would work with high D too.

Would it be hard to find strings? Some classical guitar ones, or just fishing line?

Might be fun to pair it with a soprano/issimo tuned an octave higher (and another uke with the standard tuning, in between)?

I didn't find discussion about this.

You are thinking of trying to tune baritone down to D6/Bm7, a fourth lower than it is normally tuned with DGBE or guitar top strings and just getting the guitar's lowest A. Chords in a baritone tuned that low won't sound good, because it has a smaller box than guitar or also because that low tuned chords in general won't sound very good. Just my opinion.
 
You are thinking of trying to tune baritone down to D6/Bm7, a fourth lower than it is normally tuned with DGBE or guitar top strings and just getting the guitar's lowest A. Chords in a baritone tuned that low won't sound good, because it has a smaller box than guitar or also because that low tuned chords in general won't sound very good. Just my opinion.

No, I meant that the D in the a-D-F#-B would be the same as the D in the standard baritone set of DGBE. The a would be 7 semitones higher than the D, not 5 steps lower.

My idea included utilizing the lowest resonance of the body and still keep things re-entrant. I guess it would feel a bit like a different instrument, like Rllink said, but I was thinking that it might expand the possibilities of ones ukulelism, since the tonal span of one ukulele is admittedly quite limited. A guitarist can live with just one instrument, while a ukulelist might want more.

Of course it's a matter of music and playing style, but it's also true that one can get only so far with a couple of octaves.
 
Would it be hard to find strings? Some classical guitar ones, or just fishing line?.

I think John Boy is on the right track. Strings are not that far off from standard DGBE strings, just rearranged and you need an extra one. Note that you're probably going to end up with 3 wound strings and one unwound instead of 2 and 2 as on most baritone DGBE sets. It is possible to go all unwound with Worth or Living Water fro example but the D would be quite fat and in the 3rd slot, will almost certainly require a new nut.

I'm not sure about the "won't sound good" comment. Note that bottom 4 of standard Guilele tuning is ADGC and this can be "muddy" depending on the instrument and the strings, but isn't necessarily. It's probably going to be better picked than strummed but you'd just have to try.
 
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Thanks Jim. Jarmo, I think it sounds beautiful on my bari, rather guitar-like, but of course it's a matter of personal taste.

Jupu, the tuning I suggested should work for you. You can use a G and tune it up to A, or you can use a B and tune it down to A. Either one will get you what you've described. You will need to buy a set of DGBE baritone ukulele strings, and then one additional G or B string to get your high (re-entrant) A string. Hopefully you can find an individual string, and not have to buy a whole second set.

On my setup, only the low A is wound (because it's a classical guitar string). The D,G (which I use for F#) and B are Worth Brown non-wound strings, and they work fine. No nut changes were required on my bari, which is an Ohana.
 
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I could easily check that with my classical guitar from what I have taken E and A strings off. Just put cheap Thomann nylon strings, A,D,G and B there and tune G a half tone lower. With re-entrant A at least your baritone should be able to produce all those notes just fine. I did not notice that, thought you just had forgotten caps with A.

It is just that with the normal baritone tuning I have variation between the standard ukulele tuning, C and G. If combining soprano with that tuned baritone, might be a good idea. Then again with G6 tuning you get different chord shapes that might work better. Or try that D6 with low A to get some bass notes along with soprano.
 
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