Baritone Ukulele?

The question of what makes a ukulele a "ukulele" has always been a highly debated topic. In it's simplest form a soprano tuned GCEA seems to be the norm. It has 4 nylon strings and is tuned GCEA. But some ukes have 5 strings, some have 6, heck some have 8. Then there is low G, some have a wound G string some have a wound G and C string.

I think a baritone is still a ukulele because it is always referred to as a "baritone ukulele", not a tenor guitar not just a baritone because there are baritone guitars. Would tuning up a baritone to GCEA then make it an official ukulele. What happen when I tune my tenor ukulele down to B or Bb is it no longer a ukulele. How about my long neck tenor, the 19" scale length was the old standard Kamaka barione scale length.

I take my baritone to a Uke Jam so that makes it a ukulele. I would probably get thrown out of a guitar circle if I showed up with my baritone ukulele. But yea it does certainly sound like a guitar, I'll give you that.
 
I guess I will give my own 2cents on this topic. My understanding is that instruments evolve based on what customers are looking for. The tenor guitar some say evolved to allow 4 string banjo players to double on guitar There is evidence of many variations of th in gs for tenor guitars. I am unsure of the reason why or how the tenor guitar market grew. The ukulele market has been exploding for a few years now and I believe builders are responding to the demand and I think one of the biggest segments of the market are people like me - seniors who were former guitarists but no longer play guitar. For me the physical dimensions of the instrument dictate playability. Soprano I love but is too small for my fingers, so I have settled on soprano with concert scale neck. I also have a baritone to play the blues. But I don’t think my baritone as a guitar. I don’t want it to sound like a guitar. I don’t want the steel strings; if I did I would just go buy a tenor guitar. But I know a few people who would buy a ukulele looking for that guitar sound - whether for classical music, Spanish music or any other style. So the market moves towards those demands and we tend to find cross overs. But I don’t see anyone setting out to make a ukulele calling the end product a tenor guitar or visa versa. I am very happy that I can hunt out instruments that give me the sound I want in the size I want.
 
If I remember correctly (which I almost never do anymore), I was talking about size and tuning. It is larger than the other ukes, it is tuned somewhat like a guitar and one has to fret the notes differently from the “normal“ ukes, but the other ukes are all tuned alike and also sound differently from each other. I know a baritone uke doesn’t sound like a guitar, but I still think a Baritone is more Guitar than Ukulele.
 
If I remember correctly (which I almost never do anymore), I was talking about size and tuning. It is larger than the other ukes, it is tuned somewhat like a guitar and one has to fret the notes differently from the “normal“ ukes, but the other ukes are all tuned alike and also sound differently from each other. I know a baritone uke doesn’t sound like a guitar, but I still think a Baritone is more Guitar than Ukulele.
I look at my Baritones and very big ukuleles, just like a soprano o is a very little one. I have one tuned in GCEA and another tuned in DGBE and sometimes I tune either Olof then as well as my concert scale infifths. For me I don’t like ukues I. Steel string and try to avoid classic guitar wood combinations. But I still feel like I am
Playing a uke
 
I look at my Baritones and very big ukuleles, just like a soprano o is a very little one. I have one tuned in GCEA and another tuned in DGBE and sometimes I tune either Olof then as well as my concert scale infifths. For me I don’t like ukues I. Steel string and try to avoid classic guitar wood combinations. But I still feel like I am
Playing a uke
I would say that the one tuned GCEA is a baritone ukulele. The other would seem (to me) more like a guitar.

I have a beautiful, tenor sized “Banjolele” (now) tuned GCEA which has steel strings. I haven’t played it much so it looks almost new.
I don’t know what would call it.
 
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I would say that the one tuned GCEA is a baritone ukulele. The other would seem (to me) more like a guitar.

I have a beautiful, tenor sized “Banjolele” (now) tuned GCEA which has steel strings. I haven’t played it much so it looks almost new.
I don’t know what would call it.
I agree that I want to play a ukulele and if it doesn’t sound like it to my ears then it’s a guitar! Happy playing.
 
I don't have the perspective of ever practicing on a proper guitar, so ukuleles are all I know. To me baritone ukes and tenor guitars are the same thing. Yes, the tenor guitar is twangier and louder and the baritone is warmer but I treat them exactly the same and play the same stuff on both.
 
I don't have the perspective of ever practicing on a proper guitar, so ukuleles are all I know. To me baritone ukes and tenor guitars are the same thing. Yes, the tenor guitar is twangier and louder and the baritone is warmer but I treat them exactly the same and play the same stuff on both.
Surely not exactly the same, or are we talking about TENOR GUITARS VS. BARITONE UKULELES now?
 
To those of you with baritone ukuleles tuned to GCEA. How do they sound? Are they much lower in pitch than a tenor uke for instance? I’m considering a change.
 
Good timing on new posts. I stopped at local music store Thursday for a 2 inch strap(which is so much better for me than the 1.5 I bought online. Topic for different thread). And they had a Yamaha JR1& JR2 on sale. Didn't have a chance to try one as clerk busy and guitars locked on rack. The JR1 looked close to my baritones size and I still want to go back someday and just try it for fun. Hopefully I won't like it as it's enough for this old man to learn four strings instead of six. If makers label inside says ukulele it's a ukulele, If it says guitar it's a guitar.
 
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Surely not exactly the same, or are we talking about TENOR GUITARS VS. BARITONE UKULELES now?

that is what I meant to say. They're the same size, same tuning, and they only differ in timbre a bit. I see that others make a big deal about the difference...me, not so much. I use them the same and play them the same, and play the same things on each. I note the difference as a footnote of sorts but it doesn't affect my behavior in the slightest. It is similar to different woods. Some people can expatiate to no ends about the difference between spruce and koa. Me, I just play what I play on whatever I'm playing. As long as the notes intone correctly, I don't really mind what nuance the instrument imparts.
 
I spoke with Tom Favilla years ago in regards to an early baritone I had. He said it was an early model built by his grandfather in the old factory. They started building them to be used by young students learning guitar and evolved from there. Arthur Godfrey popularized the instrument and at first used Favillas but after a rebellious argument, which he was known for, he went with Vega instruments. It is still a sore spot with the Favillas that Godfrey claimed to have invented the baritone. Martins first baritone came out in 1960. Favillas came out in very late '40's or early '50's.

A bit of history from Uke Magazine. great-ukes-the-birth-of-the-baritone
 
Surely the timbre is more appropriate for classifying an instrument than the tuning. A 6-steel-string guitar is still a guitar whether it's tuned EADGBE, DADGAD, or one of the open tunings. A tenor guitar is not a tenor banjo, even though they may both be tuned in fifths (e.g., CGDA). Imo, a banjolele is not a ukulele even though it may be tuned like one. And a bass ukulele is not a bass guitar or a double bass, even though they are tuned identically.

I personally do not consider any short scale steel string instrument to be a ukulele, but i do consider baritone ukuleles to be ukes -- the fact that they are tuned a fifth lower than a non-reentrant tenor uke doesn't move them out of the ukulele category.

Of course, there are exceptions to any categorization. Most people would classify a classical guitar as a guitar despite the timbre difference or the fact that some have more than 6 strings. Fortunately, English has adjectives to cover such situations. So soprano, concert, tenor, and baritone ukes are all ukuleles -- after all, they all have the same last name ;-)
 
Surely not exactly the same, or are we talking about TENOR GUITARS VS. BARITONE UKULELES now?

Maybe I'm missing something here... but I thought tenor guitars always have steel strings... Right?

And looking at the time stamps on the posts above, I'm tempted to ask: Is this the kind of question that keeps you up at night?
 
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Maybe I'm missing something here... but I thought tenor guitars always have steel strings... Right?

And looking at the time stamps on the posts above, I'm tempted to ask: Is this the kind of question that keeps you up at night?
I am a notoriously good sleeper but for that 5 minutes before I succumb to the blandishments of morpheus I do keep up at night. And I do ponder why I don't ponder. Why don't I see a big difference between steel-stringed tenor guitar and the FC strings of the baritone uke, when I know darn well that people whose opinions I cherish do make a big deal about it?
 
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