Help! U-Bass Tuning

Martinlover

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Trying out Luna steel string U Bass. For the life of me I can not tune this thing. Every tuner says something different and my phone tuner for bass has the E string (4th and fattest) so floppy, it is unplayable. I am afraid to over crank. I did take a ukulele bass workshop a year ago but the basses were already tuned. Any help would be great.
 
Possibly tuned an octave too low? IIRC, the wound string Lunas are tuned an octave higher than a normal bass, and the flooby stringed Lunas are tuned normally. You should be able to check your model on Lunas site.

So I think you want E2 A2 D3 E3 for Luna instead of E1 A1 D2 E2. Some (but unfortunately not all) phone tuners will tell the octave as well as the note. I use TE Tuner (iOS, paid). I don’t know offhand which free apps do this, but I think they’re out there.
 
Yes, it could very well need to be tuned to the higher octave, called a Piccolo bass. I just received a custom 23" scale bass from Fanner in South Africa with strings that also require a higher octave, so I'm changing them to Gold Tone/ La Bella 25" flat wound to get the lower octave, and I don't at all like round wound strings.


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Sometimes the low E does not have enough energy. Try fretting at the twelfth to see if you get a clearer tone.
 
As other have stated, I seem to recall that the Luna Bass ukes were tuned an octave higher than a regular bass, like the bottom four strings of a guitar.
 
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