Baritone strung tenor...pros and cons

Anyone done this? Pros and cons?

I've had sops, concerts and tenors. I sometimes wish my tenors sounded bigger, but still in reentrant, high G. Only had 1 bari, a Kala with standard bari strings/tuning, and it just didn't float my boat, sounded too low and guitar-like for my ear. How about a bari strung tenor GCEA?

Not for me. I want the lower tunings for baritone as the higher tunings are well covered in the smaller sizes. How about reentrant dGBE?

My biggest problem with it has been strings snapping. I'd experiment with it more if I found strings that were durable enough.

Ukecaster said:

How about a bari strung tenor GCEA?

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Sorry. What? You've completely lost me.
I fit a Baritone string set to my tenors and tune them E,A,C#,F# and it sound s great but I don't think that's what your talking about yet I'm not sure what you are trying to describe anyway.

Jim Hanks said:

How about reentrant dGBE?

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I like this idea as well...

I had my tenor reso strung with re-entrant GHS CU-BTR baritone for ukulele strings developed with Craig Chee. I was super nervous about filing the nut to get them strung, but was rather pleased with them (although I don't recommend them for reso). I ended up taking them off because they weren't right for that particular uke, but I plan on using them on a different tenor and would highly recommend them. They brought some of the richness I love in a bari without losing the sweetness a uke has but guitar lacks. Here is the video for those strings so you can hear them: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C4wIPa_H-Zg

Tenors sound better tuned reentrant dgbe. And. It's easy to do without new set of strings. Get a wound d string for a classical guitar, and use that as your low g. Then, your e string becomes d, your c becomes b and your g string becomes d.

Worked for Lyle Ritz.

Currently, m one tenor is tuned like a cuatro, as I'm trying to copy Cliff Edwards. But that's another discussion.

Ukecaster said:

Anyone done this? Pros and cons?

I've had sops, concerts and tenors. I sometimes wish my tenors sounded bigger, but still in reentrant, high G. Only had 1 bari, a Kala with standard bari strings/tuning, and it just didn't float my boat, sounded too low and guitar-like for my ear. How about a bari strung tenor GCEA?

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Take one of your tenors and tune it down to B or Bb. The lower string tension will give you more sustain and a warmer sound. It’s an easy experiment and might just be the ticket. I have two tenors that stay at those tunings because they sound best like that.

But to get a bigger gcea sound you can string a baritone like that with the right string set.

DownUpDave said:

But to get a bigger gcea sound you can string a baritone like that with the right string set.

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Any recommendations for a durable set? I'm sure there have been some discussions about GCEA strings for baritones, but I've had difficulty finding a set that sounds good and doesn't have an A string prone to breaking.

Ukecaster said:

Apparently, there are strings sets specially made to provide standard reentrant GCEA tenor tuning on baritone ukes.

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Aquila offers their New Nylgut, Super Nylgut and Lava strings with GCEA tuning for baritone. I don't know of any other brand that specifically does this. Southern Ukulele Store have a custom baritone string set for GCEA tuning with a low G. They are D'Addario nylon and wound nylon, possibly meant for classical guitar originally.

I bought a Pono ABSH-SP Spruce/Acacia and restrung it with Uke Logic Low gCEA after watching with the HMS crew testing out the new Uke Logic Baritone strings. It sounds great but I was hoping to have a bigger deeper sound since the body is bigger. I don't think it sounds bigger or that much deeper. Really sounds more like a tenor but with a larger scale 19 in scale. I wonder if that sound would be bigger on a different brand of baritone. I sometimes feel that Ponos are a bit overbuilt and are not as loud as other ukulele's at that price point or higher.

When you get a Uke Logic Strings from HMS they give you an extra A string in case it breaks. I don't really think it would break. The tension feels good, more of a softer tension. Really nice sounding too.

Just wanted to add my 2 cents.

Dohle said:

Aquila offers their New Nylgut, Super Nylgut and Lava strings with GCEA tuning for baritone. I don't know of any other brand that specifically does this. Southern Ukulele Store have a custom baritone string set for GCEA tuning with a low G. They are D'Addario nylon and wound nylon, possibly meant for classical guitar originally.

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I haven't tried all of them, but I've had bad luck with Aquilas for breaking. I haven't tried the D'Addarios.

deznuchs said:

I bought a Pono ABSH-SP Spruce/Acacia and restrung it with Uke Logic Low gCEA after watching with the HMS crew testing out the new Uke Logic Baritone strings. It sounds great but I was hoping to have a bigger deeper sound since the body is bigger. I don't think it sounds bigger or that much deeper. Really sounds more like a tenor but with a larger scale 19 in scale. I wonder if that sound would be bigger on a different brand of baritone. I sometimes feel that Ponos are a bit overbuilt and are not as loud as other ukulele's at that price point or higher.

When you get a Uke Logic Strings from HMS they give you an extra A string in case it breaks. I don't really think it would break. The tension feels good, more of a softer tension. Really nice sounding too.

Just wanted to add my 2 cents.

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I was going to order some baritone GCEA Uke Logic sets, but Joel's said he pulled them from the site until he can make them a bit more durable. He did offer some with extra As, but I think I'll wait instead of worrying about strings snapping.

I have a Pono chambered body tenor that I love and have loved for years now. I also have a similar baritone version that I similarly love.

Here’s the deal. The tenor is on the mainland and the baritone in Hawaii. When I’m on the mainland I play my tenor but I often tune it down to baritone tuning that is from low g c e a to low d g b e. So you think the strings would be flopping all over the place. Nope. No problem. What kind of strings? Probably Southcoast. I forget. (Someone asked the great Motown bassist how often he changed his strings. He answered, “Never.”)

Why do I tune it up and down? Depends on what I want for my voice or with whom I’m playing. Sometimes I tune it in between.

So my point is that if you find a set of strings that work for you, you have many options. Experiment. You might be lucky like I am.

My latest experiment that I love is that when I’m playing rhythm with just chords I use GCEA or DGBE tuning because I learned my chord fingerings that way, but when I want to play lead or record a lead part I tune my baritone, D G C F or my tenor G C F A#. Why? Because I’m mostly a bass player who knows his chord tones, all of them, very well on the bass. I don’t have to fiddle around to find them with the difference between bass and tenor or baritones tuning. The tones are always where I expect to find them on the bass. A flatted third, flatted fifth or flatted seventh or a ninth or thirteenth are where I need them. You see for me, I follow the advice of Carol Kaye, the brilliant guitarist and bassist; I don’t waste my time with scales; I know my chord tones. I don’t need to know the notes of the scale that don’t fit the chord. I can use the seconds, fourths and sixths as passing tones if I want scale tones. Chromatic approaches are chromatic approaches from above or below. No scales involved.

snowdenn said:

I was going to order some baritone GCEA Uke Logic sets, but Joel's said he pulled them from the site until he can make them a bit more durable. He did offer some with extra As, but I think I'll wait instead of worrying about strings snapping.

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Oh I didn't know Joel pulled them. I was looking for them and noticed that they weren't there. I just figured they were sold out. I haven't had an issue with them thus far. But due to my severe UAS, I recently got a Kanile'a KSE-T and that has gotten most of my attention...

I have an AMIGO Tenor, made in Romania.
I have strung it with Classical Guitar Strings. D, E, A, D
Tuned to G, C, E, A

The result is a long sustain and it plays one full octave below standard.

If it doesn’t sound or play different from my other ukuleles, I don’t want it.
Tracy