Another D tuning question

After countless hours spent appreciating Tobious Elofs music finesse, more importantly that incredible tone using vibrato, flawless finger work and D tuning to get that crystal clear sound, I wanted to experiment.
I previously owned A moon bird tenor and tried a thin gauge fluorocarbon string with little success (snapped overnight). I now play a concert moon bird and was wondering if I were to put tenor scale strings on and tune it to D6 would this compensate for the increased tension?
I’ve heard him mention in podcasts that he uses worth strings.
Anyone have any experience with D tuning in concert and tenor scales?
I’m aware you can by strings for this purpose but they all seem to be Aquila and I’m not a fan of their strings, I play slow and love the sound of fluorocarbons and would like to try and capture abit of that tobious magic for my own.

I did have a 16" concert tuned in D for awhile but it was with a Southcoast string set. You can't order these anymore of course but I might have a set or two left from the sell off.

I currently have a tenor guitalele in B-to-b reentrant tuning so the top four are the same as a reentrant D. I can point you to my formula if you're interested, but it was with Oasis fluorocarbons for strings 2,3,4 (I cant remember at the moment if those strings were from the warm or bright Oasis set) and a super thin string for the 1 "b" note. That may have been a SC string also but I know Living Water has one for this purpose too.

So yes, it can be done with off-the-shelf fluorocarbons and with moderate tension, but you have to get a little creative

GHS do a fluorocarbon set. Have a look at strings direct UK. Won’t let me post the link, as coming up as spam.

CliveyG said:

GHS do a fluorocarbon set. Have a look at strings direct UK. Won’t let me post the link, as coming up as spam.

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GHS is one of the few companies that makes strings for D tuning specifically, besides Aquila of course. Their fluorocarbon and nylon D tuning sets are meant for soprano and concert, I believe, but can probably be fitted for a tenor as well, although obviously the tension will probably be lower.

Worth has some low tension strings that you can tune up to D tuning but those are only for soprano and concert scales if I recall correctly. Again, you could probably fit them on a tenor regardless but you might not be able to get two sets of strings from one pack because of the scale length meaning that the strings would be quite expensive.

I've been thinking of trying D tuning on some of my ukes, but wonder if it's "safe" to tune up a whole step on a Concert or Tenor ukulele. Could there be a risk of warping the top, or loosening braces, or even pulling the bridge off? I assume these wouldn't be an issue, since D tuning is popular in a lot of places, and I've never heard of any special requirements or precautions for using D tuning.

Can I safely tune my ukes up a whole step with Living Water, Worth Clear, or Oasis Bright strings? Or, should I look for low tension strings or strings made specifically for D tuning?

I want to try D tuning, but I'm afraid to take the step (no pun intended).

Steedy said:

Can I safely tune my ukes up a whole step with Living Water, Worth Clear, or Oasis Bright strings? Or, should I look for low tension strings or strings made specifically for D tuning?

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To expand on my post above, for my tenor guitalele, I used 3 strings from a standard Oasis bright set (rearranged) and a specialty string (Southcoast I think, but Living Water has a similar one) for the high b.

The notes are A4 D4 F#4 B4. So I used the normal 1st string (A4) as my 4th string, the normal 4th string (G4) as my 2nd string (F#4) and the normal 2nd string (E4) as my 3rd string (D4). The specialty string is normally used as a high C5 string in a 6-string or 8-string tenor configuration and I have it tuned down to B4. So 3 of the strings are lower tension than they would normally be used and one is the same. So no worries in terms of tension. I wanted to err on the side of safety (plus I generally like lower tension anyway) so that's why I went to this much trouble.

If I had a soprano uke I probably would want to try D tuning with appropriate string set. But not for larger sizes.

If you want D tuning on a tenor, tune to C and put a capo on the second fret.

Tootler said:

If you want D tuning on a tenor, tune to C and put a capo on the second fret.

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No

(Then you have a concert scale D)

Jim Hanks said:

No

(Then you have a concert scale D)

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Hahahaha! Good point, Jim!

Tootler, your suggestion is very well-taken, needless to say, but I think what's missing from the capo approach (in the specific context of this thread) is the extra tension and "zing" we get when we actually crank the strings up to ADF#B in their open positions. I think James Hill sometimes tunes his tenor up to ADF#B, and seems to have no adverse consequences. I've not done that on a tenor, but I love a soprano in that tuning!

Jim Hanks said:

To expand on my post above, for my tenor guitalele, I used 3 strings from a standard Oasis bright set (rearranged) and a specialty string (Southcoast I think, but Living Water has a similar one) for the high b.

The notes are A4 D4 F#4 B4. So I used the normal 1st string (A4) as my 4th string, the normal 4th string (G4) as my 2nd string (F#4) and the normal 2nd string (E4) as my 3rd string (D4). The specialty string is normally used as a high C5 string in a 6-string or 8-string tenor configuration and I have it tuned down to B4. So 3 of the strings are lower tension than they would normally be used and one is the same. So no worries in terms of tension. I wanted to err on the side of safety (plus I generally like lower tension anyway) so that's why I went to this much trouble.

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This is great! Thanks for the explanation, Jim.