Which ukulele size is most suitable for GCEA tuning with an unwound low G string?

As a Christmas present, I've asked for a set of Living Water strings for 5-string tenor, not because I have a 5-string but because I want to try out linear tuning while also getting a new high G string as a back-up in case I don't like the low G string (although in that case, I might try a wound low G string before going back to high G).

My biggest worry is the fact that I've read a few posts on this forum where people have said they find unwound low G strings "boomy", presumably because the tension is low. I see that Living Water also offer a custom linear GCEA set for baritone, as do PhD and probably others. The increased tension at baritone scale length would presumably stop any "boominess", so would a baritone be more suitable than a tenor for GCEA tuning with an unwound low G string? Or would it have its own drawbacks?

You might think that stringing a baritone higher than the range it was designed for wouldn't bring out the best in it, but plenty of people tune their baritones to re-entrant dGBE and lose the same amount of range at the bottom end. So what about the top end? Would the high A string cause any problems at baritone scale length? If not, what's the point of jumbo tenors? They're basically baritones but with tenor scale length in order to accommodate the higher GCEA tuning, but is this really necessary?

Your overthinking this. Low strings are wound for a reason. Technical reasons. If you insist on using an unwound string in place of a standard wound string then there will compromises.
Perfection is not an option.
The truth is no more complicated than this.

It's certainly a personal preference but I've never found an unwound low G that sounded even remotely as good as a wound low G. The unwound low Gs were dull and horrid. With that said, you can learn to control string balance with practice. I strike the 4th string more lightly and dig a bit more in as I strum towards the first and second strings.

To add some confusion (and with much respect for Peter Kun Frary), I prefer unwound to wound, both for feel and lack of squeak. To me differences in sound seemed determined more by brand (Fremont, Romero, etc.) than wound/unwound.

The biggest drawback to unwound for me is having to change the nut slot, which makes switching back to high g more difficult. This isn't an issue on dedicated linear instruments, but I have some where my preference makes me I go back and forth between re-entrant and linear.

For sizes, tenors seem to be the most popular for low G. Concerts less so. Sopranos still less. Baritones are a more complicated question because the choice between GCEA and DGBE tunings. I think in that case (actually in all cases) you should just experiment and see what you like. In my experience, no single tuning would be satisfactory on every baritone. What works for one instrument with one set of strings will not be the same for another. In that sense, I agree with anthonyg: you'll likely find out what works better by trial and error than by theory.

gochugogi said:

It's certainly a personal preference but I've never found an unwound low G that sounded even remotely as good as a wound low G. The unwound low Gs were dull and horrid. With that said, you can learn to control string balance with practice. I strike the 4th string more lightly and dig a bit more in as I strum towards the first and second strings.

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Good advice from Peter. Low G strings can be boomy if played with the same attack as the other 3 strings. I'm nowhere as accomplished a player as Peter, but am working on this same thing with low G: learning to hit the low G softer, or not at all for my strumming style.

I set up one of my concert ukes to play lo G and I like it. A tenor might sound better, but I can't reach a lot of the chords with a tenor neck....

I'd recommend tenor. Baritone is ok too but I usually like to reserve baritone for lower tunings

I don't like wound low G strings because they sound so different from the plain strings, and often don't last long. I use a red low G with nylguts and don't find it overly boomy on the tenor, though I appreciate the extra few notes for some songs. Lastly no string manufacturer unwinds their strings, there are only wound and plain strings.

merlin666 said:

I don't like wound low G strings because they sound so different from the plain strings, and often don't last long. I use a red low G with nylguts and don't find it overly boomy on the tenor, though I appreciate the extra few notes for some songs. Lastly no string manufacturer unwinds their strings, there are only wound and plain strings.

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If it makes you feel better, the "un" in "unwound" is meant to express "not" rather than to reverse or undo.

rafter said:

If it makes you feel better, the "un" in "unwound" is meant to express "not" rather than to reverse or undo.

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Yeah just like the infamous unthawing of items.

merlin666 said:

Yeah just like the infamous unthawing of items.

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What, you lost me there. Maybe you're suggesting "un" always operates the same way as a prefix? You know that prefixes work differently in different contexts, sometimes even with the same word, right?

I'm not sure how many people you run into who think unwound strings are strings that manufacturers have wound and then unwound (in the reverse/undo sense), so maybe you thought that caution was necessary. But I thought that was an odd gripe.

From a technical perspective, if you want to stay with an unwound string, that means you're going to have less mass per unit length than is possible with a wound string. To make up for it in terms of tension and tone, a longer scale length is better, all else equal. So - tenor or baritone.

In terms of choosing the specific instrument, look for something with peghead and bridge designs that allow for a sharper break angle over the witness points (saddle and nut). Break angle does not directly impact the actual tension a string is under, but it does impact compliance, which is basically what most players perceive as tension - stiffness might be a better word, though. A string with higher break angles will feel stiffer, and on a lower mass unwound string, a stiffer feel will keep things more balanced with other strings, which will help create a sensation of even-ness as you're playing the instrument.

So, for tuning to low G with an unwound string, my preference would be a tenor or baritone with any/all of the following features: slightly higher than usual headstock angle, slotted head vs tuning pegs, and/or pegs located closer to the nut - all of which contribute to a sharper break angle. And, a bridge designed with string anchor points close behind the saddle and as low down as possible, to get a better break angle on the saddle (classical-guitar style saddles with tie bars are great for this, compared to most other styles).

Regarding your comments about jumbo tenors vs baritones - yes, I think on the basis of strings and tunings alone you are correct. However, I'm sure there are many people who go after a jumbo tenor (versus a baritone) for other reasons than the tuning they plan to use - such as the playability or feel of the shorter scale neck, but the tone and volume of the larger body. Often, I think people attribute differences in tone between standard uke sizes to the differences in scale length - which certainly contributes, but the difference in body size and soundhole size is a major factor, too.

I run a soprano with unwound low G. It's fine. I like the tonality and durability of monofilament. I don't dislike wound low G stings, however. I just prefer mono. I use Fremont black. Tried Aquila Red before, worked fine, but the texture is weird to me, they feel almost like paper.

Tim E said:

I run a soprano with unwound low G. It's fine. I like the tonality and durability of monofilament. I don't dislike wound low G stings, however. I just prefer mono. I use Fremont black. Tried Aquila Red before, worked fine, but the texture is weird to me, they feel almost like paper.

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Same. Currently a Worth Clear on a soprano. I've tried Fremont Black, and Pepe Romero Wound. I think I prefer the Fremont overall. My only issue is: I widened the nut slot just barely for the unwound low G. Little enough that it can switch to high g. But the low G intonation suffers because it's resting too high on the nut. It's not terrible, and I compensate by tuning the 4th string at the 2nd fret (so it's only a little off at the 1st and open, and up the 3rd, 4th...). The amount it's off decreases up the neck. I can widen/deepen the slot more, to get the intonation just right, but then I'm kinda committed (baking soda and glue notwithstanding). Even though I think it sounds amazing, I'm afraid to commit.

anthonyg said:

Your overthinking this. Low strings are wound for a reason. Technical reasons. If you insist on using an unwound string in place of a standard wound string then there will compromises.
Perfection is not an option.
The truth is no more complicated than this.

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Whether a wound or plain string is more suitable depends not only on the note of the open string but also on the scale length. On the longer scale length of a classical guitar, plain G strings are standard. There will also be a range of scale lengths over which wound and plain strings work similarly well. The question is where the end of this range lies.

dwizum said:

So, for tuning to low G with an unwound string, my preference would be a tenor or baritone with any/all of the following features: slightly higher than usual headstock angle, slotted head vs tuning pegs, and/or pegs located closer to the nut - all of which contribute to a sharper break angle. And, a bridge designed with string anchor points close behind the saddle and as low down as possible, to get a better break angle on the saddle (classical-guitar style saddles with tie bars are great for this, compared to most other styles).

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Wow! So many variables that I hadn't even considered!

Update after three and a half months of playing with the plain low-G string:

I much prefer low-G tuning for playing melodies and arpeggios because you have a decent range without having to jump up and down the neck. On the other hand, when strumming, yes, the plain low-G string is a little "boomy" when played unfretted. When playing in G, I actually find it OK to have the tonic note droning away louder than the others, but it can be a little annoying in other keys. With a capo on the 2nd fret, the "boominess" is much less and is no longer annoying; on the 5th fret, it's gone completely. This suggests that the "boominess" isn't just caused by the lower tension of the plain low-G string but is at least partly due to being close to the air resonance.

What I've found annoys me much more about low-G tuning is the fact that when changing between an A and a D chord in first position, both the highest and the lowest notes stay the same, which makes most songs in the key of A or D sound pretty rubbish. When playing in D, you might think that you could get around this by playing A7-D instead of A-D. Apart from the fact that a V7 chord doesn't always work in the place of a V chord, the G in the A7 chord desperately wants to resolve down a semitone to the F# in the D chord as it does in high-G tuning, but of course it can't (when played in first position). Obviously these issues will always be present in low-G tuning regardless of whether you use a plain or wound low-G string. They will also be present in Lili'u tuning, i.e. with a high-G but a low-A string. Does this annoy anyone else who plays in low-G tuning?

So I'm now planning to go back to high-G tuning on my tenor, and I'm thinking that if I want to get away from the "plinkiness" of high-G tuning, then the best way might be cuatro tuning, i.e. with both a low-G and a low-A string. That would be best suited to a baritone, right?

High g, low g, and cuatro all have their place - so I keep at least one uke in each.

Cuatro can be done on any size but you might have to experiment with strings. My cuatro uke is tenor scale but tuned to Eb instead of C so it is really Bb Eb G C. Those pitches are pretty easy to find for tenor scale and they are all unwound strings. GCEA wouldn't be hard to do for tenor either but you might need wound strings for G and A, especially the A unless you want to do work on the nut.

merlin666 said:

Yeah just like the infamous unthawing of items.

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A genuine lol! Love it. I hadn't heard that one before. Cracked me up.

I find wound Low-G and C strings to have a "Whang! Whang!" sound to them when strummed, that overpower the other strings. No matter how lightly I play them.

When plucked fingerstyle, it is not as pronounced and I actually like a wound Low-G on some of my tenors. But I hate the squeak from moving my fingers on the strings.

I really like plain Living Waters Low-G fluorocarbon strings. I don't hear "booming" that others do unless I intentionally play the Low-G hard. The LW sets are my "go-to" strings of choice. But they aren't right for all tenors. They sounded dead and listless on my Martin 1T IZ.