Tenor tuned bari question: strings

rorym said:

Yes it is. Besides being the most expensive ukulele, it’s also my first ukulele with a wide nut. For me, it’s much more playable than the baritone I used to own. I have biggish fingers, but not much span - and early attempt at piano went nowhere - so this is a good compromise. I may gradually upgrade my entire collection to ukes with wide nuts.

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i guess since this is “my” thread, I can hijack it with impunity. As luck would have it, the first nice uke that I wanted, sought, and bought, was a Kiwaya and I didn’t even know that was a factor in why I liked it. Ukecaster has also measured the spread of a number of ukes. My Kala Elite has the widest spread, and it’s great for finger style. My Kiwayas have less and I like them for strumming. But they can all do either.

I’m going to look into those Fremont strings.

Sharpshin, I envy you that Winderkammer. I also might try those GHS strings. But don’t let your sopranos get lonely.

Thanks for letting me go off topic! For me the bari-tuned tenor is entirely for fingerpicking. I’ve been working on slack key tunes of late, and most tunes are written for the guitar. The low D reduces the brain load when transposing tunes to the ukulele.

Enjoy your adventure.

rorym said:

I just bari-tuned my new Fight Phantom. I used a set of tenor dGBE Fremont blacklines along with a Fremont soloist for the low D.

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It seems that D would be very floppy, is it?

Ukecaster said:

It seems that D would be very floppy, is it?

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I was originally worried about that. Two things allowed me to go ahead with the attempt. First I read, probably here on UU after a search, that it would work, and second I realized the Fremont Soloist is marketed as a low G for tenor, concert, and soprano. So I figured when tuned to D on a tenor it’d have about the same tension as a G on a soprano.

The soloist can be a bit boomy for my tastes as a low G on a tenor. It seems to be less so as a D. I’m far from being a professional level player, so others may well have different opinions.

Ok. Now I have tenor-baritone SAS. Thanks...I hate changing strings and now I hv a boxful of TB strings. Ha! I love this tenor tuned dGBE. So much fun.

Sharpshin said:

Ok. Now I have tenor-baritone SAS. Thanks...I hate changing strings and now I hv a boxful of TB strings. Ha! I love this tenor tuned dGBE. So much fun.

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What’s a SAS. Oh wait, got it. I’m afraid of catching that, too, especially in between Stringsbymail sales. I think I can get by with what I have. And I like mine, too.

Sharpshin said:

I believe the Boswell was intended to be played dGBE. I might give my baritone a new home now.

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I think you're right, Liam has several videos on his Instagram where he's playing Boswells in dGBE. Sounds great! I like dGBE on a tenor, and it also helped my girlfriend pick up the instrument as she could use the exact same chord shapes for guitar.

One word of advice to everyone: I got a tenor-specific Aquila dGBE set and the added string tension warped the top of my cheap Snail tenor. Not saying it will happen to you guys, but might be worth double checking the string tension before putting it on a more premium instrument.

After much experimenting, I settled on this. Strings 1,2 and 3 are the same pitch as Baritone:

E .0319 D'Addario J3002 (Fluorocarbon, needed for brightness)
B .036 Aquila Nylon From a generic set...
G .036 Aquila Red .036" (Copper infused)
- very stretchy at first, but settled in 3 days. I like it.

I tune #4 as r/e C. D'Addario Pro Arte J4603C - 3rd string (g) Composite .037

It looks like a mis-match, but I like the string balance, tension and feel.

-Wiggy