Low G on a Flight Travel Soprano

Wiggy

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I tune my sopranos GDAE, same pitch as violin and mandolin. I have had good success with a Caramel CS419, which sounds great plugged in, and a "non-tattoo" Luna Pineapple. I use a D'Addario .028w for low G.

I'm looking at a Flight Travel uke as an all-weather player. My concern is whether a low G will 'sound out' well.

Will the compensated saddle make low G intonation iffy? None of my instruments have a compensated saddle, so I don't know what to expect.

-Wiggy
 
I've heard that Flight recommends not using metallic strings - I'm assuming it wears the plastic frets. So an unwound low G would be your safest bet. Not sure about intonation issues though.
 
Good point about plastic fret wear. I hadn't thought of that. Hmmm... that is going to be a fat string.

I googled "non wound low G soprano ukulele string" and found that an Aquila Red 70U will do it.

Thanks for the tip! I think my Flight is going to be a blue one :)
 
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Oops. I already ordered Red 70Us from Strings by mail. Oh well, they will be good to try on my other Sopranos. I see LaBella also has an .036 unwound.

BTW - I can't see in the pics; does the Flight Travel Soprano come with a strap button on the bottom? I do use a strap.

<edit> I will be calling Uke Republic Monday morning... bought one.

BTW, the Aquila Red .036" turned out to be perfect as low G on my Tenor. All's well that ends well!

*** Reds on mt Tenor didn't end well. The 'reds' were very abrasive and were wearing down my frets. Went back to D'Addario .029w from a classical set ***
 
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I just checked my drawer and Worth makes a clear low g as well. Haven't tried it yet so can't comment. The unwound low G's can be a bit muddy sounding sometimes.

My TUSL-35 has a strap button, but I can't recall if the TUS-35 has one.
 
Getting a fat string into the nut slot would be another issue. Unless something has changed, the nut is molded into the instrument. So if you mess up the widening, it cracks, etc. during the adjustment, it might be done for...unless some tedious repair is done somehow. I just don't think it's a good uke for what you're wanting to do, due to the fretboard. Actually, it's hard for me to imagine any soprano working well with an unwound low G...even wound is a stretch. I know some have done it though. That's my 2 cents.
 
Getting a fat string into the nut slot would be another issue. Unless something has changed, the nut is molded into the instrument. So if you mess up the widening, it cracks, etc. during the adjustment, it might be done for...unless some tedious repair is done somehow. I just don't think it's a good uke for what you're wanting to do, due to the fretboard. Actually, it's hard for me to imagine any soprano working well with an unwound low G...even wound is a stretch. I know some have done it though. That's my 2 cents.

I just checked mine. The nut slots are all evenly sized so I tried to see if the low G would fit, but unfortunately not.

As a side note, I did drill some side fret markers into mine (the original painted markers wore off in a few weeks) and the plastic is pretty soft, so it's probably easy to file out the nut slot if you're willing to risk modifying a non-replaceable nut on a brand new instrument.
 
BTW - I can't see in the pics; does the Flight Travel Soprano come with a strap button on the bottom? I do use a strap..

My TUS-35 did not come with any strap buttons.
 
Well, then. I'm glad I asked for advice, and I do appreciate all the responses.

What makes me pause is: no bottom strap button, irreversible nut mod, unpredictable intonation with low G on compensated saddle, unwound low G likely muffled with no option to experiment with wound due to fragile frets.

I'll stick with what already works for me.

-Wiggy

<edit> Uke Republic responded: Flight Travel now comes with a bottom strap button, and they can put a Fremont Low G on it before shipping.
 
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Well, then. I'm glad I asked for advice, and I do appreciate all the responses.

What stops me is: no bottom strap button, irreversible nut mod, unpredictable intonation with low G on compensated saddle, unwound low G likely muffled with no option to experiment with wound due to fragile frets.

I'll stick with what already works for me.

-Wiggy

I think it a wise choice to accept leaving this Flight as re-entrant instrument. However I would question comments about the nut as IIRC this instrument has a zero fret and string guides. As for a strap button, well I wouldn’t advise fitting one but Dolphin’s have some similarities and I have successfully attached an ordinary strap to a few of them - IIRC the details of how that was done are recorded somewhere here on UU. The saddle is compensated and the bridge slot might not take a non wound G. The frets will likely wear with some strings but if you can afford the time and money to experiment then the Flight might adapt well enough for your purposes and not be too big a loss - if a loss at all - if it does not. Why not try say a low G Fremont Black Line, and then see what happens and decide whether you can live with that (probably imperfect) result?

Edit. Whilst I remember a report with pictures on Cosmos showed failed slots in the plastic bridge. Conversion to through soundboard stringing got around the issue.
 
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Another idea to try would be to stick to normal soprano or concert strings and rearrange the high G set so that you use the C string as the 4th, the E string becomes your 3rd; the G string as your 2nd and the A string stays in place. The tension might get floppy, but if you're not playing with others then you could tune a step up to compensate.
 
This is how I achieve Mandolin tuning on a soprano with moderate tension and good balance.

E .016 LaBella RN016 - Requires a smooth "ramp off" at the nut due to its thinness. Also, no burrs on the saddle! ;)
A .024 D'addario NYL024
D .0318 D'addario J3002
G .028w D'addario J6801 Hopefully, the Fremont Low G will respond well on the Flight.

-Wiggy

<edit> Today (4-Jan), I ordered from Uke Republic a Flight Travel TUS-55 Mango Soprano, with Low G installed. The '55 has a strap button and a non-compensated saddle. It is supposed to arrive on 8 Jan...

Here's hoping!
 
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I have a Flight Travel Soprano, but with the long, Concert-sized neck (i.e. TUSL series, not TUS series). So it has the same body as a TUS, but the neck is a few inches longer. Still very portable.

It came with a strap button and a high-g string. I replaced the stock Aquila Nylgut strings with Worth Clear fluorocarbons, including a low-g string. The low-g string was a very tight fit for the bridge slot, but it could be squeezed in with some effort. I find the Worth low-g string to be a little muddy but acceptable on the TUSL. Don't know how well it work on the shorter neck of a TUS.

The bags that come with Flight travel ukes are pretty flimsy. If you actually plan to travel with it, you might consider getting a Flight-branded padded bag with a pocket; they go for $20 at sheetmusicplus.com
 
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To tidy up the thread:

Strung it for GDAE. The Freemont Black low G felt floppy, so I changed it to Freemont Clear Low G. Same .036 gauge. The Clear feels, and sounds, more "definite" to me. A plus is that I can easily see the clear as I look along the edge of the fretboard.

Some notes:

The Frets are a bit shallow. Fret height over fretboard measures .025" - my other two Sopranos measured .034" and .033" height. This may be good in the long run, as it will force me fret more accurately and with a lighter touch :) Barred chords slide easily.

It has a round and bold tone with good string balance - I am liking it. Speaking of round; due to the bowl shape, I have to hold it up higher up on my chest. That's OK, though.

<edit> The sustain is pretty good, but not great. This is a weather-proof instrument, after all. It's bold voice up throught the 5th fret makes up for that. Done.
 
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