soprano low G

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casualmusic

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Hi all.

Is low G practical on soprano ukuleles? String makers list low G sets for concerts and tenors but not for sopranos. The single wound string recommended by the music store feels limp and sounds unbalanced to the nylguts.

Which low G combinations do you like on sopranos?

Would it be better to switch the player to concert or tenor for low G?

Thanks.
 
Yes, it can work on a Soprano. Here is my experience:

.036 Fremont Fluorocarbon Low G for Soprano-Concert-Tenor
-For Me, it had too low tension on a Soprano.

Aquila Red 70U Unwound Low G for Soprano
-Didn't like it as low G on Soprano, but love it as low G on a Tenor (good tension, and very stable).
*** Beware! I just discovered, the hard way, just how abrasive the Aquila Reds are. They quickly wore down frets on 2 of my tenors. ***

.028w D'addario J6801
-This works great for me on Soprano, and is what I use. It is a wound string.

-Wiggy

<edit> Read Rafter's note (in the next post) about having to widen the nut slot for a larger diameter string. This is true.

-W
 
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It's not really popular, but I like low G on soprano. And I know Romero sopranos come stock with a wound low G. Personally, I prefer unwound to wound, and have sopranos that were set up for me with unwound low G. For one of them--the best sounding one, I asked what string was used, and I was told it was a Worth clear. I'm pretty happy with it.

But I do think what kind of soprano matters quite a bit. Personally, I would hesitate to put low G on more traditional sounding ukes, like a Martin or a Kamaka, or on anything that tends to have more bark. On the other hand, I've found low G sounds fantastic on a Rebel and pretty decent on a KoAloha. The Rebel has the deepest body (thickness) of the sopranos I've tried, and I think that contributes to it handling the low G better. And of course the soprano Romeros sound great.

I plan to try out Fremont black lines (I've been pleased with their low G on concert), Worth browns, Living Waters, Uke Logics, and a few other strings, just to see what I like. Keep in mind, if you decide to try out a low G on a soprano, with a wound string, you might be able to get away with not having to change anything but the string. But with an unwound string, you'd have to widen/deepen the nut slot because the low G string gauge is larger. If you do that, it will be a bit more difficult/work to return to a high G, should you change your mind.
 
I have a tenor with low G and it is fine. However, I don't think that this is suitable for smaller sizes as due to shorter scale the tension will be low, and due to small body size resonance inadequate. Though I am sure you will get responses here from people who swear it will work great or provide advice how it can be done. Don't do it... ukes are inexpensive so just get a tenor and leave the soprano as is.
 
Rick Jitchaku is an ukulele player on the big Island that gigs with two Kanile’a sopranos in low G. He’s very finicky about getting good tone but insists on using low G and he sounds great.
 
As mentioned, low G on a soprano is not that common but there are some brands that do them or that have suitable models. All Romero Creations ukes, including their sopranos, come with a low G as standard. Sopranos that have a wider body and/or a deeper tone by default will work better with low G. For example, I have no doubt that an aNueNue Moon Bird soprano would sound excellent with low G. A Kanile'a soprano probably as well, maybe also something like Rebel sopranos. I'd never try low G with a more traditional soprano like a Kiwaya or something like that.
 
merlin666 said:
I have a tenor with low G and it is fine. However, I don't think that this is suitable for smaller sizes as due to shorter scale the tension will be low, and due to small body size resonance inadequate. Though I am sure you will get responses here from people who swear it will work great or provide advice how it can be done. Don't do it... ukes are inexpensive so just get a tenor and leave the soprano as is.
Click to expand...

It depends on setup a bit too.
On a soprano that has been meticulously set up for high-G, the G side of the saddle might be sanded down a bit lower than the middle parts.

But if you setup a soprano specifically to use low-G (i.e. the saddle is a bit higher at the G end), then it works as well as it does on Concert and Tenor.
 
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I have played Low G on tenor scale instruments,and once on a concert scale; but as my choice of scale is soprano, I have never found a decent balance of strings for Low G on that scale. I have tried it twice and basically (for me) it did not work. But each to their own, if you get the sound(s) you are after then it is all good!
 
I'm a fan of low G on a soprano for playing leads. For straight strumming I like re-entrant tuning. It adds Pizzaz

So far I've been using Aquila Reds & Nylgut strings on different ukes tuned to low G, and think they work well. I haven't experimented with other brands because I don't like changing strings & dealing with the new string break in period.
 
A while back I put a Fremont soloist wound low g on a vintage Martin soprano and thought it sounded pretty great. I think low g works best on lightly built, resonant sopranos. I’ve also tried that same string on a newer Martin S1 and it did not sound good at all.
 
A number of well respected luthiers have said that acoustically, the traditional soprano size is too small to properly resonate that frequency. I think some of the the slightly larger or deeper soprano bodies would work better. At the same time, you can try it and if you like it, go ahead.
 
Herb Ohta (Ohta-San) made a career of playing his soprano Martin with low-G.

 
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Yes, but the rest of us are mere mortals!
 
man0a said:
IMHO low-G, especially on a soprano, doesn't make a lot of sense if you are not playing fingerstyle.
Click to expand...

Agreed. I love low G, but for smaller instruments like ukuleles, linear is better for fingerstyle than strumming. And yes, especially true for sopranos. Whereas re-entrant tends to be more versatile for strumming and plucking.
 
rafter said:
Agreed. I love low G, but for smaller instruments like ukuleles, linear is better for fingerstyle than strumming. And yes, especially true for sopranos. Whereas re-entrant tends to be more versatile for strumming and plucking.
Click to expand...

I don't think re-entrant is "more versatile" for anything. You're sacrificing versatility for the sake of getting that re-entrant sound.
Of course, for a long time people have been adapting technique around the re-entrant tuning to make it as versatile as possible for their needs.

But losing that linear low note reduces versatility overall.
 
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EDW said:
A number of well respected luthiers have said that acoustically, the traditional soprano size is too small to properly resonate that frequency. I think some of the the slightly larger or deeper soprano bodies would work better. At the same time, you can try it and if you like it, go ahead.
Click to expand...

Yeah, but it's not like the low-G string on a soprano becomes silent. You do hear it pretty significant, especially since it's usually a wound string.

A bit of tonal compromise due to size is quite common in acoustic instruments.
Most small to mid-sized guitars aren't quite large enough to fully resonate the bass strings.. and yet they're pretty mainstream.

Violins have a low-G string too, and their body cavity is far smaller than most ukuleles.

Violas in general are also considered a bit undersized for their tuning, but they've been made that way for hundreds of years.
 
And don't forget about the mandolin's tuning of G-G-D-D-A-A-E-E.

Mandolin GG's are the same pitch as low G on a soprano, and a mandolin has the same nominal scale length as a soprano.
 
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