C versus D tuning on a soprano,

So I was fooling around and thought I'd tune my uke into a D tuning for a vintage song I was doodling with, and I kind of like that old fashioned twang> Does anyone else have a uke tuned in D? I thought I'd keep the cheap Maholo in that tuning for variety
, plus it sort of sounds cute on it!!

Methinks I'll pull the bridge off with the extra tension, lol

If I had two soprano's I'd do it.

I've come to believe D tuning is the only way to go with sopranos...the string tension is higher...and often it seems to help the intonation troubles i've had with some less than wonderful sopranos...i actually fiddle with key alot, my mainland tenor is typically tunes to A (two steps down) and my sopranino is tuned to E two steps up...With the tenor is still maintains tolerable string tension...and the sopranino bridge has yet to rip off (yet)

I agree that the sound is twangier...i really love the nearly banjo like sound the sopranino tuned up 2 steps produces...

I've always thought the string tension is much too low for most strings and sopranos when tuned to GCEA giving an almost rubberband like flop to the strings....

For people concered about learning a whole knew set of cords...i say don't worry about it. when you read off a chord sheet for a song you can still play the same thing, as long as you arn't playing along with anyone, you're still strumming the same chords (the shapes stay the same of course) they are just D G A instead of C F G

because i have a fairly good sized uke collection ( 10) I use this technique as if it were a capo...A song too high for me to sing as written BOOM grab the tenor tuned down two steps....for a song too low...the sopranino is ready to go two steps higher *and 4 whole steps higher than the sopranino, thats half an octave!* it really adds alot of versitility in tone. The normally mellow tenor its even warmer and sweeter...and the spritely sopranino really dances with a higher string tension....anyway just some thoughts DON"T LET YOURSELF GET STUCK IN GCEA! you can change the tone of your uke in 30 seconds and without trying a new set of strings

At the risk of sounding stupid....

If C tuning for my soprano is GCEA, what would D tuning be? I'd like to try it to see if it improves my intonation....

It is A-D-F#-B.

Thanks! Now to give it a try....

I have one soprano (my Maccaferri Islander) tuned to D tuning for (attempting) George Formby tunes, among other things.

I tuned my Martin SO up to D back in December and love it there. It really barks! My other sopranos are tuned to C. I bought a set of Aquila with a low G. I love Ohta-San's arrangements. All I have to do is decide which soprano to put them on.

So many ukes, so little time! :drool:

Regards,
Ray

I know what you mean about inadequate string tension on some sopranos.
I don't understand the physics of it, but I wonder why sting makers don't just make higher tension soprano strings.
I wonder if they would end up being too thick or some other problem. I assume higher tension strings would also help with sustain.

I've been tuning my Soprano to D for a few songs over the last couple of weeks, but I've found the strings take ages to settle; so I just slapped a capo on instead.

When I got my first uke (soprano) the book I learning from had D tuning, so I started with that for the first few year. When I started watching some online how-to videos everyone was playing in C, so to be able to play along I tuned down there as well. Now that I have my concert I may tune the Sopr back to D and see how I like it. Since I have a high voice it might help.

I just have 2 ukes, a soprano and a tenor. The tenor is in C tuning (low G) and the soprano is in D tuning (high A). This seems to cover most of the songs I play but there is always a good reason to get another uke!

Kind of the last addition to my reviews of my 2 Mainland's with the Hilos: staying with D tuning on my sopranos.

I've got 2 Mainland sopranos, one in each tuning. I like D tuning for really percussive strumming when I don't need the volume of the banjo uke.