What's more common - high G or low G tuning on a Soprano

The laws of physics lean on the side of a high G on a soprano. At least according to an analysis of the acoustics I read on the net somewhere (Southcoast String's website maybe?)

Low notes have a longer wavelength. So they need a larger soundboard. A smaller soundboard simply doesn't resonate well at lower frequencies. There's a mathematical formula for relationship between soundboard surface area and the lowest frequency it can resonate well, but the bottom line is that the typical soprano soundboard is too small for a low G. A low G really needs a tenor soundboard.

Or so says the math. YMMV.

I've heard a soprano with low G that actually sounded decent, so I was inspired to try it on one of mine. Turned out that the slot in the bridge was too narrow to accommodate any of the half-dozen or so brands of low G strings I had on hand, so I never did get to try it out. I do keep my concert uke strung low G, and I quite like the sound of it.

Here's a prior thread the OP might be interested in about sopranos with low G, with some sound samples.

J-Peg said:

The laws of physics lean on the side of a high G on a soprano. At least according to an analysis of the acoustics I read on the net somewhere (Southcoast String's website maybe?)

Low notes have a longer wavelength. So they need a larger soundboard. A smaller soundboard simply doesn't resonate well at lower frequencies. There's a mathematical formula for relationship between soundboard surface area and the lowest frequency it can resonate well, but the bottom line is that the typical soprano soundboard is too small for a low G. A low G really needs a tenor soundboard.

Or so says the math. YMMV.

Click to expand...

Tell that to a UBass.

Here we go again...

Here's a video I posted a few months ago the last time this came up...



John

UkeKiddinMe said:

Tell that to a UBass.

Click to expand...

But notice how little volume you get out of an unplugged UBass. The manager of my local guitar shop is a multi-instrumentalist but he plays bass more often than anything else. I asked him about the UBass and he loves it for gigs. He plays in a bluegrass and folk group where the standup bass would sound best but the UBass is so much easier to transport and the big fat floppy strings sound more like a standup bass than a bass guitar. BUT... their gigs are always amplified. He said that unplugged, in a group, the UBass is completely overwhelmed. He said the same is true 90% of the time for an acoustic bass guitar. If he's playing unplugged he has to use his standup bass because nothing else is big enough to provide the volume at those low frequencies.

At the time I thought the size factor was all about the volume of the body (which I've read is also a factor.) But after reading up on it some more it seems it's mostly about the size of the soundboard. At least that's the theory.

But as Yogi Berra said, "In theory, practice and theory are the same, but in practice they're different." So YMMV, INAL.