Mr_Christopher
New member
Daughter plays a Baritone and my local shop rarely has any strings at all, so if I'm ordering online what is/are some of the better strings for a Baritone? Thanks!
Best strings for a Baritone?
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vcs700s
Well-known member
I have Living Water strings on mine. Love them!
JJFN
Well-known member
Have not as yet tried the Living Water baritone strings, however Southcoast has a nice selection of baritone strings.
jollyboy
New member
I like the Martin M630 set - nicely balanced sound.
These are very good, my go to string set. Another set that some guitar shops carry are D'Addarios titanium baritone set. The Aquila Reds are a set I have just recently installed on one of my baritones and I like them a lot.
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Have heard more positive reviews of Southcoast bari strings than any others. Pretty much any setup you want with one brand.
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Rakelele
Well-known member
Depends on what sound you (or she) want to achieve, and if you prefer all unwound strings, or a combination of 3-1 or 2-2 unwound/wound. Worth and - I think - Living Water are unwound. I use three unwound strings from the Worth Clear set in combination with a wound Fremont Soloist Low G in order to avoid the boominess/droning you sometimes get from an all unwound string at low tension. However, I am now using an all unwound Fremont Blackline Tenor set on one of my Baritones and am very happy with it, as the strings blend together nicely without the scratching noise of a wound string nor the boominess of some unwound strings. I always like Southcoast strings as well, altough they have so many different sets that it may get confusing. The Martins and D'Addarios were too dull for my taste, but that may depend on the specific instrument.
Croaky Keith
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I have Living Water flouros on my cedar topped Kala, I get a lovely loud but mellow tone with lots of sustain. 
Is everyone on this thread tuning their baritones the same way? DGBE? I'm finding myself more and more confused about strings, especially as I'm playing mine in fifths tuning (GDAE). I've got to get my act together, as I suspect from what I've seen so far that I'll need to change them far more often than those on my other instruments. I already had a wound 3rd break (big shocker, as the flatwound Thomastiks on my mandolas and mandolins have never broken yet, and typically last me for years).
Anyway, now I'm reading about using tenor sets on baritones... really? ...and I just don't know what's what. I've no idea what was on my baritone to begin with, as the seller had no idea, as he did not change them himself. (That's a new one on me, as well. Who doesn't know? Sheesh.) I kept the top two, but don't know if they're nylon or fluoro (how do you tell the difference?) and put on wound classical guitar strings for the bottom two. The 3rd, tuned to low D, broke in less than a month, and I replaced it with more expensive Thomastik one, but am not fond of the wound strings in general, as they are not completely noiseless as my mandola strings are. I suspect no unwound string will be good for the second G below middle C, though....
If I knew what the heck I was doing gauge-wise, I'd go and buy some rolls of Seaguar fluorocarbon leader, but at this stage I'm afraid I'll get something that's not quite right and will be stuck with it. Would love to do that eventually for my CGDA tuned tenor as well, which I know has fluoros, but I only kept the top two on it, and put a Thomastik .030 and a viola C string on it. I suspect, at the rate things are going, that I'll be replacing them one by one as they break or unravel, like I do with my viola, rather than all four at a time.
Who knew this string selection business could be so weird?
bratsche
Anyway, now I'm reading about using tenor sets on baritones... really? ...and I just don't know what's what. I've no idea what was on my baritone to begin with, as the seller had no idea, as he did not change them himself. (That's a new one on me, as well. Who doesn't know? Sheesh.) I kept the top two, but don't know if they're nylon or fluoro (how do you tell the difference?) and put on wound classical guitar strings for the bottom two. The 3rd, tuned to low D, broke in less than a month, and I replaced it with more expensive Thomastik one, but am not fond of the wound strings in general, as they are not completely noiseless as my mandola strings are. I suspect no unwound string will be good for the second G below middle C, though....
If I knew what the heck I was doing gauge-wise, I'd go and buy some rolls of Seaguar fluorocarbon leader, but at this stage I'm afraid I'll get something that's not quite right and will be stuck with it. Would love to do that eventually for my CGDA tuned tenor as well, which I know has fluoros, but I only kept the top two on it, and put a Thomastik .030 and a viola C string on it. I suspect, at the rate things are going, that I'll be replacing them one by one as they break or unravel, like I do with my viola, rather than all four at a time.
Who knew this string selection business could be so weird?
bratsche
igorthebarbarian
New member
Living Waters makes a re-entrant high D dGBE set that I liked
Your Living Water is a "No Wound" set, correct?
It seems to me like Southcoast has the most options for getting exactly the right tension you want for any given combination of scale length and tuning.
I tried Aquila Reds on my tenor (Fender). They sounded great, but they snapped right away. I had to tie a knot in them and they just don't handle tight kinks too well. I wanted to try them on my bari, but I couldn't tell if the wounds have a red core. I will definitely be trying them again on my tenor, and I might try them on my bari, but I'm tending toward the carbon blacks right now.
I'm sure not everyone, but most.
Argh. Why would you do that? I understand the arguments for re-entrant vs. linear, but tuning a bari in GDAE is essentially an Irish tenor guitar.
Of course, YOU are the music maker. YOU are the dreamer of dreams.
Yes. That's odd. I can actually imagine a bari set on a tenor since some tenors can be tuned like a bari depending on the scale length, but the other way around???
You should check out this EXCELLENT explanation of how to choose strings for your instrument depending on your desired tuning - re-entrant vs. linear and "key", scale length, and desired tension. Even if you don't get your strings from them, this page is VERY informative.If I knew what the heck I was doing gauge-wise, I'd go and buy some rolls of Seaguar fluorocarbon leader, but at this stage I'm afraid I'll get something that's not quite right and will be stuck with it. Would love to do that eventually for my CGDA tuned tenor as well, which I know has fluoros, but I only kept the top two on it, and put a Thomastik .030 and a viola C string on it. I suspect, at the rate things are going, that I'll be replacing them one by one as they break or unravel, like I do with my viola, rather than all four at a time.
Who knew this string selection business could be so weird?
http://www.southcoastukes.com/string sets.htm
WCBarnes
New member
I second this. I switched to classical guitar strings on my baritone about a year ago and absolutely love them! The sound and feel are perfect.
vcs700s
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Yes. I did a review on my blog. Link in signature.
KanePono
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I recently purchased a NOS Pono Acacia Baritone at an instrument store in Hawaii. The instrument played well and sounded good but the strings were old and shot (wound string oxidized and discolored). After returning home I installed D'Addario Titanium (EJ87B) strings. Sound is much improved with an excellent balance between the strings in tone and volume. I like the wound strings on D and G in combination with the trebles. The D'Addarios are a relatively low priced; available on-line for less than $10. I'll probably try others as these wear, but I'm happy with theses strings.
Actually, I was aiming more for "inexpensive short-scale, single-course octave mandolin", until I can find one of those that I like and can afford. But I fell in love with the harp-like baritone uke's voice, and then had to have a tenor, too, as an alternate voice to my mandolas. Fifths were a no-brainer, because I wanted to be able to play them from the start, and after 52 years of only fifths-tuned instruments, that's what my fingers and brain just expect to find. And the range works so well on the instruments that I don't know why more people don't try it!
Thanks. I've seen that page before, and just read it anew. I have to digest such information slowly, as string tensions are a subject that I have a tough time fully grasping. I'll get there eventually, but I want it all right now! .-)
bratsche
Doc_J
Well-known member
I've had a good experience with some LaBella nylon baritone strings on a 21" scale mahogany uke. The Labella strings added some nice evenness to a very resonant uke.
Sound sample: https://app.box.com/s/tc9q9jdx745oq2ba2ye3ljctnaqap2gd
Sound sample: https://app.box.com/s/tc9q9jdx745oq2ba2ye3ljctnaqap2gd
Sooo ... what position on the bari should I use for each of the classical strings? That is, does the B go at the bari's #2, the G at the bari's #3 ... etc ... or what?
(Please be gentle if my question is a dumb one.)
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