# Octaves, Zouks, Citterns, Tenors and Electrics > Tenor Guitars >  Tuning a Baritone Uke (DGBE) to CGDA, like a tenor?

## Levi

So I've got this baritone ukulele that I never play because quite frankly, I'm too new at the string game to be able to comfortably stray away from fifths tuning, hence the question.

Is the scale length (20") enough to to comfortably facilitate the tunings of a tenor guitar?  If so, what strings should I use? Tenor guitar strings? 

Thanks in advance for any insight.

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## Levi

So I replaced the 3rd and 4th strings with some guitar strings, and tuned it to GDAE, like an octave mandolin.  It sounds kind of like a tenor, I guess.

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## Seonachan

Southcoast makes a set of strings for 5ths tuning - they recommend CGDA tuning for a tenor uke and BbFCG for a baritone. I have the latter tuning on my baritone and it works great.

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Levi, 

Scot Thayer

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## Levi

> Southcoast makes a set of strings for 5ths tuning - they recommend CGDA tuning for a tenor uke and BbFCG for a baritone. I have the latter tuning on my baritone and it works great.


Does this provide a ukulele tone, or more similar to that of a tenor guitar?

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## Seonachan

> Does this provide a ukulele tone, or more similar to that of a tenor guitar?


Definitely a (baritone) uke tone with the nylon strings (2 wound, as in a standard DGBE set), but with the different voicing that 5ths tuning provides. The only drawback I find compared to a regular tenor guitar is the comparatively wider string spacing and flat fretboard make the stretchier barre chords a bit of a challenge to hit cleanly. But the shorter scale length more than compensates for that.

If you're looking to put steel strings on a uke body, be aware that the lighter bracing probably won't withstand the added tension. Soares'y makes a steel string bari-TG conversion - I assume he reinforces it in some way but I don't know the details. I suppose it's also possible that some of the lower-end ukes are "overbraced" and thus might hold up okay with steel strings (and if they don't, you're not out too much).

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## ambrosepottie

I recently started tuning my old Harmony Baritone  Bflat F C G. I'd tried bringing it up to C but the A string wouldn't stay in tune. The lower tuning sounds fantastic. Not ukey, but a baritone uke doesn't sound ukey anyway. More like a classical guitar or if played with a pick like Willie Nelson's Trigger. The strings are regular Aquila baritone uke strings with an unwound F (meant to be G). Aquila does make a set designed for 5ths tuning though I'm not sure what the difference would be.

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## SailorUke

I'm a newer tenor guitar player. I'm primarily a ukulele player, but have been teaching myself tenor guitar on a Blueridge BR-40T and a new, beautifaul Soares'y electric based on an Oscar Schmidt Delta Blues, both in Chicago tuning (to match my baritone ukuleles); and a vintage Silvertone in standard CGDA tuning.

I like my "true" tenor guitars (more on that in a minute), but I also like the size of my baritone ukuleles. So I wanted to see if I could string a baritone in CGDA tuning. The challenges would be both the low C and high A strings, and the fact that I can't use steel strings on the baritone uke because they're not internally braced to take the stress.

I couldn't find much on the Internet about this type of tuning, but there is some information out there about using high-test, flourocarbon fishing leader as ukulele strings. I also found that the tenor "G" is the same pitch as a ukulele low-G, and the tenor "A" is the same pitch as a ukulele A.

So with all that in mind, I strung up a Lanikai Model S-B baritone (solid spruce top, laminated mahogany sides and back, mahogany neck) as follows, using Seaguar flourocarbon fishing leader:

C string: 130 lbs. test leader
G string: 100 lbs. test leader
D string: 80 lbs. test
A string: 50 lbs. test

So far I'm pretty happy with the results. The strings are holding tune (after a period of stretching, similar to what I've experienced with nylon ukulele strings). The tone is quite mellow and deep in the bass strings, with good resonance in the highs although the A string is at it's maximum tension and to my ear is very slightly lacking in ring. The C is a tad slappy.

I'm going to continue to experiment, perhaps going to 100 lbs for the C string to take out some of the slap.

One drawback to this approach is the cost of the fishing line, it's pretty expensive. I already had it for use on the ukes, and I'll have enough for ukes and tenor guitars to last me through quite a few string changes downstream.

As an alternative, although I'm not too familar with classical guitar strings, it seems to me that the D and G strings from a classical guitar set might serve for the C and G stings on a bartione uke tuned this way; and maybe one other string could serve as the tenor D. There are several ukulele string manufacturers who are now making standard ukulele-tuned strings (gCEA) in
baritone scale length, so the E string could perhaps be used tuned down to D, while the A string is the same pitch as the tenor guitar A so would be a direct fit. So a mix of classical guitar and baritone-length uke strings might work out, at much less cost than the flourocarbon fishing line - I'll probably try that as well at some point.

As to my "true" tenors, I have the Silvertone listed in the classifieds - it's in pretty good shape, just some chipping in a couple of places in the faux tortoise binding; but I'm not playing it all that much, favoring the Blueridge and Soares'y at this point. I'm thinking I'll re-string one of the others in CGDA.

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## Tim2723

I've played around with alternate tunings for baritone uke and had a lot of fun doing it.  But no matter what I did, I could never recreate the timbre of a tenor  guitar.  A uke is built like a uke.

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## SailorUke

Tim2723: Agree, my setup definitely has a baritone tenor timbre, with lower bass and higher treble than standard DGBE tuning. But the true tenor guitars have a brighter sound and more sustain due to the steel strings, larger body and longer scale.

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## Levi

I don't know if it's the tuning, or the low quality of my baritone, (most likely the latter) but the intonation of this thing is dreadful.

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## mandroid

If the low 4th string feels floppy , replace it with  a thinner one, to tune up an octave..

 that will be Uke like since like  sopranos ,the 3rd string is the low one...
 but the fingering will be, 5ths, familiar..

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## Levi

Ok, so now I got my hands on an actual tenor guitar, and I'm curious...
Is there any way I can use nylon strings and keep it in fifths tuning? I think it'd be neat, and good for certain certain classical music. 

I know it seems silly, trying to make my ukulele like a guitar, and now vice versa, but hey, I'm having fun.

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