tenor ukulele tuned in fifth ?

[FatBear]

They are GDAE on a baritone ukulele with 20" scale. Or they're supposed to be, anyway. But they are all pretty bouncy. I usually use a capo on the second fret to control it. Since that puts me off of the tuning by a couple of steps maybe I should just try tuning them all a couple of steps higher to begin with.

I've ordered an actual tenor guitar with real steel strings and will probably sell the ukulele when it is finished. But there are certain really mellow songs that sound really nice on it and your description of the elec/accoust concert ukulele is intriguing. Or maybe I should try adding a pickup to mine. That could be a fun project.

[Steve Zawacki]

They are GDAE on a baritone ukulele with 20" scale. Or they're supposed to be, anyway. But they are all pretty bouncy. I usually use a capo on the second fret to control it. Since that puts me off of the tuning by a couple of steps maybe I should just try tuning them all a couple of steps higher to begin with.

I've ordered an actual tenor guitar with real steel strings and will probably sell the ukulele when it is finished. But there are certain really mellow songs that sound really nice on it and your description of the elec/accoust concert ukulele is intriguing. Or maybe I should try adding a pickup to mine. That could be a fun project.

I have a Fishman Isys+ preamp/tuner/pickup on my tenor uke and love it. There's a different Fishman unit (no tuner) on the concert uke, but it works well.

I've thought about getting a baritone uke, but decided against it. The jump from tenor guitar to tenor uke is comfortable, and both the tenor uke and concert uke are great for travel when I'm too lazy (happens a lot!) to haul the guitar or banjo. This past weekend swapped off the steel strings on my Blueridge BR-40T for nylon just for a change of pace.

[FatBear]

I have a Fishman Isys+ preamp/tuner/pickup on my tenor uke and love it. There's a different Fishman unit (no tuner) on the concert uke, but it works well.

Thanks, I will check into them.

[quote]I've thought about getting a baritone uke, but decided against it. The jump from tenor guitar to tenor uke is comfortable/QUOTE]
It's always fascinating how people end up where they are. I could never find a tenor guitar to play, so I actually got the baritone ukulele as an affordable way of "trying out" a tenor guitar (longer scale than my mandolin, etc.) before I bought one. It turns out I can play the longer scale OK and the things I don't like about the baritone will probably be remedied by the steel strings. But it is very mellow and songs like The Very Thought Of You sure sound nice on it. Hall of the Mountain King does carry a bit more authority than on the mandolin, too.

[Steve Zawacki]

[QUOTE=FatBear;1316859]Thanks, I will check into them.

I've thought about getting a baritone uke, but decided against it. The jump from tenor guitar to tenor uke is comfortable/QUOTE]
It's always fascinating how people end up where they are. I could never find a tenor guitar to play, so I actually got the baritone ukulele as an affordable way of "trying out" a tenor guitar (longer scale than my mandolin, etc.) before I bought one. It turns out I can play the longer scale OK and the things I don't like about the baritone will probably be remedied by the steel strings. But it is very mellow and songs like The Very Thought Of You sure sound nice on it. Hall of the Mountain King does carry a bit more authority than on the mandolin, too.

I know what you mean. I got my tenor guitar on a trade for one of my mandolins. The ukuleles came later as I was trying to come up with a comfortable travel instrument for the tenor guitar and the mandolin. What kind of TG have you ordered?

[FatBear]

G.D. Armstrong is making me a 5 string tenor guitar. I met him at the Tenor Guitar Gathering and he answered an avalanche of questions without losing patience. He had his own personal guitar there and I've since seen and played an octave mandolin that he made and both sounded really nice, so I figured he'd be a good guy to do it. Turns out it is surprisingly affordable for a custom instrument, too.

[Steve Zawacki]

G.D. Armstrong is making me a 5 string tenor guitar. I met him at the Tenor Guitar Gathering and he answered an avalanche of questions without losing patience. He had his own personal guitar there and I've since seen and played an octave mandolin that he made and both sounded really nice, so I figured he'd be a good guy to do it. Turns out it is surprisingly affordable for a custom instrument, too.

Would loved to have been there. Got the tee-shirt (blue) but no trip. Hope to make the next one.

[bea]

The question might sound crazy - but what about using violin or viola strings on quint tuned ukes (violin on soprano)?

AFAIK Thomastik makes a violin E with a synthetic core - so the bridge correction should not be a problem.

[Steve Zawacki]

The question might sound crazy - but what about using violin or viola strings on quint tuned ukes (violin on soprano)?

AFAIK Thomastik makes a violin E with a synthetic core - so the bridge correction should not be a problem.

Good question and have no answer. Would be worth the experiment.

[bea]

What about the string tension? Ukes have a pretty low one, haven't they?

[Steve Zawacki]

What about the string tension? Ukes have a pretty low one, haven't they?

Most do, depending on the maker, size and such. A number of them have glued-on saddles which hold the strings instead of screwed-in tailpieces. Too much tension and "pop" goes the saddle.

[kkmm]

Different strings (and tensions) would create intonation issues for ukulele tuned in fifth. I had to re-compensate the saddle to address this issue, the compensation is for F/C/G/D tuning, then put a capo at fret#2 on my tenor uke to have G/D/A/E tuning as a mandolin.

[Steve Zawacki]

Different strings (and tensions) would create intonation issues for ukulele tuned in fifth. I had to re-compensate the saddle to address this issue, the compensation is for F/C/G/D tuning, then put a capo at fret#2 on my tenor uke to have G/D/A/E tuning as a mandolin.

Have had no intonation issues at all going fifths with nine different ukuleles, sopranino through tenor. Don't have a baritone, so that one is still in the who-knows category.

[Shelby Eicher]

Nice to see this thread emerge. I've been using a tenor ukulele as a nylon string mandola for years. For a 17" scale length, the best string set that I've found is: D'Addarrio - for the 1st or A string I use a Pro-Arte guitar B hard tension, for the 2nd string or D string I use a Pro-Arte guitar G extra hard tension, for the 3rd or G string I use a Pro-Arte lightly polished guitar A normal tension, for the 4th or C string I use a Pro-Arte lightly polished guitar E hard tension. These are all available on Just Strings as singles. Here is a short clip of my son Isaac Eicher playing it warming up for a gig. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ffj0aSyTUx8
Regards,
Shelby

[Steve Zawacki]

Nice to see this thread emerge. I've been using a tenor ukulele as a nylon string mandola for years. For a 17" scale length, the best string set that I've found is: D'Addarrio - for the 1st or A string I use a Pro-Arte guitar B hard tension, for the 2nd string or D string I use a Pro-Arte guitar G extra hard tension, for the 3rd or G string I use a Pro-Arte lightly polished guitar A normal tension, for the 4th or C string I use a Pro-Arte lightly polished guitar E hard tension. These are all available on Just Strings as singles. Here is a short clip of my son Isaac Eicher playing it warming up for a gig. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ffj0aSyTUx8
Regards,
Shelby

Have to try that combination. Just got another tenor uke in a trade and will need to restring it. There are days I think I may as well set up direct deposit with JustStrings for all the experiments I've tried. Am still trying to come up with a decent nylon combination for a tenor banjo.

[mandroid]

Elderly says No More 8 string Aquila GDAE sets ..

[wistah]

I do CGDA on tenor ukuleles by using the Aquila Nylgut Guilele string set. I use the D string and down tune to C, I use the G string as is, I tune the C string up to D, and I use the A string as is. You can also use the E string tuned down to D, but I like the higher tension.

I do CGDA on baritone ukuleles by mixing a DGBE set with a GCEA set. I down tune the D from the DGBE set to C, G as is, E down to D from the GCEA set, and A as is.

On concerts I use the Aquila 31U set mentioned above for CGDA.

[Steve Zawacki]

Got to tryng CGDA on the ukes as well and found I like it better than GDAE. Recently retuned the tenor guitar and banjo back to CGDA, so thought I'd try a clean sweep. The E5 on a GDAE uke gets a bit screechy (to me, anyway), so have been looking at other options and CGDA isn't too bad.

Am interested on what is being used to get a decent low-C on a uke. Everything I tried came out somewhat "tubby." I gave up and took the easy way out - using a standard low-G GCEA uke pack for whatever sized uke, swapped the G and C strings and used at their regular tuning (C4-G4), detuned the E to D and left the A as-is. The result is a "reentrant" CGDA, but it sounds pretty good since it takes advantage of the uke's acoustic design and can be played cleanly with CGDA chords. Picking isn't bad, since the bottom three strings are tuned in the correct line and I don't normally pick the C anyway (that's just me, others do different).

Have this set-up right now on tenor, concert, soprano and sopranino ukes and like it. Who knows what I may try next week, but for now the modified CGDA is the overall uke tuning. With the sopranino (16 inch length, 11 inch scale) it makes a great suitcase carryon addition and car behind-the-drivers-seat buddy. Also, using standard uke low-G string packs this way make for inexpensive and readily available replacement strings.

[Steve Zawacki]

Well, got a bunch of Aquila Nygut 31U CGDA uke string sets. Advertised for concert ukes, but I ran up two tenor ukes with them and they sound really fine. One the tenor ukes is a Pono Pro Classic and with the Aquila CGDA strings I think it gives Pono's new nylon string tenor guitar a run for its money. Spent the afternoon trying three old Eagles tunes (Heart of the matter, Get over it, Heartache tonight) on several instruments (Blueridge 40T, Gooding 17 fret tenor banjo, both tenor ukes and a bajolele, all tuned CGDA) just to hear the sound differences. The tenor ukes held their own and are very convenient when laziness keeps me from hauling out the larger stuff.