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Thread: ADAD too much tension for Hora Irish bouzouki?

  1. #1

    Default ADAD too much tension for Hora Irish bouzouki?

    In GDAD I ignore the lowest course except for maybe the G chord when I play in the key of D. ADAD is a lot more D friendly but I don't know if it's too hard on my neck. I'm using D'Addario's Irish bouzouki string set with .040 wound for the lowest course. I tried tuning to GCGC and using a capo but the top three courses had way more slack than I liked. Is is safe to tune the bottom course up to A with the .040 strings? Should I use lighter strings if I want to be in ADAD a lot?

  2. #2
    Registered User zoukboy's Avatar
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    Default Re: ADAD too much tension for Hora Irish bouzouki?

    I would stick with GDAD - It's way more versatile. But tuning those .040s up to A2 is probably going to be OK. That set is pretty light and since the .011s are super light (they use .011s because they assume lots of folks will tune those up to E4) they are very low tension tuned to D4 (that's why they sucked at C4). I say just try it and see if they seem way too stiff. Very easy to go with .035s for that pair if you want to tune to A2 with the same tension as the .040s at G2. And I would definitely go with a .012 for the high D4 if you never intend to tune up to E4 - it will sound much better. (I would also go with .026 for the D3 pair to better balance the set.)

    4-course Bouzouki GDAD Unison Hora bouzouki D'Addario EJ81
    D4 293.66 Hz 25.98" 0.0110"ø 0.00002680 lb/in 16.15 lb
    D4 293.66 Hz 25.98" 0.0110"ø 0.00002680 lb/in 16.15 lb
    A3 220.00 Hz 25.98" 0.0160"ø 0.00005671 lb/in 19.18 lb
    A3 220.00 Hz 25.98" 0.0160"ø 0.00005671 lb/in 19.18 lb
    D3 146.83 Hz 25.98" 0.0280"ø 0.00016107 lb/in 24.26 lb
    D3 146.83 Hz 25.98" 0.0280"ø 0.00016107 lb/in 24.26 lb
    A2 110.00 Hz 25.98" 0.0400"ø 0.00032463 lb/in 27.45 lb
    A2 110.00 Hz 25.98" 0.0400"ø 0.00032463 lb/in 27.45 lb
    174.07 lb

  3. #3

    Default Re: ADAD too much tension for Hora Irish bouzouki?

    I'll probably try lighter strings for the lowest course the next time I replace strings. I also have wanted to tune to GDAE but had similar concerns about tension. I like the all fifths tuning on my tenor guitar that's usually in CGDA capoed to DAEB. Ideally I'd have an octave mandolin in GDAE and alternate between ADAD and GDAE on the bouzouki. Is that a trait of banjo players wanting to constantly change tunings on every other instrument they play? Thanks for the information. I'm about to go experiment GDAE capoed to DAEB.

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