Baritone Uke String Note

Well, here's a quick note: I was changing strings (the final step of resto!) on a c.1950s Lyra baritone uke today and guess what? The brand new Aquila low D string went BOOM! Lovely, a wasted set...

At any rate, I had an Aquila concert uke set (luckily) that has slightly heavier gauges than a regular uke set (I believe) and longer string length. I strung up the baritone with these, tuned it up to baritone standard (dGBE) and voila -- an all-nylgut, non-wound, re-entrant baritone uke, tuned in standard baritone uke format. It sounds great, and the string tension is just about perfect.

I like this setup better than a normal baritone at any rate, as the tone is more balanced and fingerpicking sounds lovely due to the re-entrant stringing (it sounds more "uke"-like but warm, full, and lower-register). Perhaps I will record a video of a new song I've written, so everyone can hear what I mean!

So that's my quick note for you today: when in trouble, never fear!

Comments

Anonymous said…
Hi Jake,
Just spent a most enjoyable hour surfing around your websites...great stuff!

I play baritone ukulele in my band 'The Night Owls' and use the dGBE nylgut tuning on an old Regal. I agree it sounds great, much more uke like. (BTW Aquila do a set for this tuning) I also play a Favilla b1 and found the nylguts just didn't work in the dGBE tuning, a standard set were fine, but I don't like the metal strings on D and G... so I use Worth strings which are an all flurocarbon set.

Best
Nipper
Thanks Nipper -- and yes, I agree, the metal strings... just don't feel right. I can accept it on my old parlor guitar, but not on a uke!