Tiny Tenors

[Dolamon]

I suggested this out loud a several months ago and finally got around to trying it myself. I'd been looking at scale lengths of various members of the Ukulele family and finally took the plunge and bought a Kala Cutaway, solid mahogany with Shadow electronics. This has a seventeen inch scale which is mid way between the Concert at 15 inches and the Baritone at 19 inches. (Soprano is a 13 inch length and not in my finger width spectrum.)

The strings that came with it could not be retuned to get it into any fifth tuning which would be playable in this galaxy. However ... exploring the string catalogues from Aquila, d'Addario and a few others at Just Strings or Elderly, it seemed to me that a normal tension set could be pieced together to work as a nylon strung Mandola / Tenor guitar. Plus it should be possible to finger pick.

I settled on trying a set of d'Addario EXP 46 which are extended wear, Hard tension strings which have a micro fine coating http://elderly.com/accessories/names/d%27addario-exp46-classical-guitar-set--EXP46.htm With a little bit of really primitive math and some guessing, I decided to leave the High A from the Uke set on the Uke, and use the 46w for the C string, the 29W for the G and the 41p (plain wound) for the D. The high string, is a point 285 and I kept that as a spare. The other two strings are being used on one of my motorcycles. It was far cheaper to buy a complete six string set and have extras than to buy the strings individually.

The settling in of nylon strings is truly annoying but after two days, this thing was humming. Acoustically it was remarkable and plugged in - an amazing rock and roll Mandola! I went to the micro coating as I've had tremendous luck on the longevity of either the Elixer's or d'Addario strings on many of my other Mandolin Family. There were a few other minor set up issues - I lowered the bridge and had to enlarge the (now) C string groove on the Nut. I've never worked on a nylon string instrument before so ... if I erred in my set up, it was because I didn't go quite far enough. But ...

It flat out works and for two finger style Fado or Jazz chording ... incredible.

I wanted to try finger picks on this just to see if the tone would brighten up. Rather than using the more traditional, transverse type of finger picks, I went to a fado style offered by Elderly named the Alaska Pik. This fits over / under the finger nail and you pick with the tips of the fingers rather than the side. These picks can be shaped or polished with a nail file or buffing boards to get the profile to work for you. The pick noise is greatly reduced, two note intervals across three or four strings are possible and it is startling to hear.

A few observations - I bought a good, new, solid Mahogany instrument which was very reasonably priced http://elderly.com/new_instruments/items/KMSTCE.htm for the simple reason that the newer instruments should have a better construction and glue and be fresher. I've blundered into a few Ukes which looked like a good buy but had been stored in attics for a few decades and on closer inspection, the wood and the glue joints had dried out. Ultimately, newer is cheaper (for these at least) over the long haul.

Conclusion: definitely worth the effort to try, it changes the perspective of a tenor instrument and the shock effect on other players is worth the price. So - is it a uke or a Tiny Tenor Guitar?

PS Recently - Aquila strings is offering a GDAE set for sopranos ... the wave is changing!

[delsbrother]

Gee, now I wish I would've tried this on my Compass Rose before I sold it. :(

[Bill Snyder]

I have had a baritone ukulele tuned cgda for 3 or 4 years now. I also have a soprano uke tuned gdae.
FWIW a 17 inch ukulele is a tenor uke.

[Geoff B]

interesting... I'm making a Tenor Uke with a 17" scale right now. I'll have to show this to the customer...

[acousticphd]

I applaud your approach; I love ukes and have a couple of baritone ukes, which in my mind would also represent the ideal size tenor guitar (19" scale, and body size very close to the Martin size 5 tenor). I have tried to find workable tunings in fifths, but as you described, it is very difficult to pull off without some custom string substitutions.

Using regular bari uke strings (2 wound, 2 plain nylon) I have been able to get my bari uke tuned to CGDA for a period of time (an hour or two). It has friction tuners, which is not so ideal. The low strings work pretty well in this tuning, not surprisingly, since they are designed to be tuned DG, but the treble strings become like tightwires. It also seems that the baritone uke tone suffers on the high end when strung that tightly.

The main hazard to putting steel strings on a uke would seem to be pulling the bridge free, and over a longer period of time, bowing the neck. But it seems to me that if silk/steel strings were installed on a baritone uke, and they were not kept at CGDA pitch 24/7, this could also work with some minor modifications - for example, installing a bridge plate and/or tailpiece. Anyway, an affordable steel-string tenor of this size would be up my alley.

[Explorer]

This post inspired me to visit a few string-tension calculators, and I've discovered that one can do nylon strings as well as metal strings. I hadn't wanted to even start such a project without knowing exactly what my target strings were, especially since I don't have a ukulele at hand.

Now that I know that I can figure out normal tensions for a ukulele, and can determine the correct strings and gauges to change the tuning, I'll be doing the math and then looking for some decent ukuleles for both mandolin and mandola tuning. Who knows? If the tensions look right, I might even get a wide-neck tenor and do a five string.

[Dolamon]

One of the out of the box inspirations for the conversion from Tenor Uke to whatever it is you'd care to call this thing came from Marcy Marcer's Cello Banjo. This is a huge banjo with Nylon Strings tuned in fifths - and somewhere on this huge site, (I think) she mentions it was CGDA

http://www.goldtone.com/products/details/w/instrument/371/CEB-4-Marcy-Marxer-Signature-Model

She indicates that for this scale length, she uses a classical string set which the Bottom Four strings (three wound, one plain) to be playable. The Banjo Cello has a 24 inch + scale and to be honest, while interesting sounding, it doesn't seem to have a lot of punch to it. It almost feels as if the strings are not under ideal tension (ie. Flabby).

I have a few really old Baritone ukes sitting around here but have been reluctant to try this on an old, marginal instrument. It would probably work but who knows for how long.

What surprised me about the Kala Tenor was how loud and projecting it is. I check the neck relief on a regular basis and after almost three months, no movement yet and no real issues except - the high fun factor is distracting. What particularly got me going was exposure to a few other tenor's who were much more expensive, and were almost somber in projection.

Bill Snyder - What kind of strings do you use on your Baritone?

T.J. - There are both six and 8 string Tenors out there - not common but Kala does offer them.

[Charles E.]

My wife and I both ride, how are you using the two left over strings on your motorcycle? :confused:

[Cary Fagan]

I've been playing my baritone uke tuned eadg for some time and it sounds lovely. the string suggestions I found here (search baritone ukulele). The only string that sounds less than steller is the A string (the baritone uke string turned down from B) so I will try something different there. I'd love to find a tenor that is about the same scale but bigger body to play in small jams.

By the way, it took me a couple of days to get used to the stretch, letting my hand bounce around more to reach. But now I'm used to it. Couldn't play as fast as on mando though.

[Rvl]

Any updates on strings for tenor uke
I have a Kala tenor that isnt getting any play time
I would like to tune it in 5ths , either CGDA or GDAE
Wondered how the 46w 29w 41p 28.5p has worked out


I suggested this out loud a several months ago and finally got around to trying it myself. I'd been looking at scale lengths of various members of the Ukulele family and finally took the plunge and bought a Kala Cutaway, solid mahogany with Shadow electronics. This has a seventeen inch scale which is mid way between the Concert at 15 inches and the Baritone at 19 inches. (Soprano is a 13 inch length and not in my finger width spectrum.)

The strings that came with it could not be retuned to get it into any fifth tuning which would be playable in this galaxy. However ... exploring the string catalogues from Aquila, d'Addario and a few others at Just Strings or Elderly, it seemed to me that a normal tension set could be pieced together to work as a nylon strung Mandola / Tenor guitar. Plus it should be possible to finger pick.

I settled on trying a set of d'Addario EXP 46 which are extended wear, Hard tension strings which have a micro fine coating http://elderly.com/accessories/names/d%27addario-exp46-classical-guitar-set--EXP46.htm With a little bit of really primitive math and some guessing, I decided to leave the High A from the Uke set on the Uke, and use the 46w for the C string, the 29W for the G and the 41p (plain wound) for the D. The high string, is a point 285 and I kept that as a spare. The other two strings are being used on one of my motorcycles. It was far cheaper to buy a complete six string set and have extras than to buy the strings individually.

The settling in of nylon strings is truly annoying but after two days, this thing was humming. Acoustically it was remarkable and plugged in - an amazing rock and roll Mandola! I went to the micro coating as I've had tremendous luck on the longevity of either the Elixer's or d'Addario strings on many of my other Mandolin Family. There were a few other minor set up issues - I lowered the bridge and had to enlarge the (now) C string groove on the Nut. I've never worked on a nylon string instrument before so ... if I erred in my set up, it was because I didn't go quite far enough. But ...

It flat out works and for two finger style Fado or Jazz chording ... incredible.

I wanted to try finger picks on this just to see if the tone would brighten up. Rather than using the more traditional, transverse type of finger picks, I went to a fado style offered by Elderly named the Alaska Pik. This fits over / under the finger nail and you pick with the tips of the fingers rather than the side. These picks can be shaped or polished with a nail file or buffing boards to get the profile to work for you. The pick noise is greatly reduced, two note intervals across three or four strings are possible and it is startling to hear.

A few observations - I bought a good, new, solid Mahogany instrument which was very reasonably priced http://elderly.com/new_instruments/items/KMSTCE.htm for the simple reason that the newer instruments should have a better construction and glue and be fresher. I've blundered into a few Ukes which looked like a good buy but had been stored in attics for a few decades and on closer inspection, the wood and the glue joints had dried out. Ultimately, newer is cheaper (for these at least) over the long haul.

Conclusion: definitely worth the effort to try, it changes the perspective of a tenor instrument and the shock effect on other players is worth the price. So - is it a uke or a Tiny Tenor Guitar?

PS Recently - Aquila strings is offering a GDAE set for sopranos ... the wave is changing!

[Taylor and Tenor]

With a baritone uke tuned to DGBE strings, removing the G string, move the D string over into the 3rd position and using a classical guitar A string in the 4th position detuned to G to attain GDAE when one detunes the 2nd position B string to A and leaving the E string in place.

The other option is to add a mandolin tailpiece and put a set of Irish banjo steel string to get to CGDA by lacing the strings through the holes in the ukulele bridge and up & over the saddle. This up and over approach lower the load on the bridge with the steel strings. However, it is CGDA and not GDAE which one may be looking for as an end result

[southcoast]

Hello all,

Am brand new to this forum, and right off the bat, I see this thread. We make a set of classical strings that are very nice for 5ths tunings on an ukulele. They'll set up especially well on the standard 17" Tenor Ukulele scale:

http://www.southcoastukes.com/stringuide_files/5ths.htm