Baritone ukulele conversion

[Seter]

Cool, congrats! Is that the one that was on eBay that ended last Tuesday? If so, it arrived fast. I keep eyeing those old ones, maybe some day I'll succumb to temptation and bite...

bratsche

I think it may have been, it was fast shipping. I got it strung up last night and recorded a few songs, strings are still settling though of course. The low C string doesn't quite fit into the nut slot and I am somewhat loathe to modify it, but seems to sound okay at least for this experiment. The G and D strings sound best to me, it does best with slower songs with double stops.

Niel Gow's Lament For His Second Wife: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rYIYSaq0LxI

Josephine's Waltz: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dtVed-lgPqE

MacPherson's Farewell: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EtBWI7GUpO0

[ondrej]

I think it may have been, it was fast shipping. I got it strung up last night and recorded a few songs, strings are still settling though of course. The low C string doesn't quite fit into the nut slot and I am somewhat loathe to modify it, but seems to sound okay at least for this experiment. The G and D strings sound best to me, it does best with slower songs with double stops.

Niel Gow's Lament For His Second Wife: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rYIYSaq0LxI

Josephine's Waltz: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dtVed-lgPqE

MacPherson's Farewell: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EtBWI7GUpO0

Thanks for sharing.
Sounds good. Very good sounding "MacPherson's Farewell".

[Seter]

Thanks for sharing.
Sounds good. Very good sounding "MacPherson's Farewell".

Thanks, maybe we will have to start a ukecello orchestra.

[Seter]

After playing for a week now, I'm still enjoying the ukecello sound. To me it really more of a pint sized, four string classical guitar. I've been especially enjoying attempting to play the pieces from the Bach cello suites https://www.mandolincafe.com/cgi-bin...rch?name=clssl I think this instrument gives them just as good of a run as a classical guitar given to closer similarity to cello voicing.

[tymbrewolf]

I am a fan of GGbd on my bari and have recently tried cceg on my tenor. While not 4ths or 5ths it is easy cording or chord melody. I would really like a non squeak low tension CCEG on the kala solid spruce bari. Any string suggestions. Sorry if slightly off topic. Btw on a tenor i have gotten a Vorson ELPU-130 Acoustic-Electric Nylon-String Ukulele, Gloss Black https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01686U8KG..._2ejKzbKWN5Q8M. That the box called a mando

[Seter]

I still have my baritone ukulele set up as a ukecello, here is a recording from earlier today. I need to expand further my repertoire for it.

[blaise.douros]

I picked up a cheapie Caramel baritone uke to do exactly this! I calculated out two string sets for it--cello CGDA and octave mandolin GDAE. After stringing it up as a cello first, I felt like the body wasn't big enough to let the low notes resonate cleanly the way I wanted them to, and switched to OM. That tuning feels better to me on an instrument this size, and the GDAE uke is one of my favorite instruments I've ever played.
I gave the first-round proto to my dad, and I've got a nicer Ohana baritone coming (should arrive today!) for phase two. But now I have to find a larger donor four-string instrument to convert to a ukecello.

Anyway, this thread was instrumental (har) to getting me going on the process, so Seter and ondrej, I'm glad to see you're still hacking away like I am. And if you find a nice 23, maybe 24-inch scale instrument to convert to a bigger ukecello, shoot me a heads-up

[fox]

But now I have to find a larger donor four-string instrument to convert to a ukecello.

And if you find a nice 23, maybe 24-inch scale instrument to convert to a bigger ukecello, shoot me a heads-up

Couldn't you just use a standard tenor guitar?

[blaise.douros]

Couldn't you just use a standard tenor guitar?

Theoretically, yes--I think tenor guitars are usually a 22" scale. The thing I'm concerned about is that TG is braced for steel strings, so nylons may not have enough tension to drive the top. But I might just have to bite the bullet and abandon nylons.

[Seter]

I picked up a cheapie Caramel baritone uke to do exactly this! I calculated out two string sets for it--cello CGDA and octave mandolin GDAE. After stringing it up as a cello first, I felt like the body wasn't big enough to let the low notes resonate cleanly the way I wanted them to, and switched to OM. That tuning feels better to me on an instrument this size, and the GDAE uke is one of my favorite instruments I've ever played.
I gave the first-round proto to my dad, and I've got a nicer Ohana baritone coming (should arrive today!) for phase two. But now I have to find a larger donor four-string instrument to convert to a ukecello.

Anyway, this thread was instrumental (har) to getting me going on the process, so Seter and ondrej, I'm glad to see you're still hacking away like I am. And if you find a nice 23, maybe 24-inch scale instrument to convert to a bigger ukecello, shoot me a heads-up

I think the solid top of my OU53 helps the sound resonate much better than all-laminate ukes, is the Ohana solid topped? It will be interesting to see how yours sounds.

[fox]

Theoretically, yes--I think tenor guitars are usually a 22" scale. The thing I'm concerned about is that TG is braced for steel strings, so nylons may not have enough tension to drive the top. But I might just have to bite the bullet and abandon nylons.

Well the standard scale is 23" but 21" is also available, most tenors guitars operate with around 75 - 85lb of string tension, baritone ukes around 50-60lb.
With a little calculation you can get 75lb of tension from nylon strings, or you could buy a nylon string tenor guitar! There are several models available....
I have built a few nylon string tenors & modified a few from standard.

[blaise.douros]

I think the solid top of my OU53 helps the sound resonate much better than all-laminate ukes, is the Ohana solid topped? It will be interesting to see how yours sounds.

Yes! It's a solid spruce top, so I'm hoping it will resonate and sustain better than the zebrawood laminate of the Caramel. I'll post some video when it gets here and I get it set up.

Well the standard scale is 23" but 21" is also available, most tenors guitars operate with around 75 - 85lb of string tension, baritone ukes around 50-60lb.
With a little calculation you can get 75lb of tension from nylon strings, or you could buy a nylon string tenor guitar! There are several models available....
I have built a few nylon string tenors & modified a few from standard.

This is great info! I haven't seen any nylon-strung tenors out there, I'd be curious to know where they might be available. I didn't realize the tension was so close-- that would be ideal, since a lot of tenor guitars have larger bodies, which would be perfect for the C2 on the cello tuning.

[rudy44]

I think it may have been, it was fast shipping. I got it strung up last night and recorded a few songs, strings are still settling though of course. The low C string doesn't quite fit into the nut slot and I am somewhat loathe to modify it, but seems to sound okay at least for this experiment. The G and D strings sound best to me, it does best with slower songs with double stops.

Niel Gow's Lament For His Second Wife: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rYIYSaq0LxI

Josephine's Waltz: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dtVed-lgPqE

MacPherson's Farewell: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EtBWI7GUpO0

You might find my $30 Baritone Uke conversion interesting. I added 4 tuners and used low tuning to make it a true nylon strung double course mandolin.

https://youtu.be/53pDFOQe048

[Seter]

There are some ready made 8 strings, like this Kala baritone https://kalabrand.com/products/ka-abp8-ctg
I see more 8 string tenors though, could make for an interesting nylon string mandola.

[blaise.douros]

There are some ready made 8 strings, like this Kala baritone https://kalabrand.com/products/ka-abp8-ctg
I see more 8 string tenors though, could make for an interesting nylon string mandola.

8-nylon-string tenor uke-based mandola? STOP MAKING ME SPEND MONEY!