Uke to Tenor

[thx712517]

Hi all, what's the up to date wisdom on converting a ukulele to a GDAE (low G to high E, aka Irish tuning) tenor guitar? A soprano, tenor, concert, baritone? I've got my Ibanez tenor at the moment but at 23" scale length my fingers just aren't stretching like they should. Mandolin is a little cramped and I like the simplicity of four strings.

[fox]

Do you want to use steel strings?
For GDAE on a baritone with nylon strings try .28p .24w .36w .50w
You can take a chance with steel strings on a baritone. 13p 20w 32w 48w will sound great but might pull the glued bridge plate off or distort the neck or dislodge the neck joint. However most ukuleles will be overbuilt & it might last quite well, years even or it might not!
You are pretty safe with up to 60lb of tension on a well made baritone but you really need 75-80lb for steel strings to feel & sound right.
For the smaller size ukuleles there are 5th tuning string sets available in nylon.

[thx712517]

I'm okay with nylon strings. I played a tenor sized ukulele and a concert size recently. Is one better than the other for GDAE?

[Seter]

I think a baritone would be better than a tenor uke for octave mandolin GDAE, tenor ukuleles are better for mandola CGDA and sopranos for mandolin GDAE. For my baritone tuned GDAE I followed the instructions in this post, seems to work well enough for me at least.

[thx712517]

Good to know. I'll need to try the baritone again and see if that's enough of a difference for my left hand. A little difficult since you can't really swap strings and tune it up without buying it first!

[Cornfield]

Buy a mandola?

[thx712517]

Dumb question probably, but can a mandola be tuned to GDAE?

I guess the better way to phrase my original question is, what is the easiest way to acquire a four string, GDAE-tuned, 16”-19” scale acoustic instrument that can be played with a pick?

[fox]

No, not easily anyway, but you might get away with mandolin string gauges if the mandola had a 15" scale or you might get away with octave mandolin strings if the mandola had a 19" scale!
Generally speaking 17" scale mandolas are tuned CGDA, that is what they are designed for.
I am sure some folk have done it but you would need a .60 or larger for the G.

[Cornfield]

I just ordered a set of Aquila 31U strings to put on a tenor chambered electric ukulele so I'll have something a little quieter to play while my wife watches the tube. The strings are supposed to fir a concert uke but a fellow on ukulele underground said they work on his tenor. It will be CGDA but that's OK.

[Seter]

There is some variety of scale lengths in baritone ukuleles, my old Vega Arthur Godfrey one is 19" and I keep it tuned GDAE. These can occasionally be found for under $200; there are probably other shorter scale baritone ukuleles available as well. The Makala MK-B which is probably the most readily available decent baritone ukulele has a 20.25" scale length.

[Capt. E]

My Stromberg-Voisinet tuned GDAE, 22" scale with 12 18 30 46 steel strings. It fits nicely in a baritone uke TKL gig-bag. I would also think a baritone uke would be the best.

[derbex]

Actually a mandola can be tuned to GDAE, and European ones generally are in mandolin orchestras. I have a 17" bowlback tuned that way that gets played quite a lot.

Fox is right you do end up with thick G strings but quite a few European string manufacturers make sets for short scale Octaves, 17" is about the norm.

[Cornfield]

The Aquila strings arrived today. On my Koolau chambered electric uke they tuned up as GDAE. It takes a while to stretch them out but I think they will work out fine for a quiet instrument to practice while watching tv