string a Baritone Uke like CBOM?

[cyeiser]

Greetings all. #I have just ordered a cheapo Baritone Ukulele, and I'm hoping to string/tune it up GDAE. #It comes all set up for DGBE. #I figure I can use the E string normally, ditch the B string, tune the G string up to A, Use the D string normally except for moving it over one peg, and then find some other string to put on for the G. #

Any ideas what I should use to get that G? #classical guitar A string? #will that be thick enough? #Maybe classical guitar low E string? #I tried and tried, and couldn't find out exactly how long the instrument is, but I'm pretty sure it's shorter than a guitar.

My goal is just to have something to play when i'm camping that will play like a CBOM, but I won't be worried to death about my precious instruments getting damaged... #I thought this would be a neat workaround. #$20 Bari Uke, fiddle with the strings a bit, and Yowza!

Thanks

Chris

[otterly2k]

No reason not to try it...
but until the scale is known, it's a little hard to guess how to tweak it. Probably classical guitar strings will be a good bet...
It's great to have a "junker" that you really don't have to worry about at all.. take and play it anywhere!

[Bob DeVellis]

Hmmm. $20 uke. You may find that you're re-tuning about half-way through every tune. Strings on ukes seem less critical than on mandolin. The same gauge can be tuned to a variety of pitches. Obviously, you'll want a wound string and one for classical guitar very well might do the trick. Wait until you have it in hand. If you can figure roughly what the scale length is in comparison to a capoed classical guitar, that might serve as a guide. In other words, if its scale length is the equivalent of a classical guitar capoed at the third fret, then the E string (which would be G at the third fret) may be about right. I think baritones usually run about 21 inches. That'd be about 3 or 4 frets off a classical guitar? E-string might do the trick.

[cyeiser]

Thanks for your replies, folks! #I expect it will arrive tomorrow, and I will report the scale length as soon as I have it.

Chris

[Brad Weiss]

I'd be very interested in hearing how this works out, as I'm thinking of doing the same!

[Steve Davis]

I bought a $17.99 baritone uke from Musician's Friend and tune it like an octave mandolin with the strings that came with it. It works fine after the strings settle down. Make sure the saddle is under all the strings. (Mine arrived with the saddle only under 3 strings but I coaxed it into position with my thumb. I'd like to make a better saddle at some point but so far I've been having fun with it as-is. I'd tune it to standard uke tuning at first to help ease it into OM tuning after a day or two. Surprisingly good considering the price and the fact that it was made in China and shipped over the ocean and trucked to New Hampshire with everyone making a profit along the way. Good luck.

[Dolamon]

One other stringing suggestion - when it comes time to restring, reverse the two bass strings (from 'D-G' restring to 'G - D') and then lower the B to A. This has worked on two 19 inch scale Baritone's I have but - it worked even better when I got a slightly thicker string for the (now) A.

I also went down on one instrument to C tuning ... CGDa by using the middle (wound) strings for a classical guitar and a heavier (unwound) A string. Interesting to play and a lot of fun ... I found a solid Mahogany instrument at a yard sale and got it for five bucks. A little elbow grease and some Goo Gone and I got most of the forty years of garbage off of it.

A suggestion - don't try to lower the action at the saddle too much. It may look high but it'll buzz like crazy if it's too low. And most of all -

Enjoy

[aries753]

So a ukulele can be strung like a mandola? What size uke? How about strings? Would mandola strings work?

[Bob DeVellis]

Kevin, I think we're talking about restringing ukes with nylon strings (which are standard uke fare), so mandola strings (metal) probably wouldn't work. Metal strings at high enough tension to sound good in mandolin or mandola tuning would put me in a world of worry over my ukes.

[Billiam]

Metal strings at high enough tension to sound good in mandolin or mandola tuning would put me in a world of worry over my ukes.

You wouldn't have to worry for long. Just long enough for the bridge tocome unglued!

Risa sells various instruments that can be strung as ukes or mandolas. Look at his Solid line, which are nylon strung. He gives string gauge info somewhere, probably the FAQ page

[Dolamon]

My fault - what I meant was a Baritone Uke can be TUNED like a Mandola ... if you use the center four strings from a Classical Guitar set. With the exception of the Brazilian and Portugese Cavaquinho variants, almost all instruments in the Ukulele family are made for nylon strings.

IF you stay with a normal Baritone Ukulele set of strings, it's just the process of reversing the third and fourth strings of the set to get it up to GDAE.

[cyeiser]

Just received the new uke... tried the suggestion of just tuning the strings that are on there like an Octave Mando. Seems to work OK. Low G string is a bit loosey-goosey, but hey! This is a twenty-buck ukulele we're talking about here...

Thanks everyone for their helpful comments! I'm off to enjoy my new instrument at the AllGood festival!

Chris

[mad dawg]

Neat thread, and I was thinking about doing something similar: buying a cheap cavaquinho (think "steel stringed brazilian Uke", normally tuned DGBE or DGBD, with a scale length 13-1/2") and stringing it GDAE for camping trips, beach trips, and playing Jack Johnson tunes.

[cyeiser]

Update: I've played it for a few hours now, and the strings seem to have settled nicely into GDAE tuning. This thing rocks! Playing fingerstyle on a mando-tuned instrument is blowing my mind.

Best twenty bucks I ever spent on an instrument.

Chris

[msrvfx]

Guys,
If you want some good strings to experiment around on get Aquila baritone ukulele nylgut strings that come tuned to GCEA like a standard ukulele. You can tune up or down a note or two and be right in your ballpark.
If you play regular ukulele tuning, you will be right there with the same chord shapes.
Pu them on, tune them up, let them stretch over night, retune. Like more synthetic strings it will take a few days for them to set their stretch. They are great strings.

Mark

[gerardo1000]

Charlie, one of the moderators of the forum, tunes his Bushman Jenny baritone uke to octave mando tuning (GDAE) using hard tension classical guitar strings and using the 5,4,2 and 1 strings. I am going to try it soon with my baritone.