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| Moderated by: Tony Provencher, Richard Hefner |
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| G-tuning on a Long-neck Soprano | Rate Topic |
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| Posted: Tue Nov 21st, 2006 03:03 pm |
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1st Post |
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Mike Bagneski Approved
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Hey All, I bought one of those tenor-necked soprano-bodied ukes a while back (a Vineyard), but I didn't do much with it at first. I liked the added power and volume compared to a standard, but missed the easy reach of the shorter scale. However, lately I've been thinking about switching off guitar/uke in my trio, and wanted a uke that would tune to dGBE (re-entrant g-tuning), so I could play tunes on either instrument without having to either transpose, or try to get the other musicians to play the tunes in different keys (yeah, right;-)). I didn't have any tenor sets, do I wound up putting a set of concert Aquilas on the long neck, and tuning them to G. I was surprised by the result. Though the strings were the wrong gauge on the wrong scale, they held the pitch well, and sounded good. Then, just for the heck of it, I put a capo on the fifth fret, (which puts me in the standard C tuning). This also sounded pretty good, and very soprano-ish. I got a ruler and measured the effective scale with the capo added, and it came out pretty close to 12.5", which is close to a typical soprano's 13.5". Hmmm. So it looks like I can sort of have it both ways. Without capo, I have essentially a mini baritone, and with capo, I come pretty close to a soprano uke feel and sound. Pretty slick!  Mike
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| Posted: Tue Nov 21st, 2006 07:24 pm |
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2nd Post |
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Will Approved 
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Neat idea... if all of your strings are unwound, using the capo won't wear them out. I had that problem with the baritone uke, which has 2 wound strings. The capo pressing down on the wound strings would grind the fret wires against the windings and they would develop bare spots and string buzz. After a while, I would have to take the worn strings off, and mount them in reverse, so that the bare spots are close to the bridge instead of over the 1st three frets.
____________________ Will http://ezfolk.com/audio/bands/297/ Loose Change & Friends http://ezfolk.com/audio/bands/245/ http://loosechangeandfriends.com The Earth Tones http://ezfolk.com/audio/bands/337/ A Bunch Of Coconuts http://abunchofcoconuts.com |
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| Posted: Wed Nov 22nd, 2006 02:48 pm |
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3rd Post |
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Mike Bagneski Approved
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Hi Will, Good tip about the capo. The Aquila concert set I used has no wound string, so I'm in the clear there. Since I'm using a capo now, I've discovered that my guitar capos are all too bulky to use on the uke. They get in the way. I was wondering what kind of capo you use on the uke? Do you have to retune when you use it? TIA, Mike
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| Posted: Wed Nov 22nd, 2006 03:04 pm |
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4th Post |
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Will Approved
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Mike Bagneski wrote: Hi Will, Hi, Mike: For my ukes, I use a Kyser banjo/mandolin capo, which is narrower than a guitar capo and designed for a 4-string neck. Although I prefer Shubb capos for my guitars, my Shubb banjo capo only works well on my tenor guitar, because the locking cam doesn't adjust to different neck sizes as well as the spring mechanism of the Kyser capo. [img]http://images.google.com/images?q=tbn:iIqFYRiTvW6rFM:http://www.bluegrasscenter.com/images/kyser_banjo_mand.jpg[/img]
____________________ Will http://ezfolk.com/audio/bands/297/ Loose Change & Friends http://ezfolk.com/audio/bands/245/ http://loosechangeandfriends.com The Earth Tones http://ezfolk.com/audio/bands/337/ A Bunch Of Coconuts http://abunchofcoconuts.com |
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| ezFolk Forums > Ukulele > Beginner Questions - Ukulele > G-tuning on a Long-neck Soprano | Top |
