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Original Post By:
southcoastukes
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Date: 8/24/2010 7:20:34 PM |
My apologies for the bad link on the previous thread. It explains some of the questions I have been receiving. Following is the direct link to the page with all the tuning and set-up info:
http://www.southcoastukes.com/stringuide_files/cuatro.htm
Following is the dialogue from the earlier post:
Hello again,
First, thanks to everyone for all the string purchases - we're glad you like 'em!
Now on to the exiting news of the great product the ukulele world has been breathlessly awaiting for decades! A high quality low re-entrant string set is finally available!
At this point you may wonder if we have lost our minds. You are assuming, of course, there was something there to lose in the first place.
Actually, since we have an instrument called a "Cuatro", we figured someone might someday want to play it that way. We probably should have called it a "Super Baritone", since that is what we really intended it to be, and how every owner so far has used it.
Still, if you've never thought about this tuning option, you might want to give it a whirl. Here is the stringuide link with more complete info:
http://www.southcoastukes.com/stringuide.htm
The Cuatro Instrument page has a tuning sample in low re-entrant key of D. These are not our new strings, but we'll redo a bunch of the tuning samples once we bring out our new wound string sets this fall.
http://www.southcoastukes.com/index_files/cuatro.htm
Finally, on our "Gumbo" page, there is a video of fancy shmantzy Cuatro playing that will only take a couple of minutes to download.
Any uke player can play this set-up. It's like a low 4th plus a low 1st. With standard ukes you could try it on a tenor, but if you have a baritone around collecting dust somewhere, you may be surprised at what these strings can do!
Posted By: William Date: 8/10/2010 8:43:58 AM
What a really nice post !!!! It is graphically well done; great sound samples;informative as well as intriguing enough to send one running to the cabinet to decide which instrument is about to be modified to a lowered first string.Some already have the lowered fourth. How would a tiple or a taropatch sound with this tuning? Thank you for the post.
Posted By: southcoastukes Date: 8/10/2010 11:49:05 PM
Good evening William,
Many thanks for the kind words!
Edit
Posted By: William Date: 8/11/2010 3:33:22 AM
Here come some even kinder words, "That is absolutely the most beautiful sound I have ever heard from any of your ukuleles." That was said by my wife as she listened to a Gianinni baritone strung gCEa with Aquila strings. A single tenor low g pulls up to a very nicely. It is a totally different sound. An A chord with 2222 and 4444 for the IV and V is pure pleasure to hear and play. I have a taro patch with all four strings as doubles. It is next to get the low a treatment. I have just ordered a dozen of the low d singles so I can play with my dGBe tuned ukuleles. I wonder how my Martin T-18 tiple will sound............dd GgG BbB ee
Posted By: southcoastukes Date: 8/11/2010 11:34:35 PM (Updated: 8/12/2010 5:13:08 PM)
Good evening William et al:
It is a truly different and beautiful sound. With some chords, exquisite, as you say, others seem to lose something. This is a typical learning curve when changing a set-up, but in this case it is relatively quick and easy, and the results are well worth the small effort.
While you can do low re-entrant tuning in any key, we picked our gauges based on what we felt gave the best response on 1st & 4th without using wound strings. In Venezuela now, some people do use wound strings for 1st and/or 4th. This is not the traditional approach, but can still give a fine sound (see our "Gumbo" page video).
If you want to avoid wound strings, however, you'll get a more responsive low end if you use just a bit thinner strings, move up one step, and play your baritone in D tuning - the favorite among Cuatro players.
By the way, I used to have a Giannini Baritone. While I am not the final authority on vintage instruments, in my modest collecting days, that was my favorite instrument. Also, a Favilla, with it's deep body, gives a very "authentic" sound. It falls about halfway between our Baritone Uke and our Cuatro models.
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Posted By:
William
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Date: 8/26/2010 12:43:28 AM |
Since this post was originally started, I have tried cuatro tuning on a soprano. The reaction is favorable. The shrillness of the soprano is gone, and singing with it is a pleasant experience. It takes some adjustment to get C above middle c by going up the neck rather than straight across to the third fret.
My wife was awed by dGBe tuning on a mandola. She was amazed how much more body resonance is increased with a wound string on each edge.
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