Thanks for the plug, Hal! Very clear exploration of the topic. I must say I was pleasantly surprised by the sound of the nylon strings on an instrument designed for steel. Onward and upward, my friend!
I learn something new every day with the ukulele. My lovely Snail S60B doesn’t have a truss rod but it’s good to know that I can put steel strings on a uke for the future.
I play a Chicago tuned tenor guitar for steel string and a baritone uke for nylon. I used to have a blue star Kona blaster baritone steel string electric. I since sold it and saving for a East wood tenor I’m gonna set up for Chicago tuning.
Thanks for posting this. It is important to note that steel strings make more tension only if you use the same diameter. I restrung a standard baritone with steel but used smaller diameter steel so that it did not increase tension or damage the instrument. The finger pressure is then also low which helps with finger tip abuse. The low tension steel is very narrow and that does still cause fingertip issues. To reduce the problems further, I am experimenting with titanium strings. They are about 32% larger diameter for the same scale length, tension, and frequency (due to the lower density of Ti). So the "biting into the fingertips" is less. Just finished the first one and am evaluating the tone, etc. Let me know if this idea interests you.
Great video, really inspiring ! I bought 1 base string for ultra low G, other 3 are guitar strings.I like the subtle sound, and bold metal strings aren’t hard on fingers. I don’t know about the tension stuff, my cheap plastic ukulele is holding strong
Thank you. The song is called Hope Of A Brighter Day and it was recorded and released in 2019. Here’s a link to it on my website manitobahal.com/track/3055455/hope-of-a-brighter-day
Planning on getting a Pono UL4-3 steel string baratone. It’s built for steel string but if I really don’t like them I can always slap a set of nylons back on and still have the lovely big baratone sound. Thanks for your info
Have you looked at or tried any of the various Silk and Steel Folk string?? Can be a little hard to find. Long and McQuade only stocks one or two kinds of the folk strings. I like them on a 3/4 guitar I have just for home use. I have you tried different slides on the nylon? I am thinking maybe glass on nylon might be slightly better?? Anyways I like the sound of slide on nylon.
I haven’t tried silk and steel because the uke was designed with steel strings in mind. I have used glass and ceramic slides but find that I prefer the old brass slide that I started with. In my experience, control of the slide trumps any slight variations in tone that different materials give. But of course opinions vary. 🙂
@@HalBrolund I find glass is a little cleaner and brighter than the brass. Brass is darker with a little more growl. I have both and prefer glass. Never tried the Ceramic yet. Take a look at the different Silk and Steel and maybe try? Let me know how they might work on a UKE. Just getting into playing the Uke after playing guitar or years.
I’m not the expert on that. Please check with a qualified luthier BEFORE you try steel strings. The tension steel strings put on an instrument is significantly greater than nylon strings and you could pull your bridge up, warp your top or your neck. The instrument needs to be designed for the tension.
I would seek out a luthier and ask them. I’m no expert. There are baritone strings for tenor ukes through. I’ve done it in the past under guidance with my luthier. There’s a video here of that exact thing. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-H4g6_2wlPYs.html
To be honest I’ve never measured the gauges. Most ukulele string sets are sold with a high G string. But if you needed one to replace a broken one you could match the A string and it would work alright.
Nylon strings are one of the biggest parts of the Uke's sound, genre and culture, If I want to play steel string, I'll play an electric uke or a guitar. But I must admit, steels strings means better articulation and sustain.
I agree. And in my case because I wanted to play slide and nylon strings don’t sustain like steel. I have an electric baritone uke as well for the real dirty blues stuff. I also have a couple resonator guitars. 👍🏻
@@HalBrolund Actually they can only break if you're not gentle with them. You have to lubricate the bride and nut with pencil graphite. I never had issues with them because they've improved them over the years and now they're amazing.
@@HalBrolund They're actually Nylgut Strings that have been coated in Copper to make them twice as strong (therefore less brittle) so that they can be made half as thick of normal strings.
I appreciate your comment. The only time I put them on my uke they broke within two days of my regular playing. The plain Nylgut strings never break. I am admittedly a hard player because I go between finger plucking/picking and strumming all the time. Since I play professionally I can't have a string that breaks when I play it which is why I stick to the regular Nylgut strings.
It depends on your uke. Mine was specifically constructed to accommodate steel strings. Most ukes wouldn’t handle the tension. You might be able to use Silk & Steel strings but I would consult a luthier with your instrument to make sure.
