 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
| ||||
| Moderated by: Tony Provencher, Richard Hefner |
|
||||||||||||||
| converting guitar to baritone uke setup | Rate Topic |
| Author | Post |
|---|
| Posted: Thu May 28th, 2009 04:48 am |
|
1st Post |
|
gardner321 Approved
|
My wife has a small hand and was playing my baritone uke, but complaining about the plunkity plunk sound of the gut strings. I bought a 3/4 guitar and removed the two bass strings. changed the spacing of the remaining strings to 7/16 in bu using a hacksaw blade to cut the grooves. Took me about thirty five minutes and she loves those steel strings tuned DGBE. Any of you ever tried that?
|
||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||
| Posted: Thu May 28th, 2009 07:18 pm |
|
2nd Post |
|
Charlie Approved 
|
Yes, I have 2 guitars that I have done that to, I had a couple of nuts that had the right spacing already that came from tenor guitars that fit perfect I use it to play with a gospel group every week at nurseing homes and it is my main axe. Charlie
____________________ Yesterdays Tomorrow is Today http://www.ezfolk.com/audio/charlesculbertson |
|||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||
| Posted: Thu May 28th, 2009 11:00 pm |
|
3rd Post |
|
Dave Alexander Approved 
|
Been there, done that. It equals a fuller sound on some guitars. I ended up with a steel string baritone after I was done. It sounds pretty good. I cut a plastic nut on one, and it really was easy. Another had a harder pastic nut, and it shattered. Beware using a bass nut. The spacing is right, but it leaves too much room for one string to move. I limit myself to just the guitars with no huge value (First Act/junky old) so I don't destroy an actual quality setup.
____________________ "My ukulele playing IS entertaining. Just not always to others." -- Dave Alexander |
||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||
| Posted: Sun May 31st, 2009 11:10 am |
|
4th Post |
|
daniel44 Approved
|
Isn't that just a tenor guitar tuned dgbe? I think you can buy these in a variety of forms
|
|||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||
| Posted: Sun May 31st, 2009 01:57 pm |
|
5th Post |
|
gardner321 Approved
|
No Danny. A luthier suggested a tenor guitar, but said they had a narrow neck. My wife cannot grasp a guitar neck and plays the uke lying flat on a table that I made especially for her. She fingers the frets from the top side of the neck. With the 3/4 guitar, bass strings removed, remaining strings spread 7/16 apart and fitted with steel strings, this small guitar sounds better than the uke and is identical to the uke except for the overall length. She loves it
|
||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||
| Posted: Sun May 31st, 2009 05:53 pm |
|
6th Post |
|
DaveVisi Approved 
|
Has she considered playing a Mountain Dulcimer?
|
|||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||
| Posted: Sun May 31st, 2009 08:05 pm |
|
7th Post |
|
gardner321 Approved
|
She owns a mountain dulcimer, (4) string, but we have to use an electronic tuner and do not know how to tune it correctly. It also drifts soon after we have a friend tune it. There are so many tuning options and we do not understand them. Thanks for the reply
|
||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||
| Posted: Sun May 31st, 2009 09:37 pm |
|
8th Post |
|
banjo brad Super Moderator 
|
If she wants to learn a bit about the dulcimer, here is an excellent beginners site: Liza's Dulcimer Blog Liza is a great player, teacher and person. She plays banjo as well. The blog evolved when she started teaching someone to play the mountain dulcimer and is actually an on-line lesson. As soon as I can obtain a dulcimer, I will be getting back to the site for learning as well as just for interest.
____________________ ezFolk Help Brad Prickly Pear Music Banjo Brad's ezFolk page TOTMC |
|||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||
| Posted: Tue Jun 2nd, 2009 10:57 pm |
|
9th Post |
|
GaryC1968 Approved
|
I picked up a 3/4 size guitar and removed the 2 bass strings. Now I'm playing around with the spacing on the nut. The sound of the steel string guitar with the ease of the DGBE tuning is exactly what I've been looking for.
|
||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||
| Posted: Wed Jun 3rd, 2009 01:17 am |
|
10th Post |
|
gardner321 Approved
|
Thanks for the reply Gary. My wife said to tell you that she absolutely loves hers.
|
|||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||
| Posted: Wed Jun 3rd, 2009 01:36 am |
|
11th Post |
|
gardner321 Approved
|
Gary I spaced the strings evenly across the nut approx 7/16in apart. Same as the baritone uke. Back at the bridge I used approximately the same spacing, to keep them uniform with each other. You can do this without drilling new peg holes by using holes one and six as they are and spacing the second and third string equal apart from one and six. Use peg holes three and four this wise. Pin the second and third strings in holes three and four. Put a pencil mark on the bridge where you want strings two and three and using a hacksaw blade cut just enough groove, does not take much, and push the strings to the new groove. They will be at about a thirty degree angle with the peg, but it works great. Using the two spare bass string pegs, tap them into the two vacant holes and you have it. This way your guitar can be set back to six strings in a matter of minutes. LOL Tom
|
||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||
| Posted: Wed Jun 3rd, 2009 03:53 pm |
|
12th Post |
|
GaryC1968 Approved
|
Tom, I will be using the same spacing for the nut. As far as the saddle, I have a local luthier that does really good work. I will have him remove the existing saddle and fill in the holes. After that is done, he can install a blank saddle and space the four holes accordingly. This guitar will be 4 strings only once I'm done. 
|
|||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||
| Posted: Wed Jun 3rd, 2009 08:16 pm |
|
13th Post |
|
random jar Approved
|
 Hi I,ve a baby steel strung guitar and I,m trying gdgbe ie using 5 strings it gives you bass and the chords remain the same in finger picking in strumming a becomes a7 so bare that in mind also you lose e it becomes em but for most songs it works. Good luck best wishes dave.
____________________ David Owen |
||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||
| Current time is 01:02 am | |
| ezFolk Forums > Ukulele > Baritone Uke > converting guitar to baritone uke setup | Top |
Copyright © 2007-2008 Data 1 Systems
Page processed in 0.7459 seconds (9% database + 91% PHP). 25 queries executed.