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Advice please on strings for 24" 4 string ukulele tuning GCEA

I've built a few CBGs now, including a regular size uke. (and a 4 string uke-sized solid body Jazzmaster shaped guitar).

I enjoy noodling around on the 3 string CBGs but the only thing I can really "play" at all is the uke. After a lifetime of trying to play musical instruments I eventually discovered the uke, and that 4 strings is just enough for me and my fingers to manage, to make enough chords to be able to play some recognisable tunes.

So I had the idea to build something bigger, but use uke GCEA tuning so I can use the chord shapes I know. I'm trying it out on my first licence plate guitar. Neck is 2 hardwood strips (oak or oak-like) laminated.

What do you advise on strings to use?

Anything I've found online on 4-strings has talked about different tunings from mine and my initial experiments (admittedly with a pile of strings largely leftovers from 6 string sets) have not been very satisfactory. thinnest strings from guitar set snapped before they got to A, and by the time I'd worked up to a gauge that didn't, it was thick enough to sound different from the others. Strings across the instrument in the range I use on CBGs were hard/impossible to crank up to this tuning

It may be unrealistic but I'm aiming for a CBG sound with UKE tuning and chord shapes..

Appreciate any guidance on gauges/types/guitar equivalents you have used that work.

Thanks

Stewart

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Permalink Reply by Jim Morris on March 12, 2017 at 2:51pm

Well Stewart there are a few possibilities here. The chord shapes will be identical on a 4 string tenor guitar tuned DGbe but what is a C chord on uke is now a G chord on the tenor guitar. You still put your fingers in the exact same pattern. This, in fact, is the case on a Baritone uke which has around a 19" scale and is tuned DGbe.. Of course the 4th string won't be a high note like on most soprano ukes. I f you absolutely want the GCea tuning an octave lower I think what might work is the 5th, 4th, 3rd and 2nd strings from a 6 string set. So the A string would tune down to G, the D string to C, the G string down to E and the B string to A. Nylon strings would give a more uke type sound. It might take a few different gauge sets to find what works best. You'll never get that 6 string set up to the high A so what you need to aim for is one octave below standard uke..So instead of A 440 for the high string you want A 220. In summary, the simplest way is to make a 24"scale bari uke or tenor guitar type instrument where your fingers make the same shapes but the chords will be lower.

Here's one of my baritone ukes on a 17" scale using bari uke strings

https://youtu.be/VfboNs64xcc

You'd likely need guitar strings on 24" scale.