Looking for nylon strings for TENOR KOA THAT WILL BE TUNED TO EAC#F#

[mandodiddle]

Dropping down the tuning 3 half-steps. Used to use Southcoast Medium and Heavy Sets, but I guess they have gone out of business.
Does any one know what gauge strings they used?
Do you have any suggestions for the proper gauges that would work?
I'm guessing clear nylons?
Thanks

 

[anthonyg]

Various gauges of strings will work successfully. It will come down to what you like the feel of.
I use both Aquila Nylgut low g tenor, and DGBE Baritone strings tuned E,A,C#,F# on my tenors.
Both work just fine, yet have slightly different feels and sounds.
Just try a set of low or high tension classical strings, depending on your guess of what you will like, and see what happens.

You could try a set of nylon Ukulele Baritone strings if you find them, and see what you think.

 

[Ukecaster]

I usually don't like Aquilas, but super Nylgut sounds and feels great on one of my tenors tuned reenteant A.

 

[rmmottola]

Here is a set I calculated using D'Addario single Classical guitar strings. The compensation calculator on my site here will provide compensation needed for this set. It will also provide an analysis of inharmonicity, which is high on the plain nylon strings. If the set you've been using has plain nylon E4 and F#4 strings and you liked the sound then the plain nylon strings in this set should sound similar. Best of luck.

String set ID	CUSTOM
Description	alto uke E4 A3 C#4 F#4 tuning
Total tension	54.8​	lbf
Column headings	String Number	Note	Scale Length	Manufacturer	Part#	Diameter	Construction	Tension
Column units		SPN	in			in		lbf
String	1​	F#/Gb4	15​	D'Addario	NYL034	0.034​	plain nylon	10.4​
String	2​	C#/Db4	15​	D'Addario	NYL022W	0.022​	wound nylon	11.6​
String	3​	A3	15​	D'Addario	NYL026W	0.026​	wound nylon	10.6​
String	4​	E4	15​	D'Addario	NYL039	0.039​	plain nylon	10.9​
String	4​	E3	15​	D'Addario	NYL033W	0.033​	wound nylon	11.3​

 

[anthonyg]

On behalf of us all, thanks for doing this work rmmottola.
One thing I've noticed though is that we are talkng about a 17" scale length for a tenor, and I see you have written it for a 15" scale length.

 

[Kermit80]

my site here

Sorry, this is not relevant to the topic but what a wonderful site! I'm having a lot of fun reading and I think I'll have it for quite a while

 

[rmmottola]

Thanks for pointing that out Anthony! And I am staring right at it too ! I've edited the table in my posting above to indicate that set is for an alto/concert uke. Here is the set for 17" scale length tenor. Note that the C#4 is right at the ends of D'Addario's ranges for plain nylon and wound floss, so I've spec'd both here. Also note that the tension I've targeted is the average tension for a typical D'Addario tenor set. One could easily go down in diameters 2 or 3 sizes and still be within that tension range. Oh, and ignore the Total Tension data - that is for the total of ALL the strings in the table.

String set ID	CUSTOM
Description	tenor uke E4 A3 C#4 F#4 tuning
Total tension	66​	lbf
Column headings	String Number	Note	Scale Length	Manufacturer	Part#	Diameter	Construction	Tension
Column units		SPN	in			in		lbf
String	1​	F#/Gb4	17​	D'Addario	NYL031	0.031​	plain nylon	11.1​
String	2​	C#/Db4	17​	D'Addario	NYL041	0.041​	plain nylon	10.9​
String	2​	C#/Db4	17​	D'Addario	NYL019W	0.019​	wound nylon	12.3​
String	3​	A3	17​	D'Addario	NYL024W	0.024​	wound nylon	10.7​
String	4​	E4	17​	D'Addario	NYL034	0.034​	plain nylon	10.6​
String	4​	E3	17​	D'Addario	NYL031W	0.031​	wound nylon	10.4​

 

[Jim Hanks]

My tenor is tuned to "A" with this set

Tenor strings for down tuning: World of Ukes Clarity strings

forum.ukuleleunderground.com

 

[anthonyg]

Thanks Anthony! And I am staring right at it too ! Here is the set for 17" scale length. Note that the C#4 is right at the ends of D'Addario's ranges for plain nylon and wound floss, so I've spec'd both here. Also note that the tension I've targeted is the average tension for a typical D'Addario tenor set. One could easily go down in diameters 2 or 3 sizes and still be within that tension range.

​

Again, thanks for your work rmmottola.
A question/observation I have is that in my experience, a Tenor ukulele is over tensioned in standard g,C,E,A tuning, so one of the great advantages of detuning a tenor is to detension it, which brings most tenor ukuleles to life.

I'm of the personal view that bringing the string tension back up all the way to standard tenor tension, isn't the goal here.
So the ACADEMIC question is, what gauges of strings would give a tenor ukulele tuned E,A,C#,F#, about the same tension that a Concert ukulele has?

Assuming of course that D'Addario quotes a lower tension for their Concert string sets.

EDIT: I should mention again that this is an academic question for those who are interested.
My personal experience is that standard tenor strings sets work perfectly at -2 semitones, F,A#,D,G, and even at E,A,C#,F#, standard tenor strings are OK, although I do usually use DGBE Baritone strings myself to bring the tension back up a little.
My experience is that I like the heavier strings for picking, yet if you're a strummer, the lighter sets may sound better.

 

[Kekani]

D'Addario EJ44 sets are extra hard, which may land you at a fairly good.tension when downtrend.

 

[rmmottola]

The advantage to composing string sets from single strings is that you can get exactly what you want. The sets I composed for this thread make use of D'Addario singles, and make use of the mathematical relationship among frequency of vibration, scale length, tension, and running mass to select each string for the set from those that D'Addarion offers as singles. The strategy is to calculate running mass (called unit weight in the D'Addario catalog) based on your specification for frequency, scale length, and tension, and then select the closest string with that running mass from the catalog. The pitch (frequency) you need and the scale length will be fixed, but you can specify any tension you like. In the sets I composed above I set tension to what is typical. A softer/lighter tension set can be had by specifying a lower tension value, and a harder/higher tension set can be had by specifying a higher tension. For anyone that wants to compose their own string sets, D'Addario's singles catalog is here. An online calculator for the math can be found on my site here.