Are all Ukuleles using the same String type?
As it turns out, there’s no straight answer to that. Let me explain. First, you are probably aware there are 4 Ukulele sizes, namely the Soprano, Concert, Tenor and Baritone (in ascending order of their sizes). The easy part here is to eliminate Baritone from the rest because it has a different tuning range and its strings are much thicker.
I’ve been to music stores and also spoke with representatives of Strings suppliers, and many would tell me they offer “Universal” string set for the Soprano, Concert and Tenor Ukuleles. While they’re not exactly wrong, I find that the Tenor should be a category of its own. There are 2 reasons why I made this statement.
First, the Soprano and Concert could use the same set of strings because there isn’t much difference in their overall length. In more than a single case, I’ve tried to restring a Tenor using one of these Soprano/Concert strings sets and found the strings literally falling short. Nylon strings slip more easily so we tend to make more loops around the tuning pegs, but many of the Soprano strings are so short it makes this a tedious task to make it work on the Tenor. In some cases, it wasn’t even possible.
Next comes the “trickier” part. Most Tenor strings are actually slightly thicker than the Soprano/Concert sizes. Here’s a Strings specifications taken from one of the manufacturers, Alice.
The above chart shows the thickness of the strings, which directly correlates to the tension and feel, as thicker strings require higher tension to reach the same pitch.
You may feel that a 0.02 inch difference is negligible, but if you play fingerstyle, you will feel the difference. Unfortunately, Ukulele strings specifications are not as “regulated” as acoustic guitars, where tensions such as .010, .011 and .012 etc are pretty consistent among manufacturers. On some cheaper Ukulele strings set, you won’t even find any printed specifications at all, nor does it say is it for Soprano, Concert or Tenor sizes.
Alright, I did say that Tenor strings are supposedly slightly thicker (and I prefer them so), but the same manufacturer I obtained the specifications above also made Tenor strings that are thinner than Sopranos:
They claim this setup gives the Strings a “brighter” tone, but I’m not able to verify it at this point. After all, I’m happy with brighter tones when I play the Soprano, but on the Tenor, I feel that higher tension strings give me more control over techniques such as “pull-offs”. But if I were to be a strummer for the most part, yeah…thinner strings definitely means I could strum a lot quicker and nicer.
I hope this makes sense? 🙂