Seasons of the Ukulele

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NUD-Caramel Ebony Baritone

JackLuis

Just got a delivery of my Caramel Ebony baritone! It's really cool, slotted headstock, pined bridge built-in tuner and pickup, an eased cutaway filled with red Paduk and an eased arm rest, also filled with red Paduk. With a gloss finish and an accessory kit with strap, extra strings, pin lifter, extra spare bridge pins and a pickup cable and a cleaning cloth! all for ~$200.!

Interestingly, it came with flat wound D and G strings. Tuning it up I found it had a very deep and loud resonate voice. The Ebony really works well in the Baritone. I had bought an Ebony Concert a few months ago, crafted the same way, and it seems a bit IDK dull, perhaps. Certainly different from my Caramel Zebra wood Concert, which is bright and light.
SO I compared the Ebony Bari to my Big Zebra bari and realized that the strings on it were worn out after five years or so. So before making a comparison I'll change the strings to Worth brown Baritone strings, I have on hand taking the opportunity to clean up the Big Zebra while I have the strings off.

I got new Video software and a new Webcam this week, so after I relearn how to produce videos, I'll add a video to this thread,

DelGriff

JackLuis

Nice! My first baritone was a Caramel rosewood with tuner and pickup - I loved it! The main/only reason I moved on from it was the pinned bridge - I never quite mastered the art of string changing without those bloomin’ pins pinging out sooner or later. I’m sure it was me being a numpty and not a problem with the instrument. It was a great price too. I’m really looking forward to seeing it and hearing it in your first new video, Jack. 🙂

JackLuis

Del:

Yeah, the pinned bridge is unnecessary on a Uke. I lost a pin just changing one string!

The slotted head while cool looking is less than perfect as well.

My neighbor Gary has the Rosewood Bari which sounds good but I never liked the odd sound holes and leaf pattern on the top.

JackLuis

I got my Tenor Ebony Uke yesterday and it is beautiful. However, it doesn't have a very loud voice. I normally strum with my index finger nail and generally that is good enough or loud, but this tenor is thin voiced, or so I thought util I tried it with a pick. Major difference.

It may be the strings, or it may be an opportunity to learn note picking instead of just strumming?

JackLuis

The Ebony Bari sounds wonderful, but the string tension is so high that it is painful to play after five or so minutes. Now this is due to my tender fingers from not playing much the last five or so years, so I'll try to toughen up with the Big Zebra which has new strings with the two wound strings. It is higher tensioned now but still a bit easier on the fingertips.

JackLuis

After a few days, I've toughened up my fingers and can play the Baritone more easily. I retuned the Tenor to dGBE using the same strings, and it has a nice deep voice, though reentrant and different from the Linear Baritone.

I also bought a Butterfly Bacote Tenor (UAS?) and retuned it as well to dGBE. It doesn't do as well in this tuning, but I suspect it will need different strings. Maybe I should leave it a gCEA? I have enough Bari-tenors to play, but only my Concerts are GCEA, now. I have a set of low G titaniums that should work well.

JackLuis

After a few weeks with my new Ebony Baritone I'm in love! Every time I play it, I chuckle at the way it sounds! The wound strings don't hurt as much now that my fingered are toughening up. In fact, I put some wound D'adorios with wound D&G strings on the Big Zebra and like them very much as well. Although the Big Zebra doesn't have the same resonate tone as the Ebony.

Tonight I put a wound D on my Ebony Tenor which I tuned DGBE. It sounds much more like the Baritone now and is even handier to play in the car, while waiting during my wife's doctor's appointments. I had previously used a Fremont Soloist string for Low D, but found these Ernie Ball, Ball end strings. Which use black nylon for the GBE strings, which I haven't tried yet.

As an aside, I found Abigail Flowers Baritone lessons on YouTube and am very happy to find she teaches on the Baritone, not EGA Tuned Ukuleles like most of the other tutorials.