Rogue RU20 baritone ukulele
Rogue RU20 baritone ukulele
Wednesday, May 1, 2013
When most people think of a ukulele, they think of novelty musicians like Tiny Tim, or Hawaiian folk-singers-turned-lounge-singers like Don Ho. Or maybe they think of the cheap ukes you might find at Christmastime in the Walmart toy section. For most listeners, the ukulele is not considered a serious musical instrument.
Nonetheless, it's been a favorite instrument of some more serious musicians, including folk singer Nellie McKay, 70s crooner BJ Thomas, and former Beatle George Harrison (with John Lennon and Paul McCartney uncharacteristically following in George's footsteps). In the right hands, the uke and its larger variations can make some truly beautiful music. I've found that ukuleles offer me a voice and texture I can't get from other instruments. Besides, they're a lot of fun, and they're great conversation starters.
The first ukuleles were fashioned in the late 19th century by Hawaiian islanders from local materials, approximating the guitars that Portuguese explorers brought along. Over the years, different variations have developed, particularly the smaller soprano ukulele, the slightly larger concert ukulele, and the significantly larger tenor ukulele. The differences between the instruments are mainly in size and tone, but all three share the same tuning of gCEA (the g note is higher than the C and E, in what is called a re-entrant tuning). Some tenor ukulele players prefer to tune the G an octave lower, so the whole instrument is voiced a perfect fourth above the four treble strings on a guitar.
The baritone ukulele is a departure from this pattern. Its body is larger even than the tenor ukulele, a little smaller than a half-scale acoustic guitar. And it's tuned DGBE, just like the treble strings on a guitar. Its strings are spaced wider than its smaller brethren, so it's used primarily as a bass instrument. If you can imagine the soprano, concert and tenor ukuleles to parallel a first violin, second violin and viola, the baritone would be analogous to a cello in a ukulele quartet. But the analog only holds for the tone of the instruments, not the tuning. Where soprano, concert and tenor ukuleles are tuned pretty much the same, and a baritone ukulele a fourth below, the viola is tuned a fifth down from a violin, and a cello an octave below the viola.
So why have a baritone ukulele at all, you might ask? Why not just use a guitar instead and have the lower E and A strings available? Certainly, you could choose to do it that way. It's a matter of tone, mainly. The smaller body of the baritone ukulele accentuates the frequencies of the strings in ways that a larger guitar body can't. Steel guitar strings have a much brighter natural tone as well, although one could use a classical guitar with nylon strings to come close. Also, the wider string spacing on a baritone ukulele makes it feel more like a bass guitar than a standard "tenor" guitar. You wouldn't normally play chords on a baritone uke -- it would just feel awkward.
I probably wouldn't have sought out a baritone ukulele for myself, but it came up on Musician's Friend as a Stupid Deal of the Day for $29 (free shipping). Considering that was half the suggested retail price of $59, I decided to go ahead and try it out. I've had other Rogue instruments (their travel-starter banjo, their electric sitar-guitar, and a black acoustic guitar I've since given to a friend in need), and have come to find that although they're not fantastic instruments, they're certainly good enough for students and adult beginners to learn on, or for professionals and semi-pros to keep as an inexpensive backup instrument, or to have handy at work or in the rehearsal room. I've relied on Rogue for several of my explorations into folk instruments that might otherwise have been too expensive to buy on a whim.
The Rogue RU20 baritone ukulele has a pretty simple all-wood construction, no truss rod, satin finish, and geared tuners (a definite must, especially for beginners -- the traditional "friction pegs" on many ukuleles slip far too easily). As with just about any stringed instrument, it needed fresh strings right out of the box, and on my next string change I'll try filing down the saddle and nut just a bit to correct the extremely high string action (which tends to pull fretted notes out of tune).
All in all, I think it's worth the $29 I paid for it, and probably nearly worth the $59 suggested retail. The next step up the price scale is a $109 (MSRP) model from Diamond Head, so again, the Rogue RU20 is a pretty good entry level baritone uke if you're not certain how far you'll take it.
Photo by Donna Jo Wallace