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Nylon Guitalele-will a CF version come?
January 10, 2012 - 4:21am
The title should catch your attention Evan. Have you seen videos or played one of these?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?&v=6r3DwLoe0ek
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wrHL0BrbLOk
Yamaha GL-1 Guitalele
Here's sort of a plugged in version:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OlSpPmdhlpY
The number of videos with this thing are really exploding on YouTube with some really good players taking this on. Search for guitalele or even wrongly, guitarlele.
1 7/8 inch neck, 17inch scale, $100 consistently everywhere (or about $77 shipped if you live in the UK or elsewhere--not sure why).
Laminate top but there is a nearly identical "Cordoba Guilele" which is solid top and seems to be overall even better quality--but at $200.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EgU1ZrHwA_M
For me, a plywood top is as close to CF as you can get with wood, so with that price, it's Yamaha wins--and I am considering since there is no carbon alternative. Not yet--but later.
Actually, the Blackbird 6-string Ukulele with a 1 7/8 inch neck would blow this away, but at 10 times the price, they may not move many just yet. However, I am seeing so many more videos for this Yamaha that I assume this is a big seller. If there becomes a market base for this size guitar that is finally large enough, then there will be a percentage at some point that will have interest to move up to CF--enough to interest Blackbird, the only game in town.
There are so many guitar players who can transition to this Guitalele so easily, that the Uke community is even hoping it will draw players into the uke fold. We'll see.
For now, $100 makes it a nice experiment. Better yet to try one out at a store first for free. Apparently they are slowly becoming more and more widely stocked now. They've been available in Asia and Europe long before the USA.
As to strings, normal classical strings work for some, others move to requinto strings or alto guitar strings and prefer them--D'Addario has both.
Oh, there is another nice clone of these about the same price as the Yamaha by Stagg--"6 String Ukulele", but it is no way available in NA, only the UK & elsewhere for now.
And FINALLY, just found a motherload of info on the Gitalele at, not surprisingly, ukuleleunderground.com. A search for gitalele brings up 6 pages of posts: (tried to put in a photo of this page but when I save it moves it to the top of the post--out of context--no idea how to keep it at the bottom so won't try.)
January 10, 2012 - 9:44am
#2
I had asked Joe of Blackbird for exactly this - a CF version of the Yamaha guitalele. But it ain't gonna happen soon, he says.
January 10, 2012 - 10:46am
#3
I would not put it past Alistair to produce these in cf.
Darn you Arthur. I had not seen one of these and was perfectly happy: now I'm starting to feel like maybe I had beans for diner.
January 10, 2012 - 4:01pm
#4
I wonder if an X5 could be strung like that?
BTW, that first link was pretty damned nice.
January 12, 2012 - 3:10pm
#5
Arthur,
In one of the demonstrations it's noted that the instrument can be tuned like a guitar, but that the strings play a little sloppy. Would you suppose that hard tension strings would bring the guitalele to more of standard guitar play? I did see one of these on line, new, delivered for $89.00. Yes, I'm nosing around the idea. I certainly don't need one. But then I thought I could paint it black, call it CF, and enlarge my stellar cf nylon string collection.
January 12, 2012 - 3:48pm
#6
I think it is not intended to be tuned to normal guitar pitch. If it is, it will be floppy. I'm not sure high tension strings will help -- except a little.
It's meant to be tuned up to G or A and should sound best that way. I like the different sound that high. I love the portability. I love the price. I can only wish it was CF.
January 12, 2012 - 8:47pm
#7
arthurclarke wrote:
I think it is not intended to be tuned to normal guitar pitch. If it is, it will be floppy.
I have the Yamaha Guitalele. Indeed it is v floppy at regular tuning. Perfect at G.
January 14, 2012 - 8:45am
#8
Last summer, I bought the Yamaha Guitalele for a friend of mine. She was interested in music, but the finger unfriendlyness of steel string guitars was a deterrent.
The Guitalele was a perfect starter instrument because she can finger it like a guitar, so if she wants to switch to regular guitars later on, there won't be a lot of re-learning.
Plus, it's a fun little instrument, sounds good, plays fine, and priced so that if it ends up not getting used, no big deal.
If there were a carbon version, that would be interesting. This instrument is sort of like a "semi soprano" guitar that might mix well with regular guitars.
The Guitalele is intended to be tuned a perfect fourth up, which is really the only "problem." If you're learning and playing guitar songs you need to think a perfect fourth up. To help with that, I made a guitar/guitalele chord chart for my friend.
And that's the primary reason for this post. In case it helps anyone, the guitar/guitalele PDF can be downloaded here...
January 14, 2012 - 9:14am
#9
wow - this looks like a very appealing instrument, especially for travel! I had never seen one before. Oh, the things you learn about (and want to buy) from this forum!
-Penny
January 16, 2012 - 3:26pm
#10
Arthur mentioned that some players use requito or alto strings on the guitalele--would that take some of the slop out play in standard guitar tuning?
Here. I'll add the photo with a new post. It stays in place only with new posts: