Ukulele vs. Guitar Strings: Are They Interchangeable?

Ukulele vs. Guitar Strings: Are They Interchangeable?

There are a lot of guitar players and ukulele players in the world — and because of their similar designs, many people play both. This leads to the question we frequently get of whether the strings are compatible. After all, if you break a guitar string and don’t have the right replacement handy, it would be great to slap a uke string on there and keep playing. And with many more options for materials and gauges with guitar strings, many ukulele players salivate at the possibility of finding the perfect set.

However, the answer isn’t simple. While a ukulele is essentially a miniature guitar, there are notable variations between the two, and this impacts the usability of the strings in various situations. Today, the Strings and Beyond experts are taking on the age-old question: “Are ukulele and guitar strings interchangeable?” The answer may surprise you in more ways than one.

Comparing the Ukulele and Guitar

To understand this topic, we first need to understand how the guitar and the “Hawaiian guitar” are similar and different. Here’s a quick overview comparing the two.

• A ukulele is much smaller than a guitar, which includes a shorter, narrower neck.
• Ukuleles come in a variety of sizes, including sopranino, soprano/standard, concert, tenor, baritone and bass. Adult guitars have two standard sizes: classical and parlor (acoustic).
• A ukulele has four strings while most guitars have six or seven strings.
• The tuning on ukuleles and guitars is different. Standard soprano ukulele tuning is G4-C4-E4-A4 (reentrant C6) or G3-C4-E4-A4 (linear C6) while standard guitar tuning is E2-A2-D3-G3-B3-E4. Linear ukulele tuning is like putting a capo on the fifth fret of a guitar and only playing the top four strings.

This comparison extends to the strings. Both ukulele and guitar strings are available in a variety of materials and gauges, but what gets used varies greatly. The most common ukulele strings are nylon and fluorocarbon with steel, Nylgut, titanium and wound strings used occasionally. For guitars, wound steel strings are the go-to’s on electric and most acoustic guitars while classical guitars almost exclusively use nylon strings. Guitar strings also have much more tension even when comparing materials head to head because the larger, more solid guitar construction allows it.

Can I Use Guitar Strings on a Ukulele?

With that information to work with, let’s address whether a ukulele can use guitar strings. The short answer is, “sometimes.” This generally should be limited to the use of nylon, fluorocarbon and catgut or similar strings since that’s what nearly all ukuleles use. You shouldn’t put steel guitar strings on a ukulele unless the instrument was specifically designed for them (such as a solid-body electric ukulele). Likewise, don’t put nylon or fluorocarbon strings on your ukulele if it happens to be made for steel strings. Either scenario can lead to bad pitch and action at best and destroy the instrument in the worst-case scenario.

From there, the trick is choosing strings that most closely match the tension/gauge of the original ukulele strings, as significantly raising or lowering the total tension can cause neck warping, intonation problems and other issues. The best swap is to use the four highest guitar strings as your four ukulele strings. Since they will be substantially down-tuned from normal, this will help offset the higher string tension. However, the strings will sound more mellow than ukulele-specific strings. On the other hand, guitar strings can be great for D6 up-tuning and other alternate tunings.

For baritone ukes that have linear G6 tuning (E4-B3-G3-D3), the guitar strings will be at their normal tension, so lean toward a lighter gauge than you normally would. For re-entrant tuning, match the guitar G string to your ukulele G string. An interesting note is that, for smaller ukuleles like the soprano, some guitar strings are long enough to make two ukulele strings. This means that whenever you buy a set of strings, you’re automatically receiving spares!

You’ll also want to keep in mind that guitar strings are generally thicker than ukulele strings — especially classical guitar strings since they have a wider neck than a parlor acoustic guitar. This can make it more difficult to play guitar strings on a ukulele due to the lack of space. If you’re going to try the conversion, we recommend using nylon strings made for acoustic guitars since they are narrower.

Can I Use Ukulele Strings on a Guitar?

While there are certain situations where you can put guitar strings on a ukulele, going in the opposite direction is a non-starter. The two most obvious roadblocks to uke strings on a guitar are the size of the strings and the number of strings. Ukulele strings are noticeably shorter than guitar strings. If you have strings made specifically for a soprano or concert ukulele, they simply aren’t long enough to reach the tuning pegs.

Even if you have longer baritone or bass ukulele strings that might fit a guitar, you can’t ignore that there are only four ukulele strings, leaving you scrambling to find options for the low-E and A strings. The lower tension and narrow width also can cause problems. Finally, ukulele strings rarely have ball ends while many guitars are designed to only use ball-end strings. Overall, we recommend sticking with guitar strings for guitars.

Get the Best Strings at Strings and Beyond

Whether you are looking for ukulele strings, guitar strings or guitar strings to put on a ukulele, Strings and Beyond will help you find them. We have the leading brands in uke and guitar strings, including D’Addario, Aquila, Ernie Ball, La Bella, Worth, Martin and Savarez. With many material and tension options at discounted prices, you can try out a variety of strings until you find the best matches for all your instruments.