You can’t just put steel strings on your regular ukulele as this will damage the instrument, but you can now buy a steel stringed ukulele. Alternatively, buy or make a 4 string cigar box guitar, tune it and play it as a ukulele, using all the chord shapes and fingering you have already learned.
Can You Use Metal Strings On A Ukulele?
A ukulele is usually manufactured to take synthetic strings. Metal strings put too much much force on the neck and bridge for a ukulele unless it is one of a special kind of ukulele with a truss rod in it. These instruments are built like a metal-stringed guitar.
People who have tried to put metal strings on a ukulele may thing at first that its ok, but they will find that the bridge will lift or the neck will bow or both.
An Alternative To A Metal Stringed Ukulele
If you have learned the chord shapes for a ukulele and can read melody tab too, you might want to consider a four stringed cigar box guitar tuned similarly. That is tune it to G C E A or D G B E ( which is the tuning for a baritone ukulele)
The sound you will get on a steel stringed instrument is quite different to that of the synthetic stringed ukulele even when played acoustically.
Many four stringed cigar box guitars will come with a tuning of G D G B. This tuning makes use of an open chord G, meaning that when you strum it, you play a G chord. When you strum a ukulele with no fingers fretting you are playing a C6 chord or Am7 ( The notes are G C E A)
You can see that by slightly retuning the 4 stringed cigar box guitar you can put it to the same notes as the soprano, concert or tenor ukulele, but they will sound an octave down:
| required ukulele note | original guitar note | how to tune the cigar box guitar note |
| G | G | leave it the same |
| C | D | tune it down one note ( one tone) |
| E | G | tune it down two notes ( two tones) |
| A | B | tune it down one note ( one tone) |
You could also just buy a new set of guitar strings designed for a 6-string guitar and replace the strings and tune as shown:
| required ukulele note | which guitar string to use | how to tune the cigar box guitar note |
| G | 5th | tune it down one note ( one tone) A-G |
| C | 4th | tune it down one note ( one tone) D-C |
| E | 3rd | tune it down two notes ( two tones) G-E |
| A | 2nd | tune it down one note ( one tone) B-A |
You can also tune your cigar box guitar the same as a baritone ukulele. The easiest way is probably to buy a set of strings for a six string guitar and use them as follows:
| required ukulele note | which guitar string to use |
| D | 4th |
| G | 3rd |
| B | 2nd |
| E | 1st |
I have written a more in-depth article all about the many different types of tuning used on a cigar box guitar in this article HERE. This includes information on the more generally used open tuning on a cigar box guitar which makes for easy chord shapes on a 3 or 4 stringed instrument.
Whilst you might try a four stringed guitar tuned like a ukulele to start with, you will probably find it fun to try a 3 stringed cigar box guitar in open tuning too. There is lots of information for beginners on this site. I recommend that you start by looking at this article: An Absolute Beginner’s Guide
Amplifiers, Ukuleles And Cigar Box Guitars
Either instrument can be amplified by installing a pickup. A piezoelectric pickup will work for both a ukulele and a metal stringed cigar box guitar and are not expensive to buy. The most expensive thing you will need to buy is the amp itself, but you can sometimes find second-hand ones that are inexpensive.
Ukuleles are often sold without any form of pickup but a piezo pickup can be installed by a music shop or by a confident owner. The actual pickup is fairly easy to install, but to install a jack for the audio cable requires drilling into the body of the ukulele, something not to be attempted by the faint hearted.
It is quite a bit easier to install a piezo pickup yourself in a cigar box guitar than a ukulele since you can open up the box usually ( unless the builder has glued it shut)
Cigar box guitars are often sold or built with either a piezoelectric pickup, a coiled pickup or both. If more than one pickup is installed, a switching system can be introduced to turn on and off the different pickups. Coiled pickups will not work with synthetic strings since they work with magnetism, but a piezo pickup works with both synthetic and metal strings.
Amplifying an instrument gives more than just the option to make it louder. The amplifier will have in-built effects which means that you can make the same instrument have a clean sound or a very distorted sound.
I have written a beginners guide to pickups here and an article about amp settings here
The Size Of A Ukulele Compared To A Cigar Box Guitar
If you’ve played different size ukuleles you will know that the actual playability depends on what suits your hand size and you probably chose soprano, concert, tenor or baritone based partly on this.
A cigar box guitar can be a variety of sizes and you can choose both a box size and a scale length that suits you. If you learn to make your own, you can customize it to suit yourself. However if you are buying one direct from a builder, they will often be willing to customize it for you.
Whilst the body of a ukulele is like a miniature guitar, the body of a cigar box guitar is a rectangular box. You will need to adjust your playing position as it has corners that make holding it under your arm a bit uncomfortable. Many players either sit down to play and rest the guitar on their knee or use a strap.
Sometimes I find that the corners of the rectangular box stick into my body a bit awkwardly, but usually a small change in position solves this problem.
Cases For Cigar Box Guitars
Many ukuleles come with a soft case made from fabric and with a zip.
A cigar box guitar fits well into a hard rectangular case but you may struggle to find a supplier. My bought cigar box guitar has a Hammond and Drummond case and I’m really happy with how it protects the instrument. I haven’t got around to designing a case for any of the cigar box guitars that have made, but I think I could make a case out of plywood or sew one from fabric.
Where Can I Buy A Cigar Box Guitar?
I bought my first CBG from my local music shop which has a great range of unusual instruments. I’ve played guitar, ukulele and several other instruments for years, but had never heard of a cigar box guitar. When I’d had a go on a few in the shop, I fell in love with the instrument and bought one.
In trying to find out how to play it, I joined a couple of online groups and found that there is a whole array of people building these instruments, both for themselves to play and to sell.
There are home builders that are very accomplished and can build a guitar that plays beautifully, but be aware that these are not cheap homemade instruments. The amount of time that goes into building one, especially if it is a fretted instrument, is considerable. Builders often spend many hours on a build that they are getting paid a very low hourly rate for.
There are also online businesses where you can buy cigar box guitars.
Recommended Companies
As I live in the UK I recommend these companies:
https://hobgoblin.com/ This is the music shop I bought my first CBG
https://www.drummondandhammett.com/ This is the manufacturer of my first buy
https://www.chickenbonejohn.com/ I have been extremely pleased with the strings and parts I have bought here
https://www.astonsmusic.co.uk/ This is a British company that I have heard great reviews about
In addition to cigar box guitars you can also buy or make a cigar box ukulele- this uses a smaller cigar box.
If you’d like to have a go at building your own and don’t know where to start, you could begin with a kit. This could include everything you need, including a pre-fretted neck, box, strings, machine heads and box. Some kits come with a pickup too.
Alternatively you can just buy parts and some wood and try your wood-working skills. I recommend you start with something like a one stringed diddley bow to see how you get on.