Few people know about an instrument called the "octave uke," but to my ear it sounds as pretty as a cello.

I appreciate this (as a cello player). I didn't know about the baritone uke, thanks for the videos!

Speaking of 4(ish)-stringed instruments, the mandolin family has a whole set of instruments corresponding to all the orchestral strings. The common mandolin having a tuning identical to the violin, the mandola down a fifth with tuning matching the viola, the mandocello down an octave from the mandola to match the cello and the mandobass, like its orchestral cousin tuned in fourths EADG (this last is also the only one of the mandolin orchestra instruments to not have doubled strings in each course, although other mandolin family instruments have single strings in each course.

It sounds nice, and I like it more than a regular ukulele. But I remain unconvinced: I still haven't heard anything at beautiful or mesmerizing at the sound of Cello.

Oh! You should listen to `Corridors of Time` from Meine Meinung: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p636Rw_L3XU

Thanks, that was really nice. The double bass is really wonderful. I need to explore it more.

Unless I'm mistaken, that's a double bass, not a cello.

You're right. This is the cello:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K0TlRSIPhQE

It's no cello, but to hear that kind of sound coming from a ukulele is amazing.

I don't see ukulele topics very often on HN, thanks for posting!

I'm a uke player and I have an "octave ukulele" too. If anyone is curious to try this out themselves, here's a link to the strings I use on mine (they're called Perry's Octave Ukulele Strings). You just put them on a baritone uke and tune them to (low)GCEA. They are great strings: https://starlightukes.com/product/776499

I must admit, I don't think the octave ukulele sounds that much like a cello, but I see you only said it sounds a "little" like a cello, and I get what you mean with it being a deeper sound :).

Never knew I could string my bariuke with that. I am going to.