Stringing a Dolphin (advice needed)

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woo hoo, email just arrived from an australian music shop, shipment of new Makala ukes arrived today, including the elusive Dolphins.

My wife teaches primary school kids and helps out with a school uke orchestra and has been looking to get a few ukes to take along to other schools, the mahalo's failed all the test so we have been looking everywhere to get a bunch of Dolphins.

So I'm ordering a gaggle of them on monday, somewhere between 6 and 10 i dunno yet, anyways, i'm gonna order sets of aquilas to go with em and i want to know if I should get soprano strings or concerts.

I seem to remember reading somewhere that folks use concerts when bringing a cheap uke to life.

any other tips on making these little fellas as child/school proof as possible would be appreciated too.

thanks
 
I use sopranos on my teaching Dolphins. The concerts have a little more volume, but the lighter strings are easier for the kids to fret.
I use Dolphins for 6-10 year olds, sometimes they just don't have finger strength.
 
Thanks, and you make a good point about tiny fingers and kids strength. So I'll go with the sopranos for the school ones.

And I'll be ordering one set of Aquila Concerts to put on the best set up one that I keep for myself, hopefull one of the red ones :)
 
Just received 2 Dolphins (pink and sky blue) for my two grandaughters (4 & 7) last week. I left the factory strings (black?) on them for now. Reason: 1) their lil' fingers and ears wouldn't know the difference, 2) compared with the Concert Aquila strung Black Dolphin I already had, they did not sound too bad (pretty good actually) and 3) I put the time into filing the nut and saddle for nice action. Eventually, when the girls get used to playing, I will string them up with Concert Aquilla's.

Also, by the time you spend the money on 6-10 sets of Aquila's, you could buy another Uke ro two :)

I love what you are doing for the kids!

Peace,

James
 
Also, by the time you spend the money on 6-10 sets of Aquila's, you could buy another Uke ro two :)

yeh i did think about that too, the string cost half as much as the ukes themselves, but I really like the idea of making them the best possible instrument they can be.

thanks for the advice and encouragement.
 
I see you already got the answer you need, just wanted to add that I think it's wonderful you're doing this!
 
The Aquila will stay in tune and be much better intonated too.
They will take a while to settle/stretch, but as a teacher it will save you time keeping them in tune.
 
do you guys in oz pay way too much for Aquila's like we do in nz? $25 to $30 per set in nz dollars given the exchange rate is rude.

put a set of tenors on your main dolphin too. (more noise!!)

Cheers

Cliff
 
do you guys in oz pay way too much for Aquila's like we do in nz? $25 to $30 per set in nz dollars given the exchange rate is rude.

put a set of tenors on your main dolphin too. (more noise!!)

Cheers

Cliff

in Oz they are around 17 bucks retail for a set of concerts, dunno about other sizes.
 
The last batch of Aquila's I bought off Ebay (and they were tenor sets) worked out to just over $5 CDN a set including shipping. You can find a deal if you are patient.
 
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