Tenor ukulele strings
- Thread starter Justin819
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billten
Well-known member
Try the Martin M620, they are pretty cheap and will let you decide if you like the feel and sound of fluro strings. Otherwise if you want to see if the nylons are more your thing i'd recommend trying the Aquila lava. Sound is such a personal thing it really is hard to say what will sound better, that is in your fingers, ears and head. Try a couple and decide for yourself...
photoshooter
Well-known member
High G or low G tuning?
I dont have a Thinline but on my tenors with high G tuning I like Oasis Warm. The Thinline Kala may benefit from the Oasis Bright set as well.
Side note: let us know how you like the Thinline once you've had a chance to bond with it. I'm very intrigued by those models and keep wondering if there's one in my future
I dont have a Thinline but on my tenors with high G tuning I like Oasis Warm. The Thinline Kala may benefit from the Oasis Bright set as well.
Side note: let us know how you like the Thinline once you've had a chance to bond with it. I'm very intrigued by those models and keep wondering if there's one in my future
Croaky Keith
Well-known member
I have a thinline Baton Rouge concert (solid spruce) with Living Water low G strings on it, which I think sounds really good.
johnson430
Well-known member
Buy several types. And try them all. When I bought my tenor I tried many different strings, and still try new string sets periodically.
Getting a little SAS never hurt anyone.
If you change your strings a lot then get a string winder; it makes life so much easier.
Getting a little SAS never hurt anyone.
If you change your strings a lot then get a string winder; it makes life so much easier.
TheCraftedCow
Well-known member
I have Aquila red with a low g on one of mine. Another is strung Aquila white reentrant. My thinlines are from EddyFinn.
Croaky Keith
Well-known member
I just fitted D'Addario Titanium to my Makala tenor - what an improvement, sounds quite nice now. (Was fitted with Aquila.)
Maybe it is just me, but I always asked myself what the deal is with Aquilas and why they are so highly regarded in general. In my experience, they are too thick, feel uncomfortable when playing and sound worse to other brands. I'm sure though that others have a much greater experience with Aquilas – finding the best strings simply is highly subjective. Each to his/her own.
JackLuis
Well-known member
I don't find Aquila's to be my preferred sound. They sound brash to me. I like D'Addario Carbons (EJ99T or TLG), Fremont Blacklines and have been trying Worth browns on my tenors. A trick that you might think about is tuning to dGBE, using the gCEA strings before you raise them up to gCEA. It takes a while to get them to settle at the lower tension, but you get a nice dark chocolate sound instead of the bright C6 sound. If you tune them to G tuning first they don't get over stretched. I did tune my blacklines up to C6, to check that what I was hearing was really good, and it took a week for them to settle back to dGBE.
Flouro's all sound about the same to me, PhD's are nice and crisp too. I didn't have much luck with Aq Reds, they came apart after about two weeks but they sounded nice and felt different in a good way.
I have a Rubin Travel Tenor that is like your Kala thin line, but Zebrawood. The Fluro's made it a good deal louder and it is my favorite uke.
Flouro's all sound about the same to me, PhD's are nice and crisp too. I didn't have much luck with Aq Reds, they came apart after about two weeks but they sounded nice and felt different in a good way.
I have a Rubin Travel Tenor that is like your Kala thin line, but Zebrawood. The Fluro's made it a good deal louder and it is my favorite uke.
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Didn't want to start another thread but I'm looking to restring my cordoba 22t as the C string is much louder than the others. Now I know its the thickest but if my fingers get anywhere near it after a strum it vibrates quite loudly. Yes this is my first post and I'm a new ukulele player with about a month of experience. Any help is greatly appreciated.
Croaky Keith
Well-known member
I think I'd wait a bit before blaming the strings.
It may just be your technique, which will improve the more you play/practice.
Having said that, I like Living Water flourocarbon (low G or D) strings on most of my ukes.
It may just be your technique, which will improve the more you play/practice.
Having said that, I like Living Water flourocarbon (low G or D) strings on most of my ukes.
Have you tried the search function?
Also FYI that AQUILA LAVA strings are NOT fluorocarbon, as per Mimmo (CEO, Founder and lead scientist) of Aquila they are 'lava-colored Nylgut', and Nylgut is NOT nylon, but made from a polymer resin to emulate the animal GUT strings of yesteryear, typically made from sheep intestine.
Also FYI that AQUILA LAVA strings are NOT fluorocarbon, as per Mimmo (CEO, Founder and lead scientist) of Aquila they are 'lava-colored Nylgut', and Nylgut is NOT nylon, but made from a polymer resin to emulate the animal GUT strings of yesteryear, typically made from sheep intestine.
I think I'd wait a bit before blaming the strings.
It may just be your technique, which will improve the more you play/practice.
Having said that, I like Living Water flourocarbon (low G or D) strings on most of my ukes.
Thanks for the info. I have had a guy play it who has played for a while and the C string is still quite loud. I appreciate the input tho
bman40
Well-known member
I like Worth Browns and Fremont Blacklines on my tenor. I recently went back to a set of Martin 600's on my Mainladn tenor, and they sound very nice.
I seem to like Aquila Red Series strings on every ukulele I try them on. Definitely my go-to strings for the Pono baritone, and I now also have them on my two KoAlohas (LN pineapple soprano and an Opio concert), as well as on the Barron River tenor (will be a day or two before they've settled). They sound different from everything else I tried.
As for the C being loud, the easiest way to fix that is to go low-G, then the G overpowers the C. I do believe it's a bit of a matter of technique, but it may also be the string in connection with the specific ukulele. A single wound string may also stand out, especially if it's played like the unwound ones, but I prefer that to the thuddy sound that plain "bass" strings have up the neck (in my ears).
As for the C being loud, the easiest way to fix that is to go low-G, then the G overpowers the C.
I do believe it's a bit of a matter of technique, but it may also be the string in connection with the specific ukulele. A single wound string may also stand out, especially if it's played like the unwound ones, but I prefer that to the thuddy sound that plain "bass" strings have up the neck (in my ears).pbagley
Well-known member
I'll second that. I have Reds on three ukuleles right now, including a Kala Traveller concert (thin line), and I think they each sound best with the Reds installed. But that does not mean that your ukulele will sound best with Reds.
I like the LW re-entrant set on my Mele concert a lot, and I have a few more sets ready to install when the Reds get tired. I also have a set of Reds for the Mele when the LW's get tired.
Oasis strings have sound pretty good on everything I've put them on, both the warm and the brights.
I've found the NylaGuts to be middle-of-the-road strings. Good, but not the best for me.
I did not like the Lava set I tried. I did not like the D'Addario sets I tried. But that may be just me and the individual ukuleles involved in the experiments.
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