Strings with strong fundamentals and strings with polished/ground/flat basses

Great detailed info as always. I love Strings by Mail, so does my paypal and credit card accounts, lol. They have an excellent selection of single strings for those of us that like to experiment. It is very interesting that you have three wound strings, on your baritone, I am intrigued, very intrigued.

I ordered some high tension florocarbon Oasis GPX classical guitar strings as singles in the sizes I wanted for baritone. I have actually restrung my steel string Pono UL4-20 tenor guitar with these to see how the instrument sounds as a nylon strung guitar. I will do a blind "baritone shoot out" thread once these have settled but so far I like it.

Mivo said:

What's the tension like in comparison to the Ko'olau strings that your Pono baritone came with?

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Mivo, it's about the same tension. Not noticeably higher or lower.

2xbass said:

Mivo, it's about the same tension. Not noticeably higher or lower.

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Thank you. I'll give this a try when I change strings the next time. I'm glad all four come from the same set, so that makes it hassle-free. I appreciate all the info you've posted.

I'm a bit late to this show, but if you want strong fundamentals - good old fashioned D'addario Pro-Arte clear nylons are the way to go for me.
If you want a low-G, just use the Regular Tension classical guitar version and use the top 4 strings.

Nylguts and Fluorocarbon, if I'm not mistaken, inherently have richer overtones than nylon (but less fundamental).

Ever wonder why Jake Shimabukuro has such strong fundamental in his sound? He uses the D'addario Pro-Artes.

Any updates on these combos? 2xbass? Particularly interested if you all still like the Thomastik-Infeld CF 128 for the #3 and 4 strings ...also the use of the #1 and 2 strings from the full set.

flailingfingers they are still great. I have the top four strings from the CF128 set on my tenor and the middle four on my baritone. Great on all accounts. I have a bunch of other guitar strings coming soon and will also test amd report back on those soon. Regarding the first two strings from the CF128 set (CN27 and CN30) I much prefer them over any fluorocarbons and over various D'Addario uke nylons.

2xbass said:

flailingfingers they are still great. I have the top four strings from the CF128 set on my tenor and the middle four on my baritone. Great on all accounts. I have a bunch of other guitar strings coming soon and will also test amd report back on those soon. Regarding the first two strings from the CF128 set (CN27 and CN30) I much prefer them over any fluorocarbons and over various D'Addario uke nylons.

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Good info. Thanks. Your reports are much appreciated here.

Thanks for that info Kekani. I have some Hannabach Silver Special 8158MT coming soon and look forward to trying them. I have heard great things about them. The great thing about a lot of these classical guitar strings is you can buy treble-only sets for very little.

Yes totally agree. There are so many more options with classical guitar strings including, in many cases, many choices for tension for the same string.

Today I put the Thomastik-Infeld CN39 string on as the second string on my baritone (replacing the CF27). So I now have two nylon strings (CN31 and CN39) and two wound strings (CF30 and CF35). So far it's working out quite well. The string sings quite nicely and there is less noise when sliding up and down all four strings and I don't really notice the larger gauge of the CN39 that much, at least not on the baritone. Not sure you'd want it as the third string on a tenor.

The Thomastiks are actually very decently sized for nylon strings. For example the equivalent (2nd and 3rd) strings from the Hannabach Silver Special Medium Tension set are 0.033 and 0.0412. The equivalent strings from the D'Addario Pro Arte EJ45 (Normal Tension) are 0.0322 and 0.0403.

So another update: I recently replaced the Thomastik nylon strings on the top of my LFDM and Pono Pro Classic Baritone with strings from the Oasis GPX Carbon classical guitar set. You can buy a half set that has only the treble (top three) strings. These are fluorocarbons that many classical guitarists rave about as the only carbons they will use because they are not as bright or as harsh as others.

So on the baritone on the top I have the 2nd and 3rd strings from the GPX set. These are 0.027 and 0.034 in size and then, as before, I have the Thomastik CF30 and CF35 strings. The overall sound is definitely more to my liking. As you'd expect, they sing a bit more than the Thomastik nylons. The slightly smaller gauge also makes them easier to get around. The tension is definitely higher to the point that there is no more sustain (perhaps even a bit less) than the Thomastik nylons but the tone is more consistent as the notes decay. I should also mention that the tone is more compressed than the nylons but I like it.

An important note about the tension: My gut feeling is that if you were to use this setup on a 22.25" baritone, that instead of using the 2nd and 3rd GPX strings that it might be better to get the high tension set and use the 1st and 2nd strings. I bet the CF30 and CF35 would be fine at higher tension on the longer scale.

On the LFDM I have the 1st and 2nd strings from the GPX set plus, as before, the CF27 and CF30 Thomastik strings. Initially I was not as enamoured with this switch but I found I had to adjust my technique slightly. I can play less heavy-handed since the fluorocarbons speak much more easily and once I did that I was getting a more balanced sound in the strumming.

Today I receive a Pono Baritone Nui Acacia which has a 23" scale. It uke came with the top four strings of a guitar set on them and they were too slack and the response was quite underwhelming.

I put the Thomastik CN31, CN39, CF30 and CF35 (middle four strings of the CF127 set) on a 23" scale Pono Baritone Nui tonight. I was concerned they might be too high tension. It's pretty high but still comfortably playable. So right now I have the CF30 and CF35 as the bottom strings on a number of ukes all tuned to D and G with scales ranging from 17" to 20" and now 23". Although the tension varies a fair bit they are very playable in all situations.

Hi which string in the Thomastik range would be the C string for the Tenor ukulele (flat wound ) ?

frigiliana said:

Hi which string in the Thomastik range would be the C string for the Tenor ukulele (flat wound ) ?

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I've been using the CF27 (0.027") for my flatwound C strings when I use them instead of fluoro or nylon, depending on the uke.

Some of my ukes have a wolf-tone with an unwound C and the CF27 seems to minimize that, if not cure it all together.

You can buy the CF27 as a single string (~$6), or it comes as part of the T-I CF128 full set (~$20) which has it as a WOUND third string instead of the CN39 (0.039").

Strings By Mail, Just Strings and All Strings Nylon sell them, but Strings and Beyond does not have them and I have not checked Elderly and I've not seen any T-I strings other than for electric bass (~$70) or various orchestra instruments on Amazon.

Thanks Booli is this the one ? https://www.stringsbymail.com/thoma...tring-g-027-chrome-steel-flat-wound-2480.html

frigiliana said:

Thanks Booli is this the one ? https://www.stringsbymail.com/thoma...tring-g-027-chrome-steel-flat-wound-2480.html

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Yes, that the correct single string, or the full set as per here: https://www.stringsbymail.com/thoma...uperlona-nt-guitar-strings-full-set-2181.html

frigiliana said:

Hi which string in the Thomastik range would be the C string for the Tenor ukulele (flat wound ) ?

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Yes as Boole said, CF27 if you want a wound string. You could also go for the CN39 if you want unwound.

The CF27 is fantastic. I have been using it on my tenor for a bit now and it's a fantastic string (as is the CF30 for a low-G).