New owner with an easy string question

Purpleorchid

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Hi all. I have a Kelii all koa long neck soprano that I bought on Oahu earlier this month. I don't need new strings yet even though I'm practicing almost every day. The store owner said it has Hilo blacks on it from the factory.

Anyway, if I were to buy replacement strings, since it's a long neck soprano, do I need to buy concert strings or are there strings made for long neck sopranos specifically?

Thanks!
 
While I don't know this model specifically, most long-necked sopranos have the scale length of a concert and the body size of a soprano. It's the scale length that matters when buying strings, so go for the concert set!
 
Get concert strings.

By the way, do you plan on getting more Hilo strings? From what I have heard Hilo has gone out of business but their factory has been bought by Mele ukuleles, which continues to manufacture the strings under their "Echoes of Aloha" brand. They came with my Mele uke, but I'm not too fond of them. The uke sounds much better now that it has other strings on it.
 
Get concert strings.

By the way, do you plan on getting more Hilo strings? From what I have heard Hilo has gone out of business but their factory has been bought by Mele ukuleles, which continues to manufacture the strings under their "Echoes of Aloha" brand. They came with my Mele uke, but I'm not too fond of them. The uke sounds much better now that it has other strings on it.

The store owner in Honolulu suggested I play with these strings for a while and then when it's time to change them, try other strings. He didn't suggest any specific ones to try, but he said to try different brands of strings to see what I like better. Seems like that's what folks here do too.

Which brings me to another question...when folks try other strings, do they just buy one set, and keep a log of what strings they liked didn't like as time goes on? Or do they buy multiple and switch every month (once the strings have settled in) before deciding on one string set they like in a shorter time span? If I am buying strings every half year, I'll forget if I like string xyz better or string abc better, especially after 2 years and four different string sets.

I have been watching the comparison string videos where they play the same song over and over with different strings, so I have gotten an idea of what sounds better on that particular uke to me because the comparisons are within 30 seconds of each other. But they might sound different once I install them on my ukulele. Then if I play on those new strings for 6 months, I'll forget what the Hilos sounded like compared to these new ones....etc etc. How do you guys choose a string set you like???

And thanks all for the answers of concert strings!
 
The store owner in Honolulu suggested I play with these strings for a while and then when it's time to change them, try other strings. He didn't suggest any specific ones to try, but he said to try different brands of strings to see what I like better. Seems like that's what folks here do too.

Which brings me to another question...when folks try other strings, do they just buy one set, and keep a log of what strings they liked didn't like as time goes on? Or do they buy multiple and switch every month (once the strings have settled in) before deciding on one string set they like in a shorter time span? If I am buying strings every half year, I'll forget if I like string xyz better or string abc better, especially after 2 years and four different string sets.

I have been watching the comparison string videos where they play the same song over and over with different strings, so I have gotten an idea of what sounds better on that particular uke to me because the comparisons are within 30 seconds of each other. But they might sound different once I install them on my ukulele. Then if I play on those new strings for 6 months, I'll forget what the Hilos sounded like compared to these new ones....etc etc. How do you guys choose a string set you like???

And thanks all for the answers of concert strings!

Good advice. Personally, I just leave a set of strings on there until they've worn out unless there is a real problem with particular strings, so it's a slow process for me. Still finding out what I like. Had a couple of unexpected issues with certain strings on certain ukes.
 
Beware SAS!
I spent a lot of money, (enough to buy another Uke!) in the last~two years restringing my Ukes and found in most cases material rather than Brand makes the most difference. Most fluorocarbons, I've tried, sound ~alike, and PVDF PhD stings are about the same. Nylguts and nylon are different and D'Addario Titanium were kind of disappointing on my spruce topped Ohana.

I record my Ukes to keep track with my $15 web cam on my computer.
 
Thanks all for the advice! In the videos I was watching on HMS, I liked the sound of the Worth Browns and Freemont strings way better than the Aquila nylguts. I know it was on a tenor uke, but just the sound itself of those brands were more appealing. Of course, over time, my preference might change. :)
 
Worth Browns and Fremont Blacklines do sound a lot better than Nylguts, IMHO. The D'Addraio Carbons are a little different (brighter?) than the Browns or Blacklines.
 
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