Strings Recommendations for baritone strings?

I just tried out some D'Addario EJ99T's on my bari as dGBE's and they sound pretty good. I don't care for wound strings and wanted something brighter than the Brown low D baritone strings. I figured if they didn't work I'd put them on a Tenor, but they seem to do pretty well.
 
Can't be bothered to open a new thread for a generic string question so I'll just bump this one.

Since I only have one baritone (as opposed to my bazillion sopranos), I haven't had the chance to test that many baritone strings yet. My Pono baritone came with what I believe to be Ko'olau Alohi strings which were pretty nice, but I wanted to test non-wound strings. Off they went, Worth Browns on. Yesterday I noticed that the Worths had horrible intonation issues on the 2nd string so I decided to try something else. I had a set of Martin fluorocarbons so I decided to try those. Thankfully the intonation on these is much better. The sound is a tad brighter, as expected, but overall quite nice. I think I also prefer the wound strings to the very floppy non-wound D and G strings, even though I'm not a huge fan wound strings either.

Anyway, I wanted to ask for opinions on a few different baritone string sets before I continue with my experimentation. Specifically, I'm interested in the D'Addario clear and black nylon strings. I don't usually like nylon strings, but since the baritone sound is already deeper, I recon the mellower nylon sound wouldn't bother me that much. The D'Addario titanium strings might also be worth a try if the nylon strings are too mellow. I believe the Ko'olau Alohi strings are very similar to the titaniums (possibly made by or in collaboration with D'Addario?) and those were quite good as I said. Anyone with experience on these?
 
Dohle said:
Can't be bothered to open a new thread for a generic string question so I'll just bump this one.

Since I only have one baritone (as opposed to my bazillion sopranos), I haven't had the chance to test that many baritone strings yet. My Pono baritone came with what I believe to be Ko'olau Alohi strings which were pretty nice, but I wanted to test non-wound strings. Off they went, Worth Browns on. Yesterday I noticed that the Worths had horrible intonation issues on the 2nd string so I decided to try something else. I had a set of Martin fluorocarbons so I decided to try those. Thankfully the intonation on these is much better. The sound is a tad brighter, as expected, but overall quite nice. I think I also prefer the wound strings to the very floppy non-wound D and G strings, even though I'm not a huge fan wound strings either.

Anyway, I wanted to ask for opinions on a few different baritone string sets before I continue with my experimentation. Specifically, I'm interested in the D'Addario clear and black nylon strings. I don't usually like nylon strings, but since the baritone sound is already deeper, I recon the mellower nylon sound wouldn't bother me that much. The D'Addario titanium strings might also be worth a try if the nylon strings are too mellow. I believe the Ko'olau Alohi strings are very similar to the titaniums (possibly made by or in collaboration with D'Addario?) and those were quite good as I said. Anyone with experience on these?
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Dohle
With it's wound fourth string, I find the D'Addario EJ99B Pro-Arté Carbon strings to be a good compromise between wound and plain Bass Strings. I've played fingerstyle on them, hard, for almost two months and they're still performing and sounding great. Nice price too.

ic-uke
 
I love the set put together by the ukulele site guys. Their aho set is a custom set which only they offer. However, I just went to their web page and didn’t find them listed. Hmmm. Perhaps their supply is depleted. Might be worth contacting them.
 
I've changed strings on both baritones too many times. I also like the EJ99B set and Living Waters set mentioned above. Currently have Martin M630 on both and am very happy with them. One is a Pono MB and other Kala KA-B.
 
ic-uke said:
Dohle
With it's wound fourth string, I find the D'Addario EJ99B Pro-Arté Carbon strings to be a good compromise between wound and plain Bass Strings. I've played fingerstyle on them, hard, for almost two months and they're still performing and sounding great. Nice price too.

ic-uke
Click to expand...
Since my previous message (almost two years ago :D) I've managed to try a bunch of different baritone string sets. Actually, I don't even have the Pono anymore as I got a brilliant Cocobolo baritone in between. The D'Addario fluorocarbon set always intrigued me but I haven't tried it. The thought of one wound and three plain fluorocarbon strings really appeals to me however. Definitely preferable to the Martin set with two wound strings.

My go-to set these days is a custom one. For the bass side strings I use Thomastik-Infeld CF35 and CF30 flatwound strings, and for the treble side I have D'Addario T4601 and T4602 hard tension Titanium strings. The Cocobolo came with Savarez high tension classical guitar fluorocarbon strings which were quite nice as well.
 
Dohle said:
Since my previous message (almost two years ago :D) I've managed to try a bunch of different baritone string sets. Actually, I don't even have the Pono anymore as I got a brilliant Cocobolo baritone in between. The D'Addario fluorocarbon set always intrigued me but I haven't tried it. The thought of one wound and three plain fluorocarbon strings really appeals to me however. Definitely preferable to the Martin set with two wound strings.

My go-to set these days is a custom one. For the bass side strings I use Thomastik-Infeld CF35 and CF30 flatwound strings, and for the treble side I have D'Addario T4601 and T4602 hard tension Titanium strings. The Cocobolo came with Savarez high tension classical guitar fluorocarbon strings which were quite nice as well.
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Dohle
Yes, I'm late to the party here. I'm glad that folks are still replying as Baritone strings are quite a niche item compared to those of its standard siblings.

Congratulations on your Cocobolo acquisition!

I'm a huge fan of Martin uke strings on my standard ukes but never cared for them on my Baritone.

I find your Thomastik / D'Addarrio concoction most interesting in terms of potential tone and being quieter with their flat-wound bass'.

ic-uke
 
Any classical guitar hard/extra hard tension strings would work on a 20 in scale for DGBE. For GCEA a light/extra light set would work too. I like la bella classical strings.
Do note tension on strings vary from one manufacturer to another. So even if 2 different brands says hard tension one might have lesser tension than the other.
 
String posts are a great example of one size doesn't fit all. You receive lots of info from people all up and down the experience ladder which helps you decide what to try on your way to that preferred set.

That is until something changes and a new quest for preferred strings begins.
 
Last edited:
I've tried a lot of baritone strings and I'm still experimenting. I've discovered that I really like the Uke Logic low tension sets. I have an unwound set on one bari and a set with a smooth wound D and a wound G on a second. One of the nice things is that you can customize your set with a number of options.
 
I’m currently using the Galli UX780 set that is mentioned in this blog and really like them. Best Strings for Baritone Uke: A Three-Year Experiment
When I need to replace them I’ve got a set of the Martin M630, Ko’olau Aho, or a set of individual’s TI CF35, TI CF30, Savarez Alliance KF542J(B) and Savarez Alliance 541J for (E), I’ll be trying next. I’ll post back with impressions if this thread is still living after all these years.
 
Olmeck said:
I’m currently using the Galli UX780 set that is mentioned in this blog and really like them. Best Strings for Baritone Uke: A Three-Year Experiment
When I need to replace them I’ve got a set of the Martin M630, Ko’olau Aho, or a set of individual’s TI CF35, TI CF30, Savarez Alliance KF542J(B) and Savarez Alliance 541J for (E), I’ll be trying next. I’ll post back with impressions if this thread is still living after all these years.
Click to expand...
The TI and Savarez combo is my go-to these days (assuming the Savarez strings you mentioned are the high-tension ones). I switched from Titaniums to Savarez fluoro because the tension on the Savarez high-tension strings is just nicer. High-tension Titaniums just didn't cut it. Might have to try extra high-tension Titaniums or clear nylons if I wanted to go back to nylon type strings but the Savarez strings feel and sound very good at the moment. Surprisingly warm and mellow tone as well.
 
Dohle said:
The TI and Savarez combo is my go-to these days (assuming the Savarez strings you mentioned are the high-tension ones). I switched from Titaniums to Savarez fluoro because the tension on the Savarez high-tension strings is just nicer. High-tension Titaniums just didn't cut it. Might have to try extra high-tension Titaniums or clear nylons if I wanted to go back to nylon type strings but the Savarez strings feel and sound very good at the moment. Surprisingly warm and mellow tone as well.
Click to expand...
Those are the high tension Savarez.
 
I have tried the D’Addario black nylon/wound baritone strings on my vintage Harmony baritone. It is solid mahogany, and pretty heavily built, and I found the sound very muddy. I changed to the Martin 630’s, and I like them a lot better. It made a huge difference. On both sets the wound strings held up pretty well. I don’t know which strings I’ll try next but they definitely won’t be black nylon.
 
Martins off both baritones due to changing some hardware. Pono now has Aho set and Kala has PhD set. Both seem to fit their uke well and will stay for now.
 
Living Water makes the best baritone set I have heard. However when I get my new baritone, I am going to put Worth strings on it, simply because I like the color better.
 
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