Black ukulele strings

[StevieD009]

Hi all,
I'm looking for a set of black ukulele strings for a soprano uke. It's important that they are black because I've outfitted it with a black nut and saddle, black tuning pegs, etc. It's "murdered out" lol. Anyway, all of the black strings I've come across seem to be very thin, which is outside of what I consider to be "traditional" ukulele strings. Some players like these I guess, but I do not. We're talking like .028-.040 - so thin! I normally play on Aquila super nylguts which are more in the range of .060-.091. So - my question is, does anyone know of a brand of black ukulele strings for a soprano that have a gauge range of .060-.091 or similar? I prefer nylon, but I'm willing to try any material if I can find the right gauge. Thanks!

[Booli]

Likely you are going to find only 2 different strings sets at this time:

GHS Black Nylon 'Hawaiian' traditional (tynex), which are close to the gauges you are looking for...

http://www.ghsstrings.com/products/1...964772-ukulele

and

Fremont Blacklines which come in medium and hard tension and are made of fluorocarbon, and are a little thinner than those gauges you mentioned because fluorocarbon strings typically have a higher linear density than the Dupont composites known as nylon or tynex.

http://cargo.ukerepublic.com/product...kulele-strings

This page on Uke Republic you have to choose the BLACKLINES from the pull-down menu, Elderly has them as well IIRC.

There may be other stuff out there, but I have not used nor tried it myself.

Hope this helps!

[DownUpDave]

Go to the D'Addario website, go to ukulele, go Pro Arte' rectified nylon. The soprano set is "Black Nylon Ukulele" EJ53S. The diameters are in the chart below the description, they are similar to what you asked for. Nylon will be the only material that comes in the thick diameters you want, florocarbon is much thinner

[Booli]

Go to the D'Addario website, go to ukulele, go Pro Arte' rectified nylon. The soprano set is "Black Nylon Ukulele" EJ53S. The diameters are in the chart below the description, they are similar to what you asked for. Nylon will be the only material that comes in the thick diameters you want, florocarbon is much thinner

Good catch Dave!

link:

http://www.daddario.com/DADProductDe...ulele__Soprano

Details:

• Optimized for Soprano Ukuleles tuned to standard GCEA tuning
• Black precision rectified nylon ensuring that the roundness and dimension control of each string are unsurpassed
• Preferred for their warm and long lasting tone
• Soprano Ukulele, Rectified Black Nylon, Non-Ball End
• String Gauges: Black Nylon .028, .033, .040, .029

[DownUpDave]

Good catch Dave!

link:

http://www.daddario.com/DADProductDe...ulele__Soprano

Details:

• Optimized for Soprano Ukuleles tuned to standard GCEA tuning
• Black precision rectified nylon ensuring that the roundness and dimension control of each string are unsurpassed
• Preferred for their warm and long lasting tone
• Soprano Ukulele, Rectified Black Nylon, Non-Ball End
• String Gauges: Black Nylon .028, .033, .040, .029

Hey Booli by the looks of the OP stated measurements I am guessing he was using metric, hence the much larger numbers he quoted. Same thing, different lanuage

[ProfChris]

The Aquila black lava are nice to play - a little thinner than Nylguts, and a little less tension (subjective feeling).

[Booli]

Hey Booli by the looks of the OP stated measurements I am guessing he was using metric, hence the much larger numbers he quoted. Same thing, different lanuage

Aye brother - we got gypped here in the USA (maybe Canada too?) by holding on to the imperial measurements too long, while the rest of the world was already standardized on metric.

I've seen that when I was taking science classes in college, they only casually started to reference using S.I. Units (Scientific International IIRC? Units).

I've tried to do all my own measurements in metric, but have not fully converted over yet, as a hold-over from my guitar days I still have it in my head for 'thousands of an inch" for string diameters, but I am trying...

Counting 16ths or 64ths of an inch on a ruler is near impossible without a magnifying glass, and the smaller millimeters on the metric side is about all I can see with the naked eye, and thankfully my cheap digital calipers from China via eBay has a nice display and with a press of the button, I can have it show the same measure in either imperial or metric, which makes me very happy.

I dont know if you wear eyeglasses Dave, but for me since passing 40, about every 2 yrs I need stronger lenses to see any small detail (typical trend due to presbyopia it seems).

If you can help it, don't get old.

[Inksplosive AL]

Aquila Lava strings are supposed to be very much like the nylagut strings but I do not believe they are very black more of a grey. Aquila Carbon strings are suppose to be more like their red strings. Thicknesses can be found be researching a bit yourself Aquila strings usually advertise this data.

After years now on reds the white Aquilas feel too thick so I fully understand looking for something familiar.

All this talk of a murdered out uke and not a one picture... you know what they say! Pictures or it didn't happen.

[StevieD009]

Haha, thanks Inksplosive! Pics coming soon. I think what I'm used to, and looking for as far as thickness, is the Super Nylguts, but I don't know what the thickness is on them and Aquila doesn't seem to list it anywhere (not the package nor their website). When I try writing them through their site it errors out and phone calls to them don't go through, go figure haha. Anyway, the Super Nylguts are rather thick, and I also like the semi-silky feel without feeling/sounding like plastic, which is what flourocarbons feel/sound like to me. I tried the lavas because I thought they would be close enough to black and claimed to have that same nylgut feeling, but I find them to be rather thin and a more "plasticky" feel to them, definitely nothing like the super nylguts. I dunno, maybe it's in my head, but I've tried nearly every black string out there now, and none of them seem to have the thickness, softness, tone and playability of super nylguts, which would be the ideal scenario. Maybe it doesn't exist...

[StevieD009]

I agree, they are nice, but still too thin for my taste - probably the closest thing I've found so far.