Black Nylon Strings, what’s their history?

[Graham Greenbag]

A picture on this site shows the string manufacturing process: https://sunlineamerica.com/blogs/news/history-of-fishing-line-and-fluorocarbon-fishing-line#:~:text=In 1937, Warren Carrosas of,to nylon lines as monofilament.

Black nylon line is used in fishing …

 

[merlin666]

I doubt that the historic Kamaka ukuleles are brand new and have original gut strings. They are most likely gently used and were restored in Kamaka factory, which includes adding fresh Kamaka strings.

 

[Graham Greenbag]

Coloured fishing lines are very popular. The Du Pont factory possibly tried to make all sorts of colours to suit various fishing conditions. Carbon Black pigment is cheap and easy to make, once they proved it worked in nylon, they would have been working on turning it into a commercial fishing product. Black lines are useful in murky water conditions according to fishing line guides.

This is a geeky history of nylon: http://personal.strath.ac.uk/andrew.mclaren/Turin2002/CD congresso/The history of nylons.pdf

I thought there may be some help with history in the Kamaka Museum here: http://www.kamakahawaii.com/about/historic-kamaka-ukuleles.html. But, black strings are fitted to several ukuleles that were made before nylon was even invented, so the strings don't seem to be historically accurate. Its hard to tell from the photos if they are black nylon or another dark material.

Could Augustine or Du Pont have marketed nylon strings to Kamaka after 1949 into the ukulele explosion of the 1950s? Maybe Kamaka researchers tried some of the then new fangled product and like the sound of the black nylon and started using it? We have seen similar exercises with more recent string technologies.

Someone in the Kamaka Company may have a memory of when black nylon was first fitted to Kamaka ukuleles. Maybe if there is a UU member visiting the factory soon they could ask?

That’s an interesting paper if a little over my head.

Apparently Tynex is a 6-12 type of nylon and Tynex is used to make (some) black ukulele strings. Tynex has slightly different mechanical properties to other nylons.

https://www.dupont.com/content/dam/dupont/amer/us/en/mobility/public/documents/en/DuPont%20Filaments%20Abrasive%20Filaments%20Brochure.pdf

Echoes of Aloha and GHS Ukulele Strings — Mele Ukulele Maui

Echoes of Aloha Strings and GHS are made from Dupont Tynex. Unlike any other brand of ukulele strings, they are rectified . This means they are individually ground to a very precise thickness on special machines, which is why they exhibit better intonation and better sustain than other brands. You

www.shopmeleukulele.com

 

[oldjazznut]

Maybe why I like my GHS black nylon but the GHS site, and the packaging, don't mention Tynex or rectified. I'd have to see more references to trust that being correct.

 

[Graham Greenbag]

Maybe why I like my GHS black nylon but the GHS site, and the packaging, don't mention Tynex or rectified. I'd have to see more references to trust that being correct.

I’d have thought that this would be indicative enough of for most folk of what GHS use: https://www.ghsstrings.com/products...?category_id=1964760-classical-guitar-strings
”Tynex-Nylon Trebles/Silver Copper Basses: The industry standard for classical strings.”

 

[oldjazznut]

I’d have thought that this would be indicative enough of for most folk of what GHS use: https://www.ghsstrings.com/products...?category_id=1964760-classical-guitar-strings
”Tynex-Nylon Trebles/Silver Copper Basses: The industry standard for classical strings.”

Their Ukulele string descriptions don't mention Tynex or rectified.

SETS - UKULELE NYLON

Since 1964, GHS Strings has been winding electric guitar strings in the southwestern corner of Michigan. Striking a balance between tradition and innovation, GHS Strings is a major manufacturer of strings for electric & acoustic guitars, bass guitar, classical guitar, banjo, mandolin and much more.

www.ghsstrings.com

 

[Larry U]

I used to work for a company that made nylon cable ties/zip ties. We had two versions: the clear nylon was for indoor use and the black nylon (from carbon added to the formula) was for outdoor use. The clear nylon would deteriorate and turn brittle when exposed to sunlight/ultraviolet light for an extended period. The black nylon held up much better for outdoor uses.

Another unrelated thing we found was that nylon turned brittle in extremely low humidity, so we resorted to adding a few drops of water to each sealed bag to keep them flexible! I wonder if nylon uke & guitar strings have similar characteristics?

 

[kissing]

Call me crazy, but I've always found black nylon to be brighter and clear nylon to be mellower.
At least with the D'addario range.

 

[Graham Greenbag]

Call me crazy, but I've always found black nylon to be brighter and clear nylon to be mellower.
At least with the D'addario range.

Might be worth a ‘view’ of the video made by SUS on D‘Addario strings:

IIRC the clear nylon were better sounding than the black.

As I understand it the term ‘nylon’ refers to a family of materials and what the effect and purpose of colour is seems hard to define.