It's my understanding that LoPrinzi supplies their own strings. As for the uke, it's a little different than my other ukes. The clairity is really nice. It almost sounds like a guitar, but is a uke if you can comprehend that. Lol Not sure how to explain it , but the action and radius fretboard make it a dream to play. I just would like a little more volume. I also like the longer fretboard. I don't strum very hard when I play and that is some of the problem. I have a couple of KoAloha's and they are a fairly loud uke out of the box. I'm also looking into adding a pickup, but don't want to drill any holes. Looking at some of the clip on offerings. Just interested if any other SB owners have changed their strings.