Are these Aquila strings ?

Hi All,

My first post on this forum so be gentle with me

I've just bought two new ukes, a soprano Risa stick and a tenor Ohana TK 35CG. Both were bought on line and both were advertised with Aquila strings as standard.

I have no experience at all with Aquilas, my older instrument being strung with Worth browns which I like a lot.

The strings on the Risa soprano are off-white/cream in colour and opaque not at all transparent. They have a matte finish so are not shiny or glossy. They are very smooth to run my fingers along and very gut-like in appearance. They are what I imagined Aquila Nylgut would feel like and are a joy to play.

However, the strings on the Ohana tenor are shiny bright white with the thinner strings being partially transparent. The feel is smooth but much more resistant and sticky when I slide my fingers across them and they look and feel much closer to a man-made substance such as fluorocarbon or nylon rather than gut. They are quite different to the Risa soprano strings and are horrible to play.

Based on my description above, and taking into account the different sizes of instrument, different tensions and so possibly different string types, do both these sets sound like they are Aquilas ? If not, which if either sounds more like the Aquilas that so many players are using with great enthusiasm ?

I am a little concerned that if this part of the Spec of the Ohana has changed from that advertised (even though Ohana have told me they are still using Aquilas) then what else might have changed too.

Alternatively I am concerned that something may have changed with the set-up after the TK 35CG left the factory even though I bought this instrument from a very reputable dealer here in the UK.

Finally, perhaps I am just being paranoid and both these sets are correct even thought they look and feel so different.

Very many thanks for any replies.

Ernie

The Aquila have more than one type of strings, and the company has reformulated their Aquila strings several times.
So depending on what year the strings were produced, they will differ.

The strings you have on your Risa sound to me they are the Aquila "Super nylguts" which are their latest model with the matte feel and springiness.

The Ohana probably has the original Nylguts, which feel a bit more plasticky and semi-transparent.

There is also a test with ultraviolet light to determine if Aquilas are genuine or not.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQ71DNreiaY

However, the differences you note are more likely to be what Kissing said...

The instruments you bought are from two very reputable companies. If they say the strings are Aquilas, they definitely are. There is no doubt whatsoever.They might look and feel different from each other simply because Aquila manufactures many varying types of strings.

If you are in doubt about the Ohana strings, maybe contact the dealer and let them know your concerns, and ask them if they'd be so kind to offer you a replacement set (for free), otherwise, a set of strings is not going to set you back very far if you want to buy them yourself.

As per what others have said about the fact that Aquila makes many different sets of strings, and of varying materials, I can also confirm that this is true (as per writing this message, there are 6 different product lines of ukulele strings offered by Aquila), and you might want to have a look at the Aquila web site here and become familiar with them:

http://www.aquilacorde.com/modern-instrument-sets/modern-instrument/3190/ukulele/?lang=en/

I say embrace new tech fully I would suggest trying a set of Aquila reds. They are not counterfeited yet so no worry of fakes and they sound great on my stick and my Kala SEM. Texture is a bit papery at first but they smooth out fast with play.

Oh just noticed its a tenor. The Aquila strings on my tenor (white variety) have a much different feel tension wise than those on my smiley soprano. It isn't the scale size that stops me from enjoying my tenor its the string tension/feel. To be fair I haven't tried Reds on my tenor yet.

~peace~

By the way, when did Risa stop using Worth Browns on the Uke Solid? I thought they sounded fantastic.

Many thanks for the replies.

Thanks to kissing for alerting me to the Super Nylguts which do sound interesting. The Risa sticks have a history of snapping strings when tuning so I wonder if Risa have changed over to these strings in recent months to avoid any further criticism as the Aquila website says these new strings are supposed to be stronger than many other brands. I'll keep digging around to find confirmation as to precisely what these strings are as I'd like to try them on other instruments. As kissing says, the finish is very opaque, smooth and matte and they play with a lovely springiness like elastic bands, so I strongly suspect he is right that they are Super Nylguts.

As for the strings on the Ohana, perhaps I've been a little premature in my criticism. I am relieved that nobody here has come straight out and said that they don't sound like Aquilas and kissing saying that the original Nylguts do feel a bit plasticky and semi-transparent makes me more confident that they are what they are supposed to be. Indeed, as they settle in some of the plasticky shine seems to be wearing off and I am starting to quite like them although I have some Worth browns close at hand should I wish to change.

Thanks again.

Ernie

Brand new Risa's do NOT come with Aquilas. They are now set up with Risa brand WHITE Fluorocarbon strings.

I was thinking you got Aquila because you bought the Risa second-hand and the previous owner had Aquilas on them.

By the way, when did Risa stop using Worth Browns on the Uke Solid? I thought they sounded fantastic.

Click to expand...

They were never officially Worth Browns. They are Risa brand fluorocarbon. But many people speculated that the formulation was identical to Worth Browns, perhaps produced from the same factory and re-branded.

You can still get them with the Brown strings if you request it to Risa when you purchase a new uke.
They have switched to a new White fluorocarbon, which kinda looks like Aquila at a glance, but is not.

The white fluorocarbon is similar to the browns anyway..