What strings are on your Cocobolo?

steel rider

steel rider

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If there is an "I bought a Cocobolo" thread I can look through somewhere while I wait for mine to arrive?

I am wondering what strings you all have on your Cocobolo and why. I believe I read that the Cocobolo is a softer "warmer" tone than other ukes?

I like Worth strings but have tended to go with Fremont Blackline, PHD, or sometimes Living Waters combined with a Fremont Soloist or Kala Red low g depending on the uke. FYI I'm not sure the LW are better than the PHD for the price but it's not like strings cost a lot of $. Your experiences appreciated.



Thanks!
 
I have a spruce/coco and I am loving the D'Addario EJ99T Carbon strings on it. I had the Savarez Alliance carbon on there before these, and while great, they we're just a tad round and warm on this particular uke. These are a little brighter with a little less mid range punch, and with a bit more sparkle to my ear. I do use a wound third string on all my ukes, so that will make a difference as well.
 
hammer40 said:
I have a spruce/coco and I am loving the D'Addario EJ99T Carbon strings on it. I had the Savarez Alliance carbon on there before these, and while great, they we're just a tad round and warm on this particular uke. These are a little brighter with a little less mid range punch, and with a bit more sparkle to my ear. I do use a wound third string on all my ukes, so that will make a difference as well.
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I am not familiar with those. All the D'Adarrio I see are just Aquilla rebranded so I don't pay attention to them. Will have to check them out.
 
I put Southcoasts on both of mine. I thought the Aquilas that came on them did not drive the dense cocobolo top enough and it sounded dead. Changing to fluorocarbons made a huge difference! I would start with your "preferred" strings and go from there.
 
Still have the stock strings on mine - cuz I'm lazy - want to try Southcoast, maybe D tuning.
 
steel rider said:
Stock as in the fishing line? Those are an interesting solution. Curious about that.
Click to expand...

Both mine came with Aquila strings. My concert was re-entrant (high g) and tenor was linear (low g).

I have tuned my tenor down one half step to B tuning and it sounds wonderful!
 
Martin M600 sounded really good on my Cocobolo concert, not too bright but a strong voice. I've since switched to D'Addario T2. I don't like them as much; they don't seem as stable, running in and out of tune all the time. Last week I put on a wound G string for linear tuning. Probably headed back to some carbon strings soon.
 
On my concert I have the Aquila Reds, to be honest I did partially for the looks as mine has a large portion that matches that color pretty close, but they also sound great :) On my tenor I have the Living Water Low G and am very happy with those as well.

Cheers,
 
I bought my first concert from Kevin and like Jim I'm too lazy to change the strings. I loved the tone from Cocobolo so much that I just ordered a tenor. My concert with the stock Aquila's sound rich and full.
 
WCBarnes said:
I put Southcoasts on both of mine. I thought the Aquilas that came on them did not drive the dense cocobolo top enough and it sounded dead. Changing to fluorocarbons made a huge difference! I would start with your "preferred" strings and go from there.
Click to expand...

I agree. I swapped out the Aquilas with fluorocarbon Oasis Brights with a wound low G. When my Cocobolo Super Soprano arrived, the sound was disappointing. I had played a couple Cocobolos strung with clear fluorocarbon that sounded great so I knew there was hope. The new strings brought it to life.
 
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Worth Brown Fluorocarbon Strings, didn't like Aquila's sound on my Tenor Cocobolo.
 
Aquila Lavas. I'm beating them to death, I think I'll try some Worth Browns and see how I like the tone. Or maybe Reds. The other Aquilas are so thick.....
 
Are you guys going with a low or high G ? I just won a lottery to buy Tenor #169 and I'm trying to decide between low or high G.
Kevin said for the low G "We would need to widen the channel in the nut a little bit so that the wider string fits well. You can always switch back to a high g later as well. Sometimes the wider channel can create a buzz when you switch back to a high g, but most of the time it works fine."

I also have a KoAloha and that has a low G which took a bit to get used to but now I like it but it doesn't always have that bright uke sound.
 
banditcosmo said:
Are you guys going with a low or high G ? I just won a lottery to buy Tenor #169 and I'm trying to decide between low or high G...I also have a KoAloha and that has a low G
Click to expand...
I'd say go high G then on the Coco. I'd also say go down to Bb tuning but if you're after a bright option maybe stick with gCEA or even try D tuning.
 
Jim Hanks said:
I'd say go high G then on the Coco. I'd also say go down to Bb tuning but if you're after a bright option maybe stick with gCEA or even try D tuning.
Click to expand...

I have a cedar-topped Coco tenor coming and LOVE the idea of re-entrant Bb, since I already have a low G in my Kala.

As for my Coco pineapple (hey that sounds like a dessert!), I have Worth Browns on it right now and like them a lot.
 
Cedar tenor just has to be good with Bb, maybe even A tuning, or even G.:shaka:

Looking back at this thread, I did put the reentrant D tuning with Southcoast strings on my 16" super concert but I've been meaning to take it back to C tuning. It doesn't sound bad in D but did lose some of the warmth of the stock C strings.
 
I installed Worth Browns on my cedar-topped tenor last night. Such an improvement over the stock Nylguts. I did not hate them, but I did not love them, either. So I tried to at least LIKE them, but it just wasn't working.

Ah, the Worth Browns! Love the feel, love the sound, love the look. I haven't tried Bb yet, Jim. Perhaps now is the time!
 
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