String Test - Earnest Palomino

bonesoup

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Hopefully this will be of interest! Since I got my custom in July, I've been trying out different strings to see what I like. Now I'd like to hear what you think?

Earnest Palomino concert ukulele
All solid mango body

6 different string sets, all high G:
- Aquila Nylgut
- Worth CL
- Aquila Reds
- Southcoast SLM
- Aquila Supernylgut
- Southcoast LM

Audio: 320 kbps, 48.000 kHz, mp4

Song: Banks of the Ohio trad. arr. Aaron Keim. Warning: I play it 6 times in a row haha.

Hopefully this will give you an idea what these strings are like on a lightly built mango concert. I outputted the file with the highest settings available to me in mp4 because the mov file was 900MB. I hope it comes across on youtube. Thank you.

 
Thanks so much for posting. Very nice ukulele. I need to listen a few more times to decide on a favorite but all sounded pretty good. I think it is between the Aquilla Reds, Aquilla Supernylguts, and the Southcoast LMs
 
Congratulations! That's a fantastic ukulele. The variations among strings in tone and volume are quite audible in this video. I am certain that I like the plaid shirt the best.
 
Great job! Thanks for spending the time and posting the video.

I'll have to listen a few more times to pick a favorite. The Worth CLs and Southcoast LMs are probably very close. I'm surprised the Supernylguts sound that nice.

John
 
Thanks so much for posting. Very nice ukulele. I need to listen a few more times to decide on a favorite but all sounded pretty good. I think it is between the Aquilla Reds, Aquilla Supernylguts, and the Southcoast LMs

My pleasure! Glad you like the uke. I'm real happy with its sound. My two favorites are in your list. Maybe we share a brain haha.

Congratulations! That's a fantastic ukulele. The variations among strings in tone and volume are quite audible in this video. I am certain that I like the plaid shirt the best.

Great, thank you! I'm so glad the tone differences came through. A surprise vote for one of my shirts too! That is so funny.

Great job! Thanks for spending the time and posting the video.

I'll have to listen a few more times to pick a favorite. The Worth CLs and Southcoast LMs are probably very close. I'm surprised the Supernylguts sound that nice.

John

Hey John, my pleasure. I wanted to make a record of the different sounds for when I go to buy strings in the future. I hope it will be helpful to others too.

Between the CLs and LMs, I feel the LMs have more tension. So maybe a bigger sound? Not sure. I'm curious to compare their sizes. I want to say there was a thread here where someone listed info for the different fluoros. Maybe I can find it.

For the Supernyls, Joel the luthier shipped the instrument with regular nylguts. Maybe he builds for that string sound or something.
 
I liked the worth strings the best, and the plaid shirt was indeed the best as well.
 
There have been a number of threads on fluorocarbon diameters. UU member OldePhart had a couple of detailed threads comparing Worth strings and Seaguar fishing line. I've gone through a lot of batteries in my Harbor Freight digital calipers measuring strings and recently listed Oasis diameters.

After a lot of years of trying out fluorocarbon strings, I have found it mostly comes down to string diameter. The exception would be Worth Browns, and possibly a few others where the chemical differences also make a genuine sound impact. Worth Brown and Clear tenor sets are the same diameter, but sound different so something else is going on. But if you look at a Martin set you'll notice differences in diameter from a Worth set. Those differences add or subtract tension and a warmer or brighter sound.

If there is one knock I have on some string manufacturers is that they don't publish the diameters of their strings.

John
 
Thank you so much for doing that. It was obviously a lot of work and I do appreciate the contribution you have made for all of our benefits. There is a discernable difference between all the strings especially when listening to the same song back to back to back. Nice job.

I agree with John regarding string diameters. Case in point..........and something for you to try Worth CL vs CM. I have a Koaloha concert and the CL (thinner diameter) are brighter and the CM are warmer and a wee bit louder.

That ukulele of yours is beautiful with a nice lively sound, very impressive. My favourites on your uke were the Worth CL and South Coast LM. My personal preferance on concerts are medium gauge so if it were my uke I would try Worth CM or SC Mediums (MU).:)But I think you have done enough work for one day :biglaugh:

Just changing shirts that many times would get tiring
 
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I liked the worth strings the best, and the plaid shirt was indeed the best as well.

Oh man you guys. Plaid shirt avatar incoming.

There have been a number of threads on fluorocarbon diameters. UU member OldePhart had a couple of detailed threads comparing Worth strings and Seaguar fishing line. I've gone through a lot of batteries in my Harbor Freight digital calipers measuring strings and recently listed Oasis diameters.

After a lot of years of trying out fluorocarbon strings, I have found it mostly comes down to string diameter. The exception would be Worth Browns, and possibly a few others where the chemical differences also make a genuine sound impact. Worth Brown and Clear tenor sets are the same diameter, but sound different so something else is going on. But if you look at a Martin set you'll notice differences in diameter from a Worth set. Those differences add or subtract tension and a warmer or brighter sound.

If there is one knock I have on some string manufacturers is that they don't publish the diameters of their strings.

John

I see. Very informative, and the Worth Browns, now that I know that about them - I'll have to try those too. Thanks John.

Thank you so much for doing that. It was obviously a lot of work and I do appreciate the contribution you have made for all of our benefits. There is a discernable difference between all the strings especially when listening to the same song back to back to back. Nice job.

I agree with John regarding string diameters. Case in point..........and something for you to try Worth CL vs CM. I have a Koaloha concert and the CL (thinner diameter) are brighter and the CM are warmer and a wee bit louder.

That ukulele of yours is beautiful with a nice lively sound, very impressive. My favourites on your uke were the Worth CL and South Coast LM. My personal preferance on concerts are medium gauge so if it were my uke I would try Worth CM or SC Mediums (MU).:)But I think you have done enough work for one day :biglaugh:

Just changing shirts that many times would get tiring

Cheers Dave! Your comment couldn't have made me any happier. Really appreciate that.

I haven't tried the CMs or SC Meds either so I'll give those a go. Your concert comparison of them, on your Koaloha, great info. We got a concert database forming here.

So now I have more strings to buy haha. And a workout video to make!

Nice work Dan! I reckon they all sound really nice. If I had to pick just one, I'd probably go for the Worths.

Thank you my friend!
 
I like the Worth CL and Aquila Supernylguts the best...along with the plaid.
 
Sorry, Aquila supernylguts and striped shirt....
 
Would you mind re-recording all of the string sets, but with the same shirt on? That's the only way to say for sure.

Kidding aside, I like the Worths but all of them sound really nice. Most of all I love that uke. Joel makes wonderful instruments.
 
All right, I've done it. Plaid shirt avatar debut haha.

I like the Worth CL and Aquila Supernylguts the best...along with the plaid.

Thank you. Lots of love for the Supernylguts. Mimmo should be pleased.

Sorry, Aquila supernylguts and striped shirt....

Cheers Nickie. Btw I hope the Tampa fest is the best yet. I definitely want to attend it one day.

Would you mind re-recording all of the string sets, but with the same shirt on? That's the only way to say for sure.

Kidding aside, I like the Worths but all of them sound really nice. Most of all I love that uke. Joel makes wonderful instruments.

Haha! I suspect you're right about the same shirt. Fail!

How's your stradelele working out for you?

Maybe now I'll reveal my favorites: the Aquila Reds and the Soutcoast Light Mediums. My Reds worked great, no defects. I got them from HMS. I said this on another thread but they really add punch to the individual notes in fingerpicking. And in person they have a strummed sound all their own.

The LMs seem to have a bigger rounder sound in person. Could be down to their diameter as John said. And if that gives me what I like in a fluoro, I'll have to take Dave's advice and try the MUs. Could be even better.

Just wanted to add my thoughts too. Not saying anyone else's opinion was wrong and I am really glad to hear from you all.
 
How's your stradelele working out for you.

My strad is a wonderful uke. Right now strung with Worth Browns, and there are Aqulias on deck. Joel makes nice instruments. One of his Hall of Fame ukes is for sale used at Elderly. I gave it some thought, and decided to leave it for another worthy uker. Enjoy your palomino, I think you chose well with that nice mango.
 
Superb thread for determining string variations.

I was surprised about the sound of the reds. Heard lots of good things about them, but the problems with string breaking had always kept me at bay. The Southcoast SLM were also good to my ears.

Can we get a tab of this arrangement?

Looking forward to seeing you in December.
 
My strad is a wonderful uke. Right now strung with Worth Browns, and there are Aqulias on deck. Joel makes nice instruments. One of his Hall of Fame ukes is for sale used at Elderly. I gave it some thought, and decided to leave it for another worthy uker. Enjoy your palomino, I think you chose well with that nice mango.

Excellent. It's cool that Elderly thinks enough of his builds to take one (I assume) as a trade in.

Superb thread for determining string variations.

I was surprised about the sound of the reds. Heard lots of good things about them, but the problems with string breaking had always kept me at bay. The Southcoast SLM were also good to my ears.

Can we get a tab of this arrangement?

Looking forward to seeing you in December.

Hey Lenny, looking forward to jamming too. I'm glad you liked the video. The Red's sound surprised me too. When I first put them on, I was like whoa. I'll definitely keep using them.

Thanks for the great thread! It is really helpful to hear a real comparison of string on the same instrument with the same tune. +1 on the plaid shirt. Here is a link to some tabs for this song: https://static.squarespace.com/stat...b60cf102/1411861357064/PickitlikemayEbook.pdf

Cool, it was my pleasure. So pleased you guys are finding it useful. And thanks for the link. Pick It Like May - that's the one I used. Props to Aaron for doing that!
 
Thanks for the time you took to make this video. It's a great sounding uke, and to my ears, all the sets sounded good on it. I did like the reds and I'm tempted to try them now. Thanks again!
 
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