String for Guitalele

GNUF Kris · Feb 7, 2016

Hi all,

I have a Yamaha Guitalele which is really useful for some of the more folk punky growly songs in my sets (usually not the cabaret style gigs) and find it goes through strings really fast. I've not snapped any, they just degrade really quickly.

I've been using clasical acousitc strings because they're really good value (I can get a set for about £6) but I have recently noticed that Aquila do Guitalele strings, but they come to about £12, so twice the price.

Has anybody tried these? Are they worth the money or am I best sticking to Martin classical acoustic strings?

Sanfe · Feb 7, 2016

I was looking into this too. I was looking into high-tension strings from D'Addario because Guitar Center sells them and I have a gift card from them.

I generally do not like my Guitalele. I got sopranos that bark and bite, but my Guitalele is just, as you said, dead. I'm wondering if it is the strings because they haven't been changed . . . I don't think they were ever changed. I want a set with higher tension because, as I understand it, you need enough tension to "drive" the top. I just don't want too much tension that it bows the neck or pulls the bridge off the top.

Going back to the dead tone, my ukuleles all seem to have the white Aquila strings and I never felt they ever needed changing. As I said before, some of my ukuleles with these white Aquilas bark and bite.

GNUF Kris · Feb 7, 2016

I love the low end that I get with my guitalele, I don't want it to sound too ukey. I also tune it half a step down from regular tuning (just suits the songs I play on it, and I get a growlier sound)

I need to change and break in the strings on my main stage ukes before I get gigging again (not performed for a while) and whilst I know I will stick with Aquilas on my main ukes, it's my guitalele that I'm unsure of what direction to go

spookelele · Feb 7, 2016

The cordoba mini uses the aquila set. There's a pretty significant tonal difference between the wound and non-wound strings in the set, but overall they sound decent. The adgcea set that is. They sell an eadgbe set too, but they just don't sound right to me.

drbekken · Feb 7, 2016

You should try the E to E re-entrant 'Eddie Freeman Special' strings from Southcoast. Tuning like a regular guitar, but with strings 4,5&6 one octave up. I will never use anything else on my guitalele. Reminiscent of the so-called 'Nashville tuning' on guitars.

Sanfe · Feb 7, 2016

drbekken said:
You should try the E to E re-entrant 'Eddie Freeman Special' strings from Southcoast. Tuning like a regular guitar, but with strings 4,5&6 one octave up. I will never use anything else on my guitalele. Reminiscent of the so-called 'Nashville tuning' on guitars.

This would, to me, make it more of a strumming instrument, though I don't doubt it would sound cool.

GNUF Kris · Feb 8, 2016

drbekken said:
You should try the E to E re-entrant 'Eddie Freeman Special' strings from Southcoast. Tuning like a regular guitar, but with strings 4,5&6 one octave up. I will never use anything else on my guitalele. Reminiscent of the so-called 'Nashville tuning' on guitars.

Whilst they sound interesting I'm now used to A to A tuning on my Guitalele and don't want to ruin that muscle memory for songs.

Bill1 said:
The Aquilas are likely to sound better and they may last a bit longer if there are no wound strings in the set. But you may still find you are needing to change strings a lot if you are working hard and performing a lot. If that is the case you may save some money by buying rolls of string instead of packets. High quality fluorocarbon fishing line of the right diameter can be very useful to string musical instruments. Also I think you can buy in bulk from the string makers. Usually its shelf life and cost and lack of choice make it a bad choice for ukulele players who don't use a lot of strings. But if you are going to be working for several years and changing strings every week you might be going through 150m+ x 6 of string over a year, and that would make buying rolls better than buying packets.

I'm more quality over quantity for gigs. I have no aspirations to be a gigging musician right now so buying spools of string isn't a concern.

I think the Aquilas still contain wound strings but I'm not 100% certain.

Lori · Feb 8, 2016

GNUF Kris said:
Hi all,

I have a Yamaha Guitalele which is really useful for some of the more folk punky growly songs in my sets (usually not the cabaret style gigs) and find it goes through strings really fast. I've not snapped any, they just degrade really quickly.

I've been using clasical acousitc strings because they're really good value (I can get a set for about £6) but I have recently noticed that Aquila do Guitalele strings, but they come to about £12, so twice the price.

Has anybody tried these? Are they worth the money or am I best sticking to Martin classical acoustic strings?

I have tried several brands and types for Guitalele. I liked the Aquila Guitalele strings best on my KoAloha DVI. It has been a clear winner there. I have a Islander Guitalele by Kanile'a, and they have their own brand of Guitalele strings. They seem pretty decent on the Islander.

–Lori

drbekken · Feb 8, 2016

https://youtu.be/5_dnYOa5w-w

warndt · Feb 8, 2016

Lori said:
I have tried several brands and types for Guitalele. I liked the Aquila Guitalele strings best on my KoAloha DVI. It has been a clear winner there. I have a Islander Guitalele by Kanile'a, and they have their own brand of Guitalele strings. They seem pretty decent on the Islander.

–Lori

The Yamaha Guitarlele and the KoAloha D-VI are both 17" scale whereas the Kanile'a is a 20" scale. This is why the Islander sounds better with the Kanile'a strings. I have a Kanile'a GL-6 and tried the Aquilla strings meant for the 17" scale Guitarlele...and that is exactly what they are meant for. I have no experience with Southcoast strings.

Rakelele · Feb 8, 2016

If you like the sound and feel of that Guitar string set, then I would just stick with them. To me, both the Aquila and the Kanilea Guitalele sets sound and feel a little floppy. On the other hand, why not just give one of these a try? Strings are fairly cheap and easy to change, so you can always go back to your other set, in case you discover that you don't like the new ones.

String for Guitalele

GNUF Kris

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Sanfe

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GNUF Kris

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spookelele

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drbekken

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Sanfe

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GNUF Kris

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Lori

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drbekken

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warndt

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Rakelele

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