Oasis +Fremont = good combo for Tenor

Just trying to help a little in the never ending quest for strings combos.
On my Kanilea Super Tenor, I found a sweet spot with Oasis GPX plus a Fremont Soloist low G.

Plays so nice, you have to play it twice!

In full disclosure, I also have a new set of Living Water and another new set of PhD that I haven't tried yet....all in good time.

So, what makes them "sweet"? Are they bright or mellow? Guitar like or uke like? Do they favor strumming or finger picking? Sounds like a very interesting combo but a more detailed description would be helpful. Thanks.

Have you tried the Freemont Blacklines with the Soloist? That is a good combo.
As well as the PHD with the Soloist. Actually, the soloist sounds good with lots of strings.
I would try some Savarez or Thomastik-Infeld too.

I agree with everything you said. I have that combo on my I'iwi. I have had them on other ukes as well. Moore Bettah ukes use to come strung with that combo as well, with a wound 3rd. Chuck still uses Oasis floro but uses Thomastik wounds on the 3rd and 4th spot now.

The Oasis have a very even pitch from one string to the next, good fundamentals. They are clear loud and articulate.

I just tried the Thomastik-Infeld CF30 (for low-G) and CF27 (for a wound C) plus the Savarez 541R and 542R on my Barron River tenor (Johnston recommended the combo when I had concluded that unwound C strings don't work for me on this particular tenor (my ukuMele tenor on the other hand doesn't mind as much).

First impression is that the TI strings are wonderful. I don't necessarily feel that they are multiple times better than other wound strings, but they are very good with little string noise. Loved how quickly they stayed in tune, too. No need for me to experiment with other wounds, these are great. (But to be fair, I also like the wound Aquila Red low-G, which had a wonderful tone also.)

The Savarez 542R for the E is great. I think this is my favorite E string. It fits very well with the two wound strings and bridges the transition from wound to unwound wonderfully. Really great E string. I'm not yet sure about the 541R for the A. It almost seems as if the relatively higher tension (the other four are around 11 lbs each, this one is at 13.9, which the very helpful Jollyboy calculated for me) throttles it a little on this particular ukulele, but I'm not sure yet. I feel that A strings generally take a bit to sound really good to my ears, so I'll wait a few days before I form a real opinion on it. It's definitely a good combo.

I feel that two wounds and two unwounds sound better than one wound and three unwounds. More balanced. But perhaps it's just that unwound C strings on tenors don't really do it for me. I love the ease of restringing with fluorocarbons, and find wounds to be a pain to deal with, but their wonderful tone really makes up for that.

Also lemon-oiled the fretboards of my two tenors while I was at it. Should've done that sooner, good thing to do regularly.

bariukish said:

So, what makes them "sweet"? Are they bright or mellow? Guitar like or uke like? Do they favor strumming or finger picking? Sounds like a very interesting combo but a more detailed description would be helpful. Thanks.

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I'll chime in. I've done a lot of string experimentation and the oasis are one of the most reliable, consistent, well intonated strings I've found. I've noticed with a lot of their string brands issues with consistency, fraying, variances in intonation and feel, but oasis have always had rock solid intonation all the way up the string, lasts long time, and just simply reliable. Sound wise I would also describe them as sweet, full rounded tone, I prefer the brights as the a string is thin and has a nice ring and chime. For tenors the feel is perfect for me but I haven't felt it on sop/concert.

I like the Fremont/Oasis combo, but prefer Fremont /PHD. The Oasis seemed a bit too bright to me. The Fremont/Living Waters are nice too, but more on the mellow side. The PHD's are more centered , at least to me, than the Oasis or the Living Waters , and seem to complement the Fremont the best.

Sure, sounds fine. I have used the Fremont Soloist and the D'Addario nyl026w for low G. The Soloist is a little more nasal sounding to me (barely).
I just recently put an Oasis Warm Low G on my best instrument and like it as well, perhaps best of all. You may be well well served trying an all Oasis combination.

stevepetergal said:

Sure, sounds fine. I have used the Fremont Soloist and the D'Addario nyl026w for low G. The Soloist is a little more nasal sounding to me (barely).
I just recently put an Oasis Warm Low G on my best instrument and like it as well, perhaps best of all. You may be well well served trying an all Oasis combination.

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Recently strung up my Hoffmann ML with oasis bright smooth wound low g and like the sound, feel, and balance really well. The smooth wound low g is squeaker than Fremont but I like the sound. And the intonation is rock solid up the neck which makes it more than worth it for me.

Oasis needs a baritone string!

I am on this exact same string combo.. It's strung on a rosewood back and side / sinker redwood top ukulele. For me, They are mellow with a thick fat tone with a bias towards the bass side of the spectrum. It sounds more like a classical guitar than an all out uke. For me again, it is easier at finger picking as they are loud and can get muddy if strummed at 100mph... ( then again all this is from the uke sitting on my lap with the sound hole facing forward.) Restraint is my best friend when strumming this uke / string combo.

Do I like this combo? Well, In my spare string case, I have 8 sets of soloist , 2 packs (4 sets of oasis ), 1 set of Fremont Blackline, 1 set of PHD, 1 set of anuenue , 1 pack Worth clear and 2 sets of Worth browns ( which I do not like ).. that is my string bias oh yes, 3 sets of Southcoast hml-wb are on the way too.

In my previous post on this thread, I said I liked the Oasis Warm Low G. I've played it for a couple of days. I take it back. While the sound is fine, (about the same as I remember the Fremont soloist) It is far too unpolished. The squeak is like a very big guitar squeak. As I say every single time I experiment, back to the D'Addario. Their NYL026W is not advertised as polished, squeakless, or any of that stuff, but it's far smoother than most and sounds as good as any. It works well with florocarbons (Worth, Martin...). Though I've said it before, I think I mean it this time: I'm done experimenting with Low G strings.

stevepetergal said:

In my previous post on this thread, I said I liked the Oasis Warm Low G. I've played it for a couple of days. I take it back. While the sound is fine, (about the same as I remember the Fremont soloist) It is far too unpolished. The squeak is like a very big guitar squeak. As I say every single time I experiment, back to the D'Addario. Their NYL026W is not advertised as polished, squeakless, or any of that stuff, but it's far smoother than most and sounds as good as any. It works well with florocarbons (Worth, Martin...). Though I've said it before, I think I mean it this time: I'm done experimenting with Low G strings.

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Sorry I will say the smooth wound oasis low g while not squeakless isn't offensive to my ears and definitely not guitar wound squeak. Fremont still is the gold standard imo for noise free low g but I like the sound and balance of the oasis smooth wound low g, bright in my case.

I swapped out the Savarez 541R and 542R for the A and E strings of a Martin M620 tenor set. The 542R was great on my Barron River, the 541R seemed too quiet and "strangled" on this particular instrument. So far I like the combination of Thomastik-Infeld CF30 (low-G), CF27 (C), M620 E and M620 A best.

I think for wound strings I'll stick to the two Thomastik-Infeld strings. Except for the red stuff, which I cut off completely and held the ends into a flame to prevent unraveling, these are superb. Unlikely I'll find a better wound low-G and wound C combination anyway.

Mivo said:

I swapped out the Savarez 541R and 542R for the A and E strings of a Martin M620 tenor set. The 542R was great on my Barron River, the 541R seemed too quiet and "strangled" on this particular instrument. So far I like the combination of Thomastik-Infeld CF30 (low-G), CF27 (C), M620 E and M620 A best.

I think for wound strings I'll stick to the two Thomastik-Infeld strings. Except for the red stuff, which I cut off completely and held the ends into a flame to prevent unraveling, these are superb. Unlikely I'll find a better wound low-G and wound C combination anyway.

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FYI, I ordered some of the Oasis GPX from StringsByMail. I also ordered some more of 541/2R and 541/2J so I can try them as high g combos.

Mivo, have you tried the Savarez 541/2J high tension strings? They are supposed to be quite different than the r's. I will be trying them soon.

Stevepetergal, before you give up on trying other Low G's. Have you tried other classical guitar string combos like the TI?
Honestly, I am liking the TI more than the Freemont Soloist, which I really liked.

Furthermore, when I first got my Pono MGT it was strung with the Mahana wound C string set. I hated wound C's back then.
Now that I have used a "proper" wound C, I will find it hard to go back to non-wound.
Lastly, as much as I enjoyed playing "ukulele fluorocarbon strings" on my tenor I always found some misgiving/ or flaw in each set, even if it was a little flaw.
Now that I have moved to classical guitar strings I can get the sound I want without having to compromise with any flaws/or misgivings.
But this is for tenor ukes. I don't know about using classical strings on concerts or sops.

johnson430 said:

Stevepetergal, before you give up on Low G. Have you tried other classical guitar string combos like the TI?
Honestly, I am liking the TI more than the Freemont Soloist, which I really liked.

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I don't think he's saying that he's giving up on low-G. I think he's saying that he plans to stick with using a D'Addario silver wound for his low-G option. That's my interpretation anyway I will add another vote for D'Addario. They pair nicely as wound basses and match well with fluoro trebles such as Martins. Also they come in a range of gauges so you can fine tune the tension a bit, depending on your personal preferences.

jollyboy said:

I don't think he's saying that he's giving up on low-G. I think he's saying that he plans to stick with using a D'Addario silver wound for his low-G option. That's my interpretation anyway I will add another vote for D'Addario. They pair nicely as wound basses and match well with fluoro trebles such as Martins. Also they come in a range of gauges so you can fine tune the tension a bit, depending on your personal preferences.

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Thanks, I edited my post for clarity. I will add the D'addario silver wound to my list of strings to try as well.

OK, sorry about not giving more info.
My tenor is solid koa - which I've always felt was warm and mellow tone wood so, I was looking for something with a bit of brightness to balance it out. My "sweet" is that balance. Bright/warm or warm/bright - hard to put it into words but it has the cut I'm looking for (with the GPX strings) without being overly bright. So, a warmer sound that has the ring and cut-through I want. Volume is fine...not super loud but plenty.
Playability is important for me since I'm not that good of a player. Barre chords are easy enough. I have lowered the action just a hair. I both strum and finger pick. I like it when my notes come through with a full, rich sound. Maybe another way to say this is that if I had an equalizer on my uke, I would have all the controls set flat.

johnson430 said:

Mivo, have you tried the Savarez 541/2J high tension strings? They are supposed to be quite different than the r's. I will be trying them soon.

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I think the problem with the 541R was that it has too much tension (relative to the three other strings. Wouldn't the J have even more tension? The 541R is 13.9 lbs on a 17" (Jollyboy kindly calculated this for me). I like the TI + Martin combo right now, so I'll keep these for the time being. My other candidate would be TI strings + Worth Browns BT, but will probably wait before I try this. Oasis are hard to get for me.

Mivo said:

I think the problem with the 541R was that it has too much tension (relative to the three other strings. Wouldn't the J have even more tension? The 541R is 13.9 lbs on a 17" (Jollyboy kindly calculated this for me). I like the TI + Martin combo right now, so I'll keep these for the time being. My other candidate would be TI strings + Worth Browns BT, but will probably wait before I try this. Oasis are hard to get for me.

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Yep, you are right, the J are higher tension. Glad you like the Martin combo.
Good luck if you try the worth browns. I am not a fan but others love them.