Need help-strings for son’s guilele

Tinabeck4

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I’m hoping someone can help me figure out what kind of strings to get for my son for his Córdoba Guilele (Guitarlele, Guitalele, lol I’m not even sure what it is) He is 11 so I’m helping with the technical end of the instrument. He has had it with the original strings that desperately needed replacing and I talked him into trying E to E tuning strings (Córdoba brand). We switched it over last night and it sounds terrible. It’s like the strings are too thick for the instrument and it buzzed and sounds like a cheap guitar. He wants to go back to the A to A tuning strings and I tried reading through some threads on this forum but I’m a bit confused. Some people were recommending classical guitar strings but wouldn’t those be E to E tuning?

I’m not the musician, lol, just trying to help out my kiddo get his instrument back to where he wants it! Thanks in advance for any words of wisdom! He really wants A to A since he previously played ukulele.
 
The criteria here is the nut-to-bridge distance (scale length). If your son's instrument is about 17" then "standard" classical nylon guitar strings will tune A-to-A just fine, 'cos a "classical" guitar is about 17" from the 5th fret to the bridge - easy when you know how ;)

:music:
 
Yeah, I'm not wild about the E strings on guilele scale, either 17" or 19". Most normal tension classical guitar sets will end up A to A on the 17" scale. You can use higher or lower tension set if that's what you like, or to try a different tuning. You can also get one of the sets from Cordoba or Aquila labeled for guilele.
 
The criteria here is the nut-to-bridge distance (scale length). If your son's instrument is about 17" then "standard" classical nylon guitar strings will tune A-to-A just fine, 'cos a "classical" guitar is about 17" from the 5th fret to the bridge - easy when you know how ;)

:music:

Aha, this makes sense! I appreciate the info. So then any set of classical guitar strings should work? Any particular brand that is a safe bet to stick with? Thanks!
 
From the Cordoba site:

Aquila 96C Guilele Strings

STRING GAUGES

String #, Description (mm) (inches)
#1 SUPERNYLGUT .63 .0248
#2 SUPERNYLGUT .78 .0307
#3 SUPERNYLGUT .92 .0362
#4 WOUND .68 .0268
#5 WOUND .85 .0335
#6 WOUND 1.04 .0409


Tuning ADGCEA


I'd think that as long as you're staying in the general area of those string gauges, you're OK. But going with heavier strings and trying to tune it back up to A might damage the instrument.
 
Fantastic! I’ll give these a go. If I measured correctly, then his should be 17”. Thanks again!

I ended up getting these and it sounds so much better! I think these strings sound better than the original ones did. Thanks again!
 
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