Best strings for bending?

ukulelearp

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I have little experience as far as strings go. The only strings I've used are Fremont Blacks and D'addario J71's. They both sound great, but I find it hard to bend with either of them. This could be an issue with finger strength, but I can bend fine with both my soprano and my guitar. Are there any strings more suitable for bending, or do I need to man up and bend harder?
 
I've used three different sets on my Pono Koa Tenor (which, despite the pono-hate, I love :p ) and these are my thoughts:
1. Koolau Golds- they seemed pretty easy to bend, but didn't have a lot of sustain. This may have been my playing, though, and not an indication of how well the strings would do.
2. Aquila Nylgut- I thought these were terrible for bending. Once the string bent, it seemed to me the sustain died very quickly, and they just seemed really hard to bend, especially near the nut.
3. Worth Browns- these bend really easily for me, and still seem to hold the note longer than either the aquila or koolau strings. The only problem I have with them is the a-string seems really quiet. That is probably me.
 
You can buy worths in different tensions too, you might find lower tension strings easier for bending.
 
I tried aquilla before and switched to worth (brown and clear lights) and bending is much better with good sustain so far. I find the aquilla harder to bend and doesn't sustain as well as worh -- at least with that's with my limited playing skills.
 
Hmm, I thought the D'addario J71s were pretty easy to bend...but then again, I came from playing on mostly Aquilas...and steel bars are easy to bend compared to those strings. XD Medium tension worth clears are pretty easy to bend, but not as easy as the J71s, IMO. I dont remember what type of Worth browns I have, but I think they're a bit hard to bend b/c they're so thin. I've had no problem bending those black Hilo strings, and they're probably among the easiest to bend, although the sound on them is not quite as good as Worth strings.

But build up finger strength, and if you have to, do two finger bends. I think there was a uke minutes or uke got mail on it.
 
I would try worths, they are really soft to play and very easy to bend, if you are a noobee D'addario J71s are really thick and hard to bend.
 
I've got Worth CM's, and they bend reasonably well. They're a lot thinner than the J71's. I want to switch back to the J71's and figure out which I like better.

I never really thought much about string tension for sustain or anything other than making my hand hurt after a while. That's interesting.
 
I wouldn't consider myself a total beginner, I've been playing for at least a year now. I do two finger bends on occasion, but I can't seem to get any more than a half step up. Looks like I'll try the Worths. Should I try the Browns or Clears?
 
I wouldn't consider myself a total beginner, I've been playing for at least a year now. I do two finger bends on occasion, but I can't seem to get any more than a half step up. Looks like I'll try the Worths. Should I try the Browns or Clears?

Id go with clears over browns. If you want to build finger strength, look into something called the "Gripmaster". They're like $15-20 and are for building finger strength for stuff like piano, sports, guitar, etc. It works great.
 
Id go with clears over browns. If you want to build finger strength, look into something called the "Gripmaster". They're like $15-20 and are for building finger strength for stuff like piano, sports, guitar, etc. It works great.

I'd seen them at guitarcenter, seemed like a good idea if i was to actually use it.
 
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