Aquila concert stings on a Soprano?

mcgannahanskjellifetti

mcgannahanskjellifetti

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I received my Kiwaya KS-1 last night which I really like, but I think I would like to try some Aquila nylguts on it to see how it responds. A local music store stocks Aquila concert strings but no sopranos. Would it make a huge difference putting concert Aquilas on it? Here's the difference in dimensions from what I can find...

soprano
A .60
E .73
C .91
G .65


concert
A .62
E .77
C .95
G .67


thanks!
 
I've strung laminate and solid mahogany sopranos with concert Aquilas with no ill effect. Sounded good.
 
Thanks, I will give them a whirl.

I was motivated to try the Aquilas after comparing the tone of the Kiwaya KS-1 (strung with Worth brown mediums) with my old Harmony plywood uke strung with Aquilas. The Harmony was quite noticeably louder and juicer, which I attribute mostly to the strings. The only problem with the Harmony is the fretboard is short scale and I really have to cram my fingers. It also loses intonation up high. And the tuners suck. Other than that it's a canon! Cost me 40$.

The Kiwaya is flawless and, to my surprise, has a little wider neck than any other soprano I've ever played-- sweet! Intonation is spot on. It sounds good with the Worths, but I think it needs a little more juice.
 
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I feel I must also share a funny dream I had this morning related to all this...

I dreamt I was in a music store and asked the clerk if the concert aquilas would work on the soprano. He looked at the package and proceeded to take the strings out and fiddle around with them. Then he went off somewhere, came back and told me they were defective. Then he handed me a big box full of different packs of strings, all white looking strings like Aquilas, but they were obviously very old. Some of the packs looked like they were from the 1950s with drawings of cowboys on them!

He said I could have the whole box for free.

:rolleyes:
 
MMMmmmmmmmmm....freeeeee striiiiiings!!
:drool:
 
Why would you think they would not work on your uke? They are very popular for good reason and they make sets for all ukes. No need to post, just do it!
 
I had Aquila concert strings on my Brüko sopran, worked very nice.
Give the Kiwaya a few days. If my ears didn´t fool me, my KS-1 became louder on the fourth day of playing it.
 
Good question. I was warned that putting a concert tension set of strings on a soprano might snap something important off the uke. So I tried it. Guess what... nothing happened except that my soprano sounded better as a result. I've noticed that a lot of players actually prefer to string their sopranos with concert strings.
:cheers:
 
That's a very small difference in diameter between the concert and soprano strings. I would imagine you could almost think of concert strings as a medium-gauge soprano string. I can't imagine that the tension difference would jeopardize the structural integrity of the uke. I am sure, however, that heavier gauge strings will drive the top a bit harder, be a bit louder, and maybe a bit more to your liking.

I have heard of players using concert strings to liven up a quieter or laminate soprano.
 
This ???? has been asked a few times in the past... But I'll answer it again no worries;)

I use Concert strings on most of my Sopranos, one has been strung for a year with no ill effects. The only one I haven't changed is my KoAloha I like the sound stock.
Some folks worry about the extra tension but the guys at my Uke shop told be they don't worry about it either.

I like the little bit extra tension, I started using them on a uke I have that I kept rolling the A string off the side of the fretboard and it fixed it so I switched on all them.
 
freedive135 said:
I started using them on a uke I have that I kept rolling the A string off the side of the fretboard
Click to expand...
That Uke wouldn't be an Ohana by any chance would it? I have an Ohana Tenor with that problem. I mentioned it on here once and someone replied, almost immediately, that they have the same issue with their Ohana.

Ian.
 
GrumpyOldMan that may well have been me, when I first got my Ohana concert.
The problem seems to have disappeared with playing. I am assuming although the outer strings do seem to be closer to the edge of the fretboard than other ukes I've played, it was probably more my poor technique that was causing my A string to roll off the edge.
But reading about using concert strings on sopranos, made me think the same thing.
 
Most string sets are labled soprano/concert so I see no reason the concerts wouldn't work minus the possibility of string buzz... But I don't think you would have a problem! :)
 
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