Mainland string quest

bazmaz

Well-known member
Joined
Sep 5, 2009
Messages
5,522
Reaction score
991
Location
UK
Just thought I would share my latest on this - comments welcomed.

Had my Mainland Concert Mahogany (with groovy slotted headstock) for about 2 months now, and had always planned to use its beautiful natural tone as a perfect string test. Here's how it has gone

- Arrived with Aquilas - now, I love aquilas, and they worked beautifully - no complaints at all -but in pursuit of my test, they were taken off, coiled and stored...

- changed to Worth Black mediums, having read great things. They stayed on for 1.5 months. I must say - i like them for picking, but I dont actually do a lot of picking. My verdict is that I found them a bit thin to finger, and a little quiet. Wasnt blown away to be honest. I suspect I am going to enrage a worth fan, but sorry - they didnt rock my boat. I also had a set on my Bruko soprano, and they got taken off in a week to go back to aquilas - a bit too one dimensional for my liking

- latest string change - now have some Ko'olau golds on it - AND WOW! - what lovely strings these are - perfect balance between picking and strumming. Not totally taken with the finger feel (i love rough aquilas) but these things sing and chime and have brought tones out of my Mainland I didnt know were in there!

Question though - the golds are nylon, not flourocarbon - and I have read bad things about how long they last - any comments?

Next test - new style Martin flourocarbons - but based on the sound I am now getting from my Ko'olau strings - they will staying on for some time yet - love em!
 
I haven't had any problems with Ko'olaus wearing out any faster than other strings, actually they wear better than aquila sets I've had.
And if you didn't like the worth browns, try the clear, they are livelier and I like them better! :)
 
Last edited:
Big thank-you for the review. I was getting ready to order some tenors and baritones. Now I feel better about trying the ko'Olaus. Good review. Thanks again.
 
The Ko's are great, but to be fair to the other poster- I do have some worth clears, and they are also untried as yet.

As the league table stands though, its looking like Ko at No.1, Aquila 2nd at present - maybe the worth clears or the Martin flouros may edge one of these out!
 
This is a useful thread. I've got a Mainland concert mahogany, still with the original Aquilas on it. I love its tone, and am not planning on changing the strings right now, but I'm really interested in how your string experiment continues. Thanks for the review, and keep us posted. :)
 
I just got my first set of Aquilas and I like them alot. They are on my koa souvenir uke.Sounds great. Did you try the Worths and the Martins ??
What did you think?
 
not tried the worth clears yet, but as above, tried the browns and not impressed.

Two days in with the Ko's, and I am thinking they "ring" a little TOO much, C string (string 3) in particular seems to boom a little too much. will give it more time though,

Martins - not yet, they are (possibly) next
 
What are you guys doing with the old strings, sounds like they haven't had much use, when I was trying out strings, I sent the old ones to the first people to PM me, just a thought..share the Uke spirit, some folk can't afford to swap and change.
 
Didn't I see you last night coming down my chimney???
 
I'm pretty much doing the same thing with the same uke. Just today, I took the Aquilas off and put on some Worth Brown Extras. About 3 weeks ago, I switched to Aquila Low G and have really liked it. So what I am doing right now is Worth BEs with an Aquila Wound Low G. Interesting combo. I'll be trying it out for the next couple days. I'll keep it if I like it. If I dont, I'll put the Brown high G on and see how that does.

I have a set of Worth CMs here too, so they are next in line. Now that you mention the Ko's, I may have to order me a set and give them a shot too.

Stay tuned...
 
am going to try some Ko'olau golds, just out of interest how much did people pay for them, I've not needed to buy uke strings before and the prices seem a little high.

Good post by the way.
 
I tried some golds on a soprano and hated the wound low G. But the other strings had great tone. Maybe it's time to try a tenor set. Right now on my Mainland twnor I have concert sized Worth brown low G. Concert size to avoid the wound low G. It sounds amazing. I have some high G worths coming from my buddy ol' pal (thanks jumpingflea) that I'm going to try next. But then I'll give the Ko golds another go.
 
am going to try some Ko'olau golds, just out of interest how much did people pay for them, I've not needed to buy uke strings before and the prices seem a little high.

Good post by the way.

I got my last set from MGM for something like $7. I'm sure he has them in stock even though not currently listed so shoot him an email.
 
Mine have no low wound string - all plain.

I am kinda loving and hating them.

They are wonderful strings, but I find them a bit fussy on the accuracy of tuning that I have never had with aquilas. Had to ditch my crappy kala clip on tuner and get more accurate needle guitar tuner out.

The problem was whilst tuner and ear was saying "in tune" I was getting some chiming between strings - when bang on tune though, these strings are sensational!
 
Well I've just commited to buying Ko'olau golds high 4th and a set of Worths Clear. I'll run them in for a week then do a sound sample of each, I would do the same with my aquilas also but they came with the uke so its an unfair test as they are probably fairly dead sounding now anyway. Oh thats on a Tenor uke by the way (Kala Acacia Tenor to be specific, it has a fairly mellow tone so take that into account).
 
Top Bottom