Wound string on a plastic fretboard

wxtornado

wxtornado

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So I got my concert Flea (surf design) 'ukulele the other day, and wow, what a nice uke - I love this thing. I opted for the polycarbonate fretboard because I've just heard too many good things about it. I took the Hilo strings off however, because I just wasn't satisfied with the feel or the sound. Changing the strings on this uke makes a world of difference.

I had a pack of Aquilas, but only put 3 of them on, because the Aquila C-string is wound. Is it safe to put a wound string on a uke with a polycarbonate fretboard?
 
I don't like how Hilos sound on Fleas, either. Aquila makes concert strings with no wound strings. I think they would be a much safer bet. Worth Clears are great too. But it's my understanding that you should avoid wound strings on the polycarbonate fretboard.
 
The wound string will eat into the frets over time. Stick with nylon or fluorocarbon sets instead ;)
 
I agree that you should not use wound strings on the polycarbonate fretboard. The wound string (G) Aquila I have on my tenor is made by winding metal around a core of the nylagut material. Metal vibrating on plastic will wear the plastic out in short order. As Thumper says, they do make non wound string sets. I have a non-wound high G set of Aquillas on my Flea. The ability to use wound strings is one of the reasons that some people get the rosewood fretboard with metal frets. I believe countrymouse uses a low G on her polycarbonate Fluke, but I don't know which brand. You might ask her.
 
Last edited:
Thanks for the good info, friends - I think I will hit the MGM store and get me some non-wound Aquilas, Worths, and now some Kala-Reds thanks to another thread!
 
I have nylon wound Kala reds on my FLUKE (high G) and they sound great.
 
Yeah, I'm gonna get some reds for my tenor Fluke. They'll prolly look pretty cool against the mango colored soundboard.
 
Thumper said:
I don't like how Hilos sound on Fleas, either. Aquila makes concert strings with no wound strings. I think they would be a much safer bet. Worth Clears are great too. But it's my understanding that you should avoid wound strings on the polycarbonate fretboard.
Click to expand...

And that would be correct...
 
SweetWaterBlue said:
I agree that you should not use wound strings on the polycarbonate fretboard. The wound string (G) Aquila I have on my tenor is made by winding metal around a core of the nylagut material. Metal vibrating on plastic will wear the plastic out in short order. As Thumper says, they do make non wound string sets. I have a non-wound high G set of Aquillas on my Flea. The ability to use wound strings is one of the reasons that some people get the rosewood fretboard with metal frets. I believe countrymouse uses a low G on her polycarbonate Fluke, but I don't know which brand. You might ask her.
Click to expand...

I use the Hilo nylon strings that came on my concert Fluke; and I have Kala Red strings on my concert Flea--the wound strings in the Kala Reds are safe because they are wound nylon, not metal.

I have a set of Low G Aquilas on my CBU soprano. And I have a set of Worth Brown mediums Low G on my Eleuke soprano. No wound string in the Worth Browns. :)

CountryMouse
 
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