I've been on a string search

I bought a Mainland Classic Mahogany Concert back in the Spring. It's my only uke, and I love it. I recently bought a bunch of different strings from Elderly Instruments and have been putting a new set on my uke each week in order to find the "perfect" strings for it.

The Mainlands come set up with Aquila strings, which I liked. They might have been a little too beefy, but otherwise a solid string.

The first new set I tried were Worth Browns. They sounded great but were a bit too thin for me. I did like that you get enough string is a pack of Worths to string up a uke twice. The A string size was .0185. I'm going to have to see if they offer a thicker set. If you are just starting out playing the uke, I suggest these. They are easy on the fingers and make bar chords a breeze.

I then tried out Fremont Black Fluorocarbon Strings. I didn't like these at all. From first strum they sounded muddy.

Today I put a set of Martin Clear Flurocarbons on, and they sound great! The thickness is spot on too (A string .0191). I'll be leaving them on for a while. The uke really sings with these strings.

I have a pack of Ko'olau Golds, Aquila New Nylguts and Hilos to test out, but it may be a while before I'll want to change out the Martins.

Just put a new set of Ko'olau Alohi's on my Pono mahogany concert and they sound amazing. A great blend of brightness, sweetness, and fullness.

I can speak from experience, buying new/different strings is far less expensive than experimenting with ukuleles to find the sound we are looking for.
Strings can totally change the voice of a ukulele. Coupled with the fact that our ears are all different, the possibilities are endless.
I am really enjoying the Orcas I have put on a few ukuleles.

i'd like to suggest you to leave your strings a little more than a week before changing them. let them rest n settle. it ussually takes some time for the strings to be in perfect point, sounding at their best.
for me it's when the strings don't need to be stretched any more.

2nd suggestion, try some southcoastukes strings, check their site n read about the different gauges.

iorana

tmm200 said:

Today I put a set of Martin Clear Flurocarbons on, and they sound great! The thickness is spot on too (A string .0191). I'll be leaving them on for a while. The uke really sings with these strings.

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Another Martin fluoro convert! Those are my absolute favorite strings - I have them on all of my ukes now.