Southcoast Strings

rreffner

rreffner

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I ordered a set of Southcoast medium tenor high reentrant strings online and they arrived within a few days. I immediately put them on my Kamaka. The strings sound terrific and they feel very nice. No squeaking and fingers slide with ease. I am very pleased and recommend giving them a try.

(I have no financial interest in Southcoast).

http://www.southcoastukes.com/stringuide.htm
 
I also have the medium light tenor on my Mainland and I'm in the slow process of trying out strings, including some new D'Addarios. Because I let the strings settle, it takes time to test. But I can say out of the Aquilas, D'Addario E71 and the Southcoast so far, I'm preferring the Southcoast by a country mile. Nice feel under the fingers, pretty tone. If you haven't tried the bridge bone beads, I recommend them. Not only pretty, but they make restringing a lot easier (it's a carved bead you put the string through, then through the bridge. Supposedly, it cuts down on the acute angle of the string to the bridge but I just like how they work for restringing.)

Sound tests on my Mainland Mahogany tenor: I am a beginning player, please excuse and my recording equipment consists of a Snowball mic so nothing astonishing here. Same conditions, distance, and uke.

Southcoast
D'Addario E71
Aquila
 
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I've got Southcoasts on an Islander concert and just put them on my Stewmac soprano kit build. I've got a set ready for the Musicmakers baritone when it's finished. Great strings. Gwynedd, I think the beads actually increase or at least maintain the acute angle at the saddle. See Dirk's drawing.
 
Duh yeah got that reversed. But angle or no, I find restringing a lot easier--don't have to tie knots and wrap, just thread through the sides, out the top and go.
 
How to get hip to Southcoast strings

If you want to get real hip to what Southcoast has to offer, consider going beyond what they offer GCEA-wise. They also offer strings for very interesting and very rich tunings. Recently I've used their Bb tunings on a couple ukes and a Cuarto tuning on a baritone. Fabulous.

If you're playing solo, it doesn't matter what key your uke is tuned to,
What matters is how it suits your voice. The Bb tunings bring out the finer qualities of the bigger ukes.

The third string is the name of the tuning. GCEA is C tuning. You have to get that right when tuning your uke. F is the fourth string of a Bb tuning.

Anyway, I have Southcoast GCEAs on several and they're great. Try their GCEAs on a baritone, unwound.

( Also, no financial affiliation with Southcoast. Just a satisfied customer. No mail charge for strings, Included in price.)
 
Gwynedd said:
I also have the medium light tenor on my Mainland and I'm in the slow process of trying out strings, including some new D'Addarios. Because I let the strings settle, it takes time to test. But I can say out of the Aquilas, D'Addario E71 and the Southcoast so far, I'm preferring the Southcoast by a country mile. Nice feel under the fingers, pretty tone. If you haven't tried the bridge bone beads, I recommend them. Not only pretty, but they make restringing a lot easier (it's a carved bead you put the string through, then through the bridge. Supposedly, it cuts down on the acute angle of the string to the bridge but I just like how they work for restringing.)

Sound tests on my Mainland Mahogany tenor: I am a beginning player, please excuse and my recording equipment consists of a Snowball mic so nothing astonishing here. Same conditions, distance, and uke.

Southcoast
D'Addario E71
Aquila
Click to expand...
I've just listened to all those - it's interesting, thanks for posting! And they sound lovely! Where did you get the music?
 
I went on their site and got confused as heck. I want a set of tenor strings low g, unwound third. Can anyone give me an idea of which ones to order?
 
I suggest you email Dirk Woudhoudt at Southcoast as he's a terrific help. He tells me strings do not come in lengths (ie tenor, soprano) and they are organized by tension and tone but I get mixed up. He keeps telling me and I keep muddling it up.
 
Yeah, there are no other strings I like better or even at all know that I have made the switch!
 
Right now I've got Southcoast strings on my Glyph mezzo-soprano and William King concert and they sound great, probably my favorite sounding strings so far on those two. I'd try them on more ukes if I wasn't so lazy about re-stringing ukes.
 
Call or drop an email to Dirk, and tell him what scale you want, and what you plan to use the strings on. He'll probably ask a couple other questions (playing style, for example), and will recommend the appropriate strings.

e-mail: southcoast@inbox.com
phone: (504) 491-1699

I neither have an affiliation with Southcoast, nor do I own any of their products (yet). Some strings are on the radar for the future, however.


-Kurt​
 
I'm another Southcoast fan - fair prices and super-fast service. I've tried both their linear and reentrant sets and liked them both a lot.

It's really tough for me to choose "THE" string set. I find that Worths, Fremonts, Orcas, and Southcoast are all top rate, and I like them each for different reasons.

Thankfully, I don't have to choose only one, and I've taken to simply rotating them as needed, so I can always enjoy something a little different the next time around.
 
I have Southcoast Mediums on my tenor. I previously used Worth Clears. I like them both very much, but is there really a difference? I think they sound identical--frankly, if there was a bet to distinguish the difference, I wouldn't take it--I can't hear the difference.

Can anyone else tell the difference? Maybe it's me.
 
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What Kimosabe said. :) It's an eye-opening experience to do a tuning that is half step up or down. With certain sets of Southcoast, on certain size ukes, this is a grand experiment that I recommend to anyone interested in fine tuning your uke's sound. Also, Dirk's help is always friendly and patient and informed.
 
Wow - been under the weather and missed this thread. Thanks for all the kind words!
 
Gwynedd said:
...I also have the medium light tenor on my Mainland
Click to expand...

Gwynedd - thank you especially for the sound sample. Just so no one gets confused, she is talking about a set that hasn't yet been released. These are "Light Mediums" - tension falls between our Medium and Light Gauge sets, and they'll be available in both standard (what Gwynedd is playing) and "soft" formulae - the soft is for a softer tone
 
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Patrick Madsen said:
I went on their site and got confused as heck. I want a set of tenor strings low g, unwound third. Can anyone give me an idea of which ones to order?
Click to expand...

Patrick, you're not as confused as you think. You didn't find that set because we don't make one. We've always felt that wound strings work better in that application. Our G650 sets - there are three - will give that tuning. The flat wound sets are "no squeak".

We try to offer more options than anyone as far as getting top sound, and that does make our presentation a bit complicated. We're trying to remedy the situation with a revised website - out shortly I hope.

Still we'll likely never go the commercial route entirely with "Soprano" or "Low G" sets.

As mentioned, you can always drop me a line. Be glad to translate.
 
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coolkayaker1 said:
I have Southcoast Mediums on my tenor. I previously used Worth Clears. I like them both very much, but is there really a difference? I think they sound identical--frankly, if there was a bet to distinguish the difference, I wouldn't take it--I can't hear the difference.

Can anyone else tell the difference? Maybe it's me.
Click to expand...

Coolboy,

It's not you. While we offer a lot more variety in our sets than Worth - wound strings, for example - certain of our sets will sound similar. Our Mediums and certain Worth sets are the primary example. Although they should sound similar, we like to think we have a slightly more even tone, but much more even tensions.

Worth gets their tone with a single material and high tensions on the outside strings. We used mixed materials with less dense material outside and more even tensions.
 
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