3 String sets on a MyaMoe (Worth Brown, Ko'olau Golds, SouthCoast Soft Mediums)

Doc_J

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Recently did a string change on my MyaMoe mango super soprano.

First I put on Ko'olau Golds (concert), and tried to love them. They had their moments. Eventually, I decided it was just not the right strings on this uke for me.

In an effort to mellow out the MyaMoe, which is pretty bright and chimey, I put on some SouthCoast Soft Mediums. I think they did the trick. Nice note definition, but more mellow than before.

See what you think.
Here are some sound samples (yes, I know they are too long).

Worth Brown lights with Aquila C string
Ko'olau Golds
SouthCoast Soft Mediums

Here is a pic of the uke. (Sorry it is sideways.)


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Hey Doc, thanks for the comparison. I was thinking of ordering a few different sets to put on my MM tenor. After listening several times, my preferences are: Southcoast, Golds then the Worths. Interesting on how different the same uke sounds with different brands of strings.

I have Southcoast on my Griffin tenor and really like them.
 
The SouthCoast strings sound the best to my ears, too. What is it about the Worth C string that you don't like?
 
The SouthCoast strings sound the best to my ears, too. What is it about the Worth C string that you don't like?

I had intonation problems with the BL set's C string. I put an Aquila C string I had laying around and the intonation problem went away. I think the light gauge and the nut slot may have been the issue.
 
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Interesting... I thought worth brown should be in the warm-sound category, but not from your demo.. hmm.....
 
Thanks Doc. It is always informative to hear these kinds of sound comparisons. And WTG Dirk. Another win for Southcoast to my ears. But the Worth browns have a more traditional uke sound to them.
 
It was close but I liked the Ko'olau Golds the best, then the Southcoast strings. The SC strings sounded much more muted to me while the golds were bright but still had some warmth to them. Interesting to be able to hear the differences each set has to offer.
 
I agree with you Doc the SouthCoast sound best to my ear as well. I have tried the soft lights and the regular. I like the regular but not a big fan of the soft lights I will definitely try the mediums
Thanks Doc
 
yep southcoasts for me lovely sound with them fair play
 
Another vote for the Southcoasts. Dirk does some pretty amazing work.

Sweet Mya Moe, by the way. That mango is awesome.
 
I had intonation problems with the BL set's C string. I put an Aquila C string I had laying around and the intonation problem went away. I think the light gauge and the nut slot may have been the issue.

Personally, I have found that an Aquila C string works very well with a set of Worth strings - not only for intonation reasons, but tone reasons as well.
 
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Another vote for the Southcoasts. Dirk does some pretty amazing work.

Sweet Mya Moe, by the way. That mango is awesome.
Thanks. The SC strings really make a difference, to my ears.

How long we're the strings on when the recordings were made? Most strings need to break in a bit before you can really hear how they'll sound.

The Brown lights with Aquila C had been on a long time (months for the BL weeks for the Aquila). I had the Golds on about 10 days when I recorded. The first day or two were bad. Nylon takes longer to stretch out than FC. But I played the uke every day, they were pretty well settled by the time I recorded. Although I'm not sure the TASCAM DR-07 recorder has 100% fidelity in the sound recorded. I really liked the different sound from the Golds, but the C-string was too fat for the nut. I didn't want to open up the slot, just for this set of strings.

The SC Soft Mediums were on about 4 days, and they were pretty settled. While I'm not certain if these SC string are 100% FC, they act and feel like FC. The Soft Mediums really took away some of the over emphasis on the upper end by the Worth.

Personally, I have found that an Aquila C string works very well with a set of Worth strings - not only for intonation reasons, but tone reasons as well.

I agree. Although, it was total accident on my uke.
 
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I think I like the Golds the best, then SC, then Worth. It's hard for me to say, really.
 
Great test Doc! These are some of the best things about this forum.

I also like the Southcoast Soft Mediums (really! I do!). It's not that I'd like them over the other strings on every ukulele, but on this one they sound right to me. This is one bright sounding instrument. Some might let it stay that way, but I'm with Doc - I'd like a more muted tone on this - something "Softer".

This is exactly what the "Soft" strings were designed for - a softer sound, either to tone down a bright instrument, or because that's the way you like your ukuleles to sound.

The Soft sets are actually made from "softer", or more properly "less dense" materials. What happens is that when these soft formulae are in a Light Gauge, the difference in sound is not that great. Thin strings are bright by nature. Move up to a thicker diameter, and you really hear the difference. Hammer had a good ear when he noted the muted sound of the trebles. That's exactly what we were after - that's exactly what you want to tone down on a very bright instrument. To his taste, we went too far. Chacun a son gout!

We offer the "Soft" option for the Light Gauge, Light Medium Gauge (new gauges some of you have, though they're not yet on the site), and the Medium Gauge. The Soft Mediums are as far as we go with that. As thin strings are bright by nature, heavy strings are mellow. If we offered "Softs" in the Heavy Gauges, I think they'd be too mellow for even the brightest instruments.
 
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I agree, for my ears the Southcoats had a nice full sound and the sustain seemed to have a bit more "ring" to it. Second I would have picked the Worth Browns. Never was a fan of Koolau Golds. If you want to try something new, Savarez has a brand new soprano uke set out using their Alliance series of strings, and I use Savarez on almost all my ukes. I don't represent them, I just like them so much after a luthier turned me on to them. However, I bet the sound of those would be very close to the Southcoast's which do sound excellent on this end. In the end, it's what you like best. Thanks for the nice clear recording and comparisons. A lot of restringing ;-)

Cheers.
Hey Doc, thanks for the comparison. I was thinking of ordering a few different sets to put on my MM tenor. After listening several times, my preferences are: Southcoast, Golds then the Worths. Interesting on how different the same uke sounds with different brands of strings.

I have Southcoast on my Griffin tenor and really like them.
 
Great test Doc! These are some of the best things about this forum.

I also like the Southcoast Soft Mediums (really! I do!). It's not that I'd like them over the other strings on every ukulele, but on this one they sound right to me. This is one bright sounding instrument. Some might let it stay that way, but I'm with Doc - I'd like a more muted tone on this - something "Softer".

This is exactly what the "Soft" strings were designed for - a softer sound, either to tone down a bright instrument, or because that's the way you like your ukuleles to sound.

The Soft sets are actually made from "softer", or more properly "less dense" materials. What happens is that when these soft formulae are in a Light Gauge, the difference in sound is not that great. Thin strings are bright by nature. Move up to a thicker diameter, and you really hear the difference. Hammer had a good ear when he noted the muted sound of the trebles. That's exactly what we were after - that's exactly what you want to tone down on a very bright instrument. To his taste, we went too far. Chacun a son gout!

We offer the "Soft" option for the Light Gauge, Light Medium Gauge (new gauges some of you have, though they're not yet on the site), and the Medium Gauge. The Soft Mediums are as far as we go with that. As thin strings are bright by nature, heavy strings are mellow. If we offered "Softs" in the Heavy Gauges, I think they'd be too mellow for even the brightest instruments.

Thanks for the explaining the effect of the gauge on brightness Dirk. That clears up why the Southcoast Light gauge strings sounded so nice on my cedar top concert.
 
I agree, for my ears the Southcoats had a nice full sound and the sustain seemed to have a bit more "ring" to it.

That's a good description of it. Interesting !

Earlier this year did a test on my spruce/koa tenor to compare Aquila / Worth CT / Ko'olau Mahana / SouthCoast Medium gauge strings. For me the SouthCoasts had the fuller sound and the sustain had something special to my ears.

Ko'olau Mahana were nice too, but I kept the Southcoasts.
 
Thanks for the tests, Doc. Always interesting to hear a few voices from one uke.

I liked the way the Aquila/Worth combo sounded recorded. I suspect if I was listening in the same room, I'd prefer the SC set or the Gold set, depending on my mood that day. In any case, that Mya Moe sounds sweet.

If anyone likes experimental music, listen to all three tests simultaneously. It sounds cool!
 
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