Best strings for a vintage Martin style 0 1960's ?

fabioponta

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Hi friends.
I just bought a vintage Martin style 0 1960's from UU recently and will receive in the next weeks. The uke will come with Aquila strings, but I would like to know if anyone has tried Worth Brown or Martin M600 strings on this kind of soprano.
Let me know!
 
Hello and congrats on your uke! I owned a style 1 Martin (don't ask why I got rid of it...) My favorite and best sounding strings on her were Worth clear medium and Martin 600's. I did try Worth browns but they did not sound "clear" and "punchy" like a vintage Martin should. Hope that helps.
 
I use M600's on my Martin and they suit it extremely well.
 
I've used Worth Clear Ms and Martin M600s on two of my Martins, and both sound great on them. I have M600s on there now. I have Worth Brown Ms on my Style 3 just for something different. They sound great too, IMO.
 
I've used Martin strings, Worth clear mediums, brown mediums, and clear hard tension (worth CD) on my Martin sopranos. They all sound great. Aquilas were on a few of them when I got them, but those strings don't bring out the best of mahogany, IMO, although I used Aquilas natural gut strings when they were still in production and I really liked them. Unfortunately, they deteriorate quickly. Anyway, my preferred strings on my Martins at this moment are Worth CD. Very bright and loud. It takes some getting used to the harder material, but they do sound fantastic.
 
I bet the Worth Brown strings would sound cool on that Martin, maybe not the most traditional option, but might be a nice combo. Martin soprano strings are a little bit thinner than aquilas, which I don't personally like, but a lot of people do. You might want to take into consideration that slight difference in feel. The 1st string on an Aquila set is about .6 mm, and the martin set is about .43 mm I believe. To me that is a fairly large difference. Worth Brown strings are also thinner than aquilas (about .47 mm). I'm curious to see how you like the feel of a thinner string. For me, especially on a soprano uke, I really enjoy the "thickness" of aquilas. On the scale length of a concert or tenor uke, I don't mind that thinner strings, maybe because of the higher tension.

Also Martin M-600's are made for soprano or concert, and are designed to work with gcea tuning as well as adf#b. That's a pretty versatile string! They supposedly have greater tensile strength and last longer (retaining intonation and resisting breakage).
 
Fabio, I like Fremont blacklines mediums or Worth brown mediums. I've tried all the others mentioned but don't like them as much. OTOH string choice is a highly personal one and you'll just have to try a few sets unless you already know that you don't like a certain brand. Just for clarification, I prefer a richer more complex tone rather than a plinky one. Both Fremonts and Worths will give you plenty of volume, while preserving the highs and lows IMO. ciao, g2
 
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