Gobsmacked !!!!!!!!!!!! and a question to the wise

Hi guys been having great fun with the Gibson ub2 my friend came round with his Gibson and Ludwig
My uke came with GHS strings and they sounded great but the intonation was off ,we replaced with fremont soprano/concert Fluorocarbon perfect all the way up the fret board sounds great ,his Ludwig has them on so he turned up last night for our weekly strum my fremonts had settled and sound great but he said his ub2 was actally fitted with Fluorocarbon fishing line !!!!! he matched the thickness with Berkley Trilene Big Game fishing line
I played his uku my uke his uke you get the idea LOL
He assures me that there are not many actual makers of Fluorocarbon line and they probably supply string sellers and anglers?
Is this correct? before I buy 100meters of each
George
PS as to the different sound characteristic's ,volume ,tone ,timbre feel tension ,
I would say identical only difference the fishing line had a slight blue tindge in colour

When I bought my KoAloha from their workshop in 2010, I asked if I could buy a set of their stock strings and was told it was Japanese fishing line. I got online, Googled "Japanese fishing line" and went to the website of a company called Seaguar. At least three of their strings matched the diameters of the KoAloha strings.

I did some math and found that if I bought the huge 1000 yd. spools of fishing line, I could string a uke for 20 cents.

Gobsmacked, Always love that expression. Our UU member Old Phart has done this before, hopefully he'll chime in.

Here's a link to someone else that does it.

http://typelink.net/wolfewithane/Fishing for Ukulele String

A 25 yard spool will run you around $20 so you have a $80 investment (different weight for each string) and a boat load of strings.

From what I understand about fluorocarbon (ie. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fluorocarbon), fluorocarbons are like plastic, in that in layman terms we overload one term to cover a range of different materials with different qualities. There are lots of different types of plastic, and a lot of different types of fluorocarbon.

So even if the fluorocarbon fishing line is the same gauge as a string you buy, no guarantee it'll have the same acoustic properties.

It's possible that the fluorocarbon string manufacturers get their raw material from similar sources (if not direct from the fishing-line manufacturers themselves), but what you're really paying for is a level of quality control and known to be acoustically-desirable string configurations.

I use Seaquar clear fluorocarbon fishing leader line on almost all of my instruments. I get mine through Melton International. Here is a link:

http://www.meltontackle.com/manufacturers/seaguar-fluorocarbon.html

Hi this Fluorocarbon conundrum has be plaguing me LOL
I’ve done a little research and measured the fishing line and uke stings with my micrometer and the stings measurements supplied with the uke strings are not as accurately measured as the numerous decimal places would suggest “obviously pre stretched” and have an uncanny similarity in thickness feel density to the fishing line as to a strings acoustic property's vibration is the (lets not get into that now LOL)
( I’m going to rig up a little monochord jig to test the relative tension ) I couldn’t find a Fluorocarbon string manufacture (other than Aquila they are a different material anyway ) that was anything other than a distributer
http://www.ukuleles.com/Technology/strings.html

Cumulative string tension a rather basic piece of information that can be obtained from any reputable guitar /banjo violin string supplier and of significant importance to people with vintage instruments calibrated for traditional gut strings (my field was predominantly vintage violins so the cumulative string tension was critical )
I figured the best way to get technical information was to contact the uke string supplier and ask for the Cumulative string tension ,they didn’t have that information !

I will report back on the weight, pitch, yield points to determine the florine carbon mix
I phoned my brother in law he is a maths lecturer and I had a little chat about the Fluorocarbon conspiracy LOL he read the various info I sent him and he tried to explainthe bonding of carbon molecules etc


However the most interesting think he said was
” with all the discussion on the internet, pertaining to fishing line being sold as expensive ukulele strings” surely the sting suppliers would be up in arms protesting the actual difference in their products and promoting the differences on their literature if it was wrong?

Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one.

Einstein

George

Kiwaya, for your interest in fluorocarbon strings...... Living Water Strings by Ken Middleton - I have these on all five of my wooden ukes now. They sound wonderful. Lots of info about them on that page also....

There are many posts here on this subject. Some people like to experiment with fluorocarbon fish line and more power to them if they enjoy it. Bear in mind, though, that you will be barely scratching the surface in an area where others have expended a great deal of effort, time and money so that you can have correctly tensioned and well-balanced string sets. I've dabbled and concluded that it isn't a good use of my time. I'd much rather buy excellent sets from Southcoast Strings. Others have had good experiences with Living Water and other vendors that know vastly more than I ever will about strings.

Hi my interest is purely academic with a hint of scepticism LOL
I am totally happy buying a product that been tested calibrated and made specifically for my ukulele but having a background in restoration setups predominantly on violins guitars and I have always felt the ukulele is still seen as a slightly whimsical instrument example: just last week I contacted a well know banjo case supplier that purports to sell quality banjo uke cases ,he only had the bigger case for a full resonator uke and suggested I put a bit of foam in to pack it out !!!my wonderful 20s UB2 LOL would he have suggested it if it was a 20s Vega !

unlike the violin, guitar,banjo I cant find any actual technical information on suppliers websites as to the method of calibration ukulele string sets?

It seems a set of top quality strings is calibrated for a soprano scale length Soprano up to 14”inches to have the optimum tension to drive the soundboard and reach pitch at the optimum Cumulative Tension then how can the same gauge string set be the optimum Cumulative Tension in pitch for a longer concert 15” scale ? The answer “it’s bigger” is wrong LOL

I’m not out to cause any controversy ,part of me still feels the uke is still considered a bit of a joke instrument ,We all know that not to be true just watch Jake Shimabukuro ,James hill etc wonderful musicians

D'addario EJ16 phosphor bronze guitar strings are in my humble opinion the finest acoustic guitar strings money can buy, cumulative tension matched to perfection , warm bright ,amazing depth ,high carbon steel core ,all ball ends colour coded phosphor bronzed ,all the technical information on the website including string tension calculator wonderful artwork carboard packaging and hermetically sealed “and you get six for £4.99 a set”

Perhaps I’m just getting old but I don't believe it ,why would anyone buy fishing line cut it up ,bung it into a cheap cellophane wrappers ,badly print one side with crooked paper ,create a user friendly tradition name and then sell it at a vast profit
Who would be silly enough to do it, Who would be silly enough to buy it LOL


George

Go for it, George!

I'd love to know what size flourocarbon leader to use for each specific string. I have several different sizes of fishing line in my tackle box right now, but I always buy by pound test, and never paid much attention to string diameter.

I would guess this also has to do with how much is invested in the Ukulele? Strings appear to be very modest in comparison!

25 yards = 900 inches = 30 + sets of strings.

If you maintaining 10+ ukes in a class, it's worth it. For personal use, I don't need two dozen sets of Martins on hand. This is a great option for classes, camps, groups, but for the hobby/curiosity individual, Whatcha need?

String is string!

kiwaya said:

D'addario EJ16 phosphor bronze guitar strings are in my humble opinion the finest acoustic guitar strings money can buy, cumulative tension matched to perfection , warm bright ,amazing depth ,high carbon steel core ,all ball ends colour coded phosphor bronzed ,all the technical information on the website including string tension calculator wonderful artwork carboard packaging and hermetically sealed “and you get six for £4.99 a set”

Perhaps I’m just getting old but I don't believe it ,why would anyone buy fishing line cut it up ,bung it into a cheap cellophane wrappers ,badly print one side with crooked paper ,create a user friendly tradition name and then sell it at a vast profit
Who would be silly enough to do it, Who would be silly enough to buy it LOL

Click to expand...

A set of D'addario ukulele strings is not much different in cost.
Nylon is also fishing line at about half the cost of fluorocarbon.

Hi Bill
I,m sure my age and intellectual dexterity is not up to scouring the internet properly LOL thanks for the links to the worth site question answered

I appear to be a cheapskate just wanting budget strings ,but that couldn’t be farther from the truth
I am more than happy to pay for a product that is value for money, when I enquired about the Cumulative string tension ,part of the products perceived value is in the testing and knowledge of the provider

Someone telling me its works is just not enough LOL I would like to know the method used and some empirical evidence to support the theory
An Examble




I have fitted dozens of sets and fiddle players are very very critical and discerning in the quality ,tension ,timbre etc of strings fitted on their beloved instruments

Should I be any less discerning because I play a uke?

George