Fishing line?

Out local ALDI supermarket ( which won't mean anything to Americans) has a special on "PE dyneema braid' fishing line next week, which got me wondering if it might be something similar to the braided material in the Aquila Red strings. It will be available in 8lb, 12lb, 17lb, 20lb, 30lb and 50lb weights and in my innocence wondering if is worthwhile buying some for uke sets. Dave Hurd's site suggests tha uke strings run between 6-10 lb tension per string so I was thinking of three different weights of fishing line for a uke? The pics in the junk mail catalogue suggest two different kinds (or at least colours) so I figure that the three lower weight strings will be different from the heaver strings. Worth trying out or a waste of time?

cheers

There are few threads here on UU about using fluorocarbon fishing leader/line with recommendations. Most folks use Seaguar brand.

http://www.google.com/#q=fishing+line+string+site:ukuleleunderground.com

BTW we do have Aldi in the USA.

Jon, aka OldePhart, had a lengthy thread on the subject. Very detailed on specific diameters, etc. for each string. But... the bottom line is, unless you're stringing one helluva lot of ukes, and have some automated means of cutting them to length into sets, it's quite expensive vs. just buying on the open market. Sorry, looked for the thread to link to but didn't find it.

Here's a long discussion on the topic - http://www.ukuleleunderground.com/forum/showthread.php?18975-fishing-line-ukulele-string-recipe

But I'm with ukemunga that its a heck of a lot easier to just buy Living Water, PHD, Southcoast, etc.

Graham McDonald said:

Out local ALDI supermarket ( which won't mean anything to Americans) has a special on "PE dyneema braid' fishing line next week, which got me wondering if it might be something similar to the braided material in the Aquila Red strings. It will be available in 8lb, 12lb, 17lb, 20lb, 30lb and 50lb weights and in my innocence wondering if is worthwhile buying some for uke sets. Dave Hurd's site suggests tha uke strings run between 6-10 lb tension per string so I was thinking of three different weights of fishing line for a uke? The pics in the junk mail catalogue suggest two different kinds (or at least colours) so I figure that the three lower weight strings will be different from the heaver strings. Worth trying out or a waste of time?

cheers

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Maybe it's a different company, but we have an ALDI supermarket in our area. They sell lower priced generic branded goods that, in my opinion, are just as good as the brand names. Sorry to hijack the thread. Here's a pic of one of their stores with the sign out front. Look familiar?

Graham McDonald said:

Out local ALDI supermarket ( which won't mean anything to Americans)

cheers

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Aldi is very popular here in the areas where established but is not nationwide. We started shopping at Aldi when we lived in Germany. They also own Trader Joes which has an almost cult like status here. Their $3.00 Chuck wines (used to be $2.00) are hard to beat.

I shop at Aldi once a week. It's within walking distance of my home.

http://www.instantstreetview.com/2feyeuz1rsow8z4hmzp8z5o

Apologies, didn't realise Aldi had made their way across the Atlantic, nor owned Trader Joes, (where I often shop when travelling in the US and have been known to buy a bottle or two of the two buck chuck!). Thanks for the collective wisdom on the fishing line.

cheers

Graham McDonald said:

Apologies, didn't realise Aldi had made their way across the Atlantic, nor owned Trader Joes, (where I often shop when travelling in the US and have been known to buy a bottle or two of the two buck chuck!). Thanks for the collective wisdom on the fishing line.

cheers

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By the way, I have PhD strings, and I liked them at first, then for some reason or other didn't. But now, I've started to like them again. Confusing, eh?

Reading the old thread (pun intended) and looking at the Australian catalog going on sale next saturday it looks like you may have trouble getting a C string as Aldi are only selling up to 50 lb strain fishing line @ $12.99 Australian for a 200m roll.

For my home style and biscuit tin ukes I use 1/2 lb rolls of cheap nylon line 50 60 80 and 40 lb test for Standard gCEA tuning. They were @$4.50 a roll at Big W. For Tahitian tuning gceA I use 20 Lb line for all strings.

Graham, you could always go fishing with the extra line. Primo strings are getting pretty expensive. Trying fishing line should be fun. Pete Seeger used to recommend fishing line for fretless banjos, and fishing line has come a long way since then.

ukemunga said:

Jon, aka OldePhart, had a lengthy thread on the subject. Very detailed on specific diameters, etc. for each string.

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I contact OldePhart when making a batch of tenors last summer. My thinking was that if you make enough ukes, the fishing line price makes it worthwhile. For the the four rolls, I spent around $150. At roughly $5/per, I could have bought 30 string packages for that amount. The fishing line takes longer to stretch and settle than Aquilas (which is all I have to compare to) by about a week. They also have a lighter feel and softer sound than Aquilas. I've been told the fishing line is more like Worth.

To keep them straight, I made a simple dispenser with rolls of line (in gCEA order) on one end with a dowel through them and a mark on the other for the length. Of course now I have a LOT of string and need to get these annoying paid projects out the way in order to make more ukes.

Here's what OldePhart imparted:
I like Seaguar leaders that are basically in the same gages as a Worth CH string set. For standard reentrant GCEA tuning that is 50, 80, & 60 pound "blue label" and 40 pound "premium" for the GCEA strings respectively.

I use Seaguar lines as well. Roughly the same pound strengths as above. I switched to their red label which is homogenous, the blue has a softer surface to hold knots better.