Another "Happy String" story

greenie44

Big King Velour
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There have been a few postings lately along the line of "I found their right strings and my uke came alive" and I just wanted to add my experience.

The time I bought a uke that was a real step up was a Kanile'a Koa Super Tenor. It was a great uke, but I never really bonded with it, even after a few weeks only playing that uke.

Time passed. I ended up getting another 'upgrade' to a Collings UT2 K. This uke was a real dream - almost magical in its rich and delicate tone. This one was a keeper.

Which made me start rethinking my Super Tenor. The 'high end' spot in my fairly limited lineup was firmly taken by the Collings. As an experiment, I decided to move to a low G tuning on the Kanile'a.

I ordered a C3 set of Savarez from JustStrings. They were OK, but the low G was wound and quite squeaky. So I went one more step and got a Freemont squeakless low G.

And that did it. Not only did the squeak go away, but the sound of the low G was now well balanced with the other strings. And the uke sounds totally different and great - rich a complex. (I probably should have figured that out with the Super Tenor configuration.) Completely different from the Collings - which should be a big lesson to those nay-sayers who think all ukes sound alike.

I even have started to really like the appearance of the Kanile'a - there are some nice dark veins in it that change everything in that area too.

So you never know. Looks like they are both keepers.
 
As far as I know, the difference is that it has a bigger lower bout. It's shown here.

Makes sense that the low G tuning would work well with the bigger body, when you think about it.
 
Congrats. Ya gotta love it when a $7 investment gives you a new instrument!
 
On recordings, I actually enjoy hearing some string squeak over an album.
 
On recordings, I actually enjoy hearing some string squeak over an album.

I agree. Some studio recordings sound too sterile, like the were creating in a vacuum by people in lab coats.
On one of my favorite jazz records featuring Errol Garner you can hear a cocktail glass hit the floor, probably knocked of the piano. It's priceless! (He also wasn't afraid to growl and grunt while playing.) It gives the music color, makes it more real for me.
 
My all time favourite album is

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bert_and_John

Just two guys with acoustic guitars.

This album was (largely) improvised and recorded live in their kitchen in London 1966. Similar to the falling wine glass, on this album you can hear dogs barking and other things. Lovely to hear such things

One of my favorites, too. Both great guitarists. Unfortunately, Bert Jansch died a few years ago. "Needle of Death" is one of the most starkly sad songs ever written.
 
I was privileged to see a one time only show (as far as I knew) of John Renbourn, Stefan Grossman and Larry Coryell on night. Pretty magical evening.

WOW- that would have been fantastic. I have been listening to Jansch, Renbourn and Grossman since the id 1990's and have always wanted to see them play. Jansch died, Renbourn doesn't tour anymore it seems and Grossman played in Sydney the night i flew to America last year.... i couldn't believe my bad luck!
 
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