Fluorocarbon strings are fraying

Ramart

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I've restrung two tenors with Worth fluorocarbon strings, and the A strings on both are fraying a bit, with little "hairs" sticking out from the main string body, and the outer surfaces of the strings becoming a bit rough to the touch. The uke I restrung about 7 months ago has the most pronounced fraying; the A string of the one I restrung only a month or so ago also has began to fray after only a few weeks.

In both cases, the fraying is up between the nut and fourth fret, on the top/outer surface of the string, so the issue seems unrelated to contact between the string and fret or string and fingerboard. The E string on the uke that's had fluorocarbons the longest also has begun to fray a tiny bit.

I'm guessing this may be related to chemical reactions with skin oils rather than friction. Tuning, tone, intonation seem unaffected, even though I've pulled a few of the longer bits of shredding filament away from the string, completely detaching them.

Has anyone else had this issue with fluorocarbons, or specifically with Worths? Aquila Nylgut strings never frayed on me when I used those for equally long periods.
 
I've had the same exact thing happen on Worth A strings a few times. I'm not a string psycho, either, like a lot of UU members seem to be. I leave 'em on for years, although in the cases where the fraying that we're talking about happened, it was very quick in every instance. Never happened with Aquilas, but, as we all know from UU, THOSE strings ONLY sound good on laminated cheap ukes :rolleyes:
 
I had Martins which came on my C1K fray on the A string at the 2nd or 3rd fret after 6 months? (can't remember which fret exactly) Just figured it was time to change them...they're only $5.
 
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Yep. I've seen it happen after months and also after hours. I got a number of extra Worth A strings at one point to keep me afloat. Price you pay I guess, but I hope they can come up with a solution someday.
 
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