missdreamweaver
Member
I have a soprano Kala Pineapple ukulele and I tried to restring it and the whole world fell apart.
So about 2 1/2 years ago I met a luthier and he showed me how to restring my ukulele. I used a regular pack of D'Addario clear strings, but he gave me a special wound string to use for the C string. He worked on some high end and crazy instruments, and he told me it was a spare from another pack that this single string would retail around $60, so this thing is high quality. Over the next year or so he taught me to build and repair instruments and I've strung many strings since.
I have no idea what kind of string he gave me. The string sounded freakin beautiful and I didn't want to replace it, but it has been played almost daily for 2 and a half years, I was told it was in danger of breaking. Unfortunately, he passed away unexpectedly and far too young, so I have no real way of knowing what kind of string I need to replace it. And I'm kinda sentimental about it. And he's the guy I would have asked, but now I can't, so here I am.
I put a set of Aquila Reds on my uke. I should have never taken the wound string off because it lost it's range and sounds like a tin can. There is a lot of debate about the reds, I love them on my baritone ukulele. Unfortunately, they sound too piercingly bright for my soprano. I thought maybe if I put the wound string back, It would fill out the sound and the world would be right again. Wrong, the string lost it's elasticity when I took it off, even though I was careful. It is now limp and floppy and it sounds like a dying baby walrus. Terrible. I even though I might have it an octave low, and I started to tune it up. But no. It's just flaccid.
The guy at the music store had heard me play just yesterday, and he said that he'd never heard a string go dead like that before. He also suspected it was down an octave, but no. So we decided to look for a replacement. It has a white fibrous core, I don't know if it's nylon or silk. Is there any way to tell? I believe it is round wound with a very fine silver plated copper. It looked silver when I got it new, and now it has whole sections of copper shining through where it gets the most wear. The digital caliper said it was about a .029 or .030 inch gauge. I ended up getting a pack of Martin Classic Guitar strings, the D string is listed as Silverplated Copper on Nylon .030 inches. I know it's not as high end, but it looks like the wound wire is about as thin as the old string, very fine compared to acoustic guitar strings.
So I brought it home and put it on. The new string also sounds like a dying baby walrus. I never knew how huge of a difference the strings can make. I'm gettin all emotional again just writing about it. I don't know what to do. My go-to guy is gone. My uke sounded like the happiest dream yesterday, even if the A and G were a little dull. That magic C string gave it a unique and robust sound (or as robust as a soprano uke can get). That string only went out of tune like once a month, even after 2+ years of strumming. I'd be willing to put down a few dollars to get the right replacement string for my instrument, I just don't even know where to start looking. I can post pictures if it would help, but I don't see how it would.
Here are the burning questions in summation:
1. What kind of string is this?
2. I have a wound C string for a tenor uke. Would it work on my soprano? I'm concerned about damaging my baby with unduly high tension.
3. Have you tried the Aquila Reds? Whaddya think of em?
4. I'm probably going to move the reds over to a different uke, so for the other three... what kind of strings would you recommend for a warm, clear tone?
Thank you!
So about 2 1/2 years ago I met a luthier and he showed me how to restring my ukulele. I used a regular pack of D'Addario clear strings, but he gave me a special wound string to use for the C string. He worked on some high end and crazy instruments, and he told me it was a spare from another pack that this single string would retail around $60, so this thing is high quality. Over the next year or so he taught me to build and repair instruments and I've strung many strings since.
I have no idea what kind of string he gave me. The string sounded freakin beautiful and I didn't want to replace it, but it has been played almost daily for 2 and a half years, I was told it was in danger of breaking. Unfortunately, he passed away unexpectedly and far too young, so I have no real way of knowing what kind of string I need to replace it. And I'm kinda sentimental about it. And he's the guy I would have asked, but now I can't, so here I am.
I put a set of Aquila Reds on my uke. I should have never taken the wound string off because it lost it's range and sounds like a tin can. There is a lot of debate about the reds, I love them on my baritone ukulele. Unfortunately, they sound too piercingly bright for my soprano. I thought maybe if I put the wound string back, It would fill out the sound and the world would be right again. Wrong, the string lost it's elasticity when I took it off, even though I was careful. It is now limp and floppy and it sounds like a dying baby walrus. Terrible. I even though I might have it an octave low, and I started to tune it up. But no. It's just flaccid.
The guy at the music store had heard me play just yesterday, and he said that he'd never heard a string go dead like that before. He also suspected it was down an octave, but no. So we decided to look for a replacement. It has a white fibrous core, I don't know if it's nylon or silk. Is there any way to tell? I believe it is round wound with a very fine silver plated copper. It looked silver when I got it new, and now it has whole sections of copper shining through where it gets the most wear. The digital caliper said it was about a .029 or .030 inch gauge. I ended up getting a pack of Martin Classic Guitar strings, the D string is listed as Silverplated Copper on Nylon .030 inches. I know it's not as high end, but it looks like the wound wire is about as thin as the old string, very fine compared to acoustic guitar strings.
So I brought it home and put it on. The new string also sounds like a dying baby walrus. I never knew how huge of a difference the strings can make. I'm gettin all emotional again just writing about it. I don't know what to do. My go-to guy is gone. My uke sounded like the happiest dream yesterday, even if the A and G were a little dull. That magic C string gave it a unique and robust sound (or as robust as a soprano uke can get). That string only went out of tune like once a month, even after 2+ years of strumming. I'd be willing to put down a few dollars to get the right replacement string for my instrument, I just don't even know where to start looking. I can post pictures if it would help, but I don't see how it would.
Here are the burning questions in summation:
1. What kind of string is this?
2. I have a wound C string for a tenor uke. Would it work on my soprano? I'm concerned about damaging my baby with unduly high tension.
3. Have you tried the Aquila Reds? Whaddya think of em?
4. I'm probably going to move the reds over to a different uke, so for the other three... what kind of strings would you recommend for a warm, clear tone?
Thank you!