Anyone tried Bionylon strings?

[Mike $]

I was looking into strings and ran into Galli Bionylon Professional Series Ukulele Strings. They're dirt cheap and supposedly Bionylon is green, it ihas 50% less of a carbon footprint than nylon strings. I've never heard of this brand of strings or even the material before. If anyone has tried these or something similar, let me know. Here's a link to the strings Galli Bionylon Strings

Also, I found that Aquila makes bionylon as well: Aquila Bionylon Strings

 

[Graham Greenbag]

IIRC the Aquila Bi-nylons haven’t been popular. Somewhere SUS have a video comparing all of the Aquila strings. I think that Aquila try hard to make good strings, their Super Nylgut strings are on several of my Ukes, but what suits one person might not suit another.

Strings do have a carbon footprint, but I think it is so tiny as to be relatively insignificant - it all matters but some stuff matters much much more.

 

[Dohle]

I can easily understand why the Aquila bionylon strings aren't that popular. When listening to sound samples they sound really dull compared to other types of strings.

I've tried Galli fluorocarbon strings and they're great quality but they use a very thin gauge which I don't like that much. I'd love to try their bionylon strings but haven't come across a local seller.

 

[merlin666]

I think that potential carbon footprint is determined mostly by how often strings are changed rather than material. I have some super nylguts on on my uke that have lasted almost as long as I have played uke. Fluorocarbon probably wear out much faster. And those who change strings often even before they wear out probably have environmental impacts way down on their priority list.

 

[mimmo]

Well, when I taken the decision to develope and introduce the Bionylon strings into the market it was because they were the first bio strings in the world of the musical strings, not just the recycling paper of the envelopes with strings that comes from oil and the related carbon dioxide etc etc.

I agree, the sound is dull like any other kind of nylon strings. But this material is from plants; hence we were very happy to be the fist brand to have done the good job in this direction. We supply bulk bionylon strings to Galli.
Mimmo

 

[bbkobabe]

I put a set of the Aquila version onto one of the loaner concert sized ukes I have available for my students who "forget" their instrument and leave it at home.

They seem really thick to me... The sizes aren't listed on the package however. I have three more sets in waiting to be installed. It seems that Kala was sending these out as a bonus spare set with their new uke "bundles" for a while. I bought several of these last year from overstock companies and they all came included with a spare set of these Aquila Bionylon strings - in emerald green packages that date back to 2020.

So here is a question: Do these strings slowly break down over time? Is it possible that these sets are getting "stale"?

Since they are fitted on a low end instrument I can't comment much on the sound... But my kids seem to prefer thinner strings that are easier to play... they don't care as much about tone at this point. Were still learning how to play!

I also have a set of Aquila AGxAQ drop G strings on my Fluke tenor right now... The G is an odd brown color I've never seen before... are these strings Bionylon as well? Or is it copper added to the drop G string to weigh it down? It's an odd look sitting next to the clear green of the other 3 strings...

I like the idea! But it might be better as an idea than as a practical string choice...

 

[Mike $]

I finally got around to ordering some Aquila BioNylon strings (a year later) and they are currently on two of my ukes, both sopranos, one high g and one low G. They sound great. I prefer the nylon sound to the fluorocarbon, which to me, the fluorocarbon sets sound way too bright and in general feel too hard, or stiff, to me. These are very nice strings. I am not sure I like them as much as the Lava sets I usually use, but they are very pleasing. I have only had them on for three weeks, and the first week was a bust due to stretching, therefore tuning issues, but they have settled down and are stable now. We will see how long they keep their nice tone before a string change is necessary. I would prefer black strings, but that is just my aesthetic preference. I like the thickness of the strings, they have corrected a very thin sound that came from my pineapple all mahogany soprano with La Bella nylon strings. Additionally the low G Bionylon added some snap from the DiAddario black nylon strings that sounded a bit muddy on the StewMac soprano. So, I am very happy with these sets, and am interested to see how long they last.

 

[merlin666]

Thanks for the update. Are you saying that soprano low G bionylon is a plain string and not wound?

 

[Mike $]

Thanks for the update. Are you saying that soprano low G bionylon is a plain string and not wound?

It is a wound string. It took a few days to mellow out. It started out much louder than the other strings, but has since equalled out.