Three Brave Souls

[davidrboy]

I got the concert set - thanks OBM. I sent my initial impressions to OBM and he encouraged me to post them here:

I have played a couple days with them now and have my initial thoughts together. These strings do stretch/settle in very quickly, sound great, have beautiful bell-clarity and they really have exceptional volume. They added noticeable volume, chime/ring, and single note clarity to my Koaloha. On the other hand, I think they are a little thick (guage), a little firm, and can sound dead when played lightly. That is my short take.

All of the above being said, I think they are going to be great for a while on my Koaloha, which is generally my travel/ outdoor uke. They give it great sound at higher volume. I had been alternating between Worth Brown (for warmth) and Southcoast Mediums (for a little more clarity) on that uke. These strings lack the feel and low volume sweetness/tone of either, but are so clear at higher volumes that they are perfect for outdoor playing (BBQs and beaches) and jamming with others (they can really cut through the background noise without getting muddy).

I am glad I put them on the Koaloha; I think they might have been too brash for my jazz uke (redwood/sapele).

I am going to stay with them for a while, see how they evolve/play in and how long they stay as clear as they are right now. But I do really dig the punch they bring out in an already punchy uke.

 

[Jon Moody]

Wanted to share this with the UU crowd; our new packaging for the "old" nylon sets as well as for the new fluorocarbon sets. We're working hard to make sure we can have some of these to show at the Milwaukee Ukefest in October. Fingers crossed!

 

[Jon Moody]

When will the flurocarbons be available to the public? I really like them and am now curious to try them on my crazy unknown Japanese made uke.

We should have the sets available starting in December or so. We're working to get some more materials in here earlier, so we can have some handouts for the Milwaukee Ukefest. No guarantees on that yet, but that's the hope at this point. At the very least, I'll have all of the sets on ukes for trials at the mufest.

 

[Patrick Madsen]

I've been testing the higher tension rentrant tenor strings for the last week. Previously I had Southcoast with linear wound 3&4. So far I'm not too impressed. They feel and look much like the GHS strings I have on my Favilla baritone. The 3rd string is unpolished aluminum wound and feels very thick.

The higher tension feels like it's higher tensioned for sure but it's not because of a difference in materials than the other GHS strings I've tried but rather it seems they just made the strings thicker,much thicker. I didn't hear a good clear resonance but more of a muddy thuddy sound; probably because of the thickness.

The GHS baritone strings didn't sound great on my other baritones except the Favilla; they really gave it a smokey,bluesy sound, which is what,IMO, a Favilla baritone is all about. I would imagine they would be the same for a mahogany rentrant tenor also. As for them being higher tensioned, they are but just because they are a thicker string.

I'd like to thank One Bad Monkey for giving me the opprotunity to try out the higher tensioned tenor strings on the promise of being frank with my findings and posting a review on this thread. I like GHS strings as a whole but feel the higher tensioned demos was not up to their quality of string; yet.

 

[Patrick Madsen]

I wrote One Bad Monkey and included the above thread, this is what he wrote back:

Thanks for your feedback; I have passed it onto the sales people.
Just to address a couple of point you brought up…
-The new set is fluorocarbon, as opposed to our current nylon string offerings. That in and of itself has a pretty big difference in terms of tension. And actually, according to my table I have, the fluorocarbon set is a little thinner, in terms of gauge as opposed to our regular tenor nylon set.
-The aluminum wound C string, which is our H-T13 is the same one in all our tenor sets, so it’s not thicker.
-Did I read it correctly in that you tried this set on your Favilla baritone, or were you just comparing this set to a current GHS set on your baritone? That part just confused me a bit.
Regardless, thank you for taking the time to try them out. We do appreciate the response.

In fairness, I am used to a thinner string for sure and may have not been the best canidate for the trial. If anyone would like to try them, I would be more than happy to send them off for another to offer their opinion. Just pm me with your address. First come first, and only served lol.

Thanks again GHS Strings.

 

[Jon Moody]

Any idea on what they will cost?

I think we're looking at around $6-7 street, which is roughly inline with other fluoro sets.

I wrote One Bad Monkey and included the above thread, this is what he wrote back:

Thanks for your feedback; I have passed it onto the sales people.
Just to address a couple of point you brought up…
-The new set is fluorocarbon, as opposed to our current nylon string offerings. That in and of itself has a pretty big difference in terms of tension. And actually, according to my table I have, the fluorocarbon set is a little thinner, in terms of gauge as opposed to our regular tenor nylon set.
-The aluminum wound C string, which is our H-T13 is the same one in all our tenor sets, so it’s not thicker.
-Did I read it correctly in that you tried this set on your Favilla baritone, or were you just comparing this set to a current GHS set on your baritone? That part just confused me a bit.
Regardless, thank you for taking the time to try them out. We do appreciate the response.

In fairness, I am used to a thinner string for sure and may have not been the best canidate for the trial. If anyone would like to try them, I would be more than happy to send them off for another to offer their opinion. Just pm me with your address. First come first, and only served lol.

Thanks again GHS Strings.

I really only meant that for you, as to find some clarification to your post, since parts of it were a bit confusing and am trying to get as much info as possible. But yes, fluorocarbon by and large is a much denser material than nylon, so it's going to have a greater tension than its nylon counterparts. And just to be completely transparent, here's how the gauges line up...

H-T10 Black Nylon Set
A-.028"
E-.036"
C-H-T13 .035"
G-.032"

H-T20F High Tension Fluorocarbon Set
A- .027"
E- .035"
C- H-T13 .035"
G- .0307"

Like I said (and I meant it), I appreciate you taking the time to string up a uke and try it out and report back. Most just like free stuff and don't bother, but all of my uke "guinea pigs" have been awesome with communication, and I thank you all.