Trouble Finding Aquila Super Nylguts in USA?

twokatmew

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I'm very new to the ukulele, so I may not be in-the-know about all the places to buy strings, but why is is so hard to find super nylgut strings in the US? They have them at HMS, but not in baritone. Elsewhere (Elderly and Sweetwater), the only super nylgut strings I can find are the LAVAs. If you know of a good US source for plain old Aquila super nylgut strings, please share. :)
 
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These are my 2 preferred vendors for strings...

"Strings by Mail" has them here (scroll down):

https://www.stringsbymail.com/searc...&keyword=aquila+super+nylgut+ukulele&sortby=4

"Strings and Beyond" has them here:

https://www.stringsandbeyond.com/se...le&search_return=all&sort_by_field=Sale+Price

You might also check Amazon, but their string prices tend to be a little higher, and with Prime free shipping it tends to be a wash compared to shipping costs from the 2 vendors here, and if you are buying at least 3 sets of strings, I find "Strings By Mail" to be cheaper overall with their $3.99 flat rate shipping.

Many folks here on UU used these vendors, and I find them both to be consistent and ship within 24 hours of your purchase, and the strings typically arrive in 7 days or less to my door in NJ.
 
Thanks so much, @Booli

I'm glad to help :)

One reason you might be having trouble in your searches, is if you are mis-spelling Aquila as 'Acquila' as per your subject of this thread.

It is spelled as 'Aquila' without the 'c', and their web site is hhtp://www.aquilacorde.com.
 
Thanks. Strangely, my adding the "c" was a typo. I hadn't had my second cup of coffee this morning when I wrote my post. :eek: Will fix my OP. Thx! Still no plain old Aquila super nylguts for baritone though ... and that's what came on my uke. Oh well. I'll try the LAVAs.
 
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Thanks. Strangely, my adding the "c" was a typo. I hadn't had my second cup of coffee this morning when I wrote my post. :eek: Will fix my OP. Thx! Still no plain Aquila super nylguts for baritone though ... and that's what came on my uke. Oh well. I'll try the LAVAs.

Nearly ALL baritone strings in linear DGBE tuning will include 2 wound strings, for the D and G strings respectively.

The exceptions being the Worth BB strings (brown fluorocarbon)which are all UN-wound in this tuning, or any of the other strings that offer GCEA re-entrant tuning for baritone, such as the New Nylgut and LAVA strings by Aquila, and Living Waters which have both linear and re-entrant DGBE strings in clear fluorocarbon.

Doing linear DGBE with unwound strings is problematic in that there is usually not enough string tension on the D and G strings in order to intonate properly, nor to produce a volume level even with the B and E strings. Some folks on UU are doing just this, but they likely have lower standards then I do for intonation, or possibly lack the hearing perception to tell the difference, but I do not judge, everyone does what pleases them, and that is all that matters. :)

in the USA you can get the Living Water strings from Uke Republic via:

http://ukerepublic.bigcartel.com/product/living-water-ukulele-fluorocarbon-strings

and then from the pull-down selector, you have to change it from the default soprano item, otherwise you can order them direct from Ken Middleton himself in the UK via (who ships worldwide):

http://www.kenmiddleton.co.uk/living-water-strings/
 
Thx for the explanation, @Booli! I'm sorry my writing was imprecise. I should have said I'm looking for "regular" Super Nylgut strings for baritone ukulele, not unwound ones. Coming from guitar, wound strings don't bother me, though after playing a tenor with reentrant tuning, I can see the value in using all unwound strings. :)

This does bring up another point of interest though. I have a set of Fremont black fluorocarbon (gCEA) to try next on my tenor. These also come in unwound low-G, but the G is a lot thicker than the single Soloist wound low-G that Fremont sells separately. If I do eventually try Low-G tuning, I think I'll stay with a wound G. Glen Rose has a baritone tuned in low-G, and he uses the LAVA reentrant G strings for baritone. He simply reorders the strings so the thickest serves as the G. I don't think I'd like this solution very much, as I'm fussy about intonation.

P.S. I edited the OP and title to remove the errant C I'd put in Aquila, but I can't figure out how to edit the thread title. It's probably right under my nose.... When I searched the forums looking for the solution, I found a thread in which the original poster said they'd figured it out but didn't post what the solution was. I noticed you'd pointed that out. I was disappointed that I found a thread discussing the topic - but no solution! :(
 
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Thx for the explanation, @Booli! I'm sorry my writing was imprecise. I should have said I'm looking for "regular" Super Nylgut strings for baritone ukulele, not unwound ones. Coming from guitar, wound strings don't bother me, though after playing a tenor with reentrant tuning, I can see the value in using all wound strings. :)

This does bring up another point of interest though. I have a set of Fremont black fluorocarbon (gCEA) to try next on my tenor. These also come in unwound low-G, but the G is a lot thicker than the single Soloist wound low-G that Fremont sells separately. If I do eventually try Low-G tuning, I think I'll stay with a wound G. Glen Rose has a baritone tuned in low-G, and he uses the LAVA reentrant G strings for baritone. He simply reorders the strings so the thickest serves as the G. I don't think I'd like this solution very much, as I'm fussy about intonation.

P.S. I edited the OP and title to remove the errant C I'd put in Aquila, but I can't figure out how to edit the thread title. It's probably right under my nose.... When I searched the forums looking for the solution, I found a thread in which the original poster said they'd figured it out but didn't post what the solution was. I noticed you'd pointed that out. I was disappointed that I found a thread discussing the topic - but no solution! :(

You may or may not know that most ukulele strings are in fact just repackaged classical guitar strings. As such any classical guitar string with a diameter of 0.035" can serve as a low-D (D3) and any 0.030" can serve as the G (G3) on baritone. These strings are better for both tension and intonation because they have more mass (linear density) than the unwound fluoro or nylon strings that one might consider which would have to be 0.050" and 0.0433" respectively in fluorocarbon in order to intonate well, but the tension will be high and sustain lacking and the sound is pretty poor compared to the wound strings.

The Fremont Blackline, PHD and Worth Low-G singles, are mostly 0.0358" diamater but the Fremont Soloist smoothwound low-G single is 0.029" diameter and it works better because of the reasons stated above, and also using a wound 4th string usually does not require widening the nut slot to accommodate the wider string if switching from a re-entrant tuning (where the 4th string will be much thinner than 0.0358", about 0.025" in fluorocarbon and about 0.029" in nylon).

Aquila strings in Nylgut and Super Nylgut seems to follow closer to the nylon gauges, and their REDS, CarbonBlack and LAVA strings are closer in gauge to fluorocarbon string gauges.

if you like the LAVA GCEA strings for baritone, you CAN just replace the D & G strings with the 0.035" and 0.030" strings in order to get a linear tuning that will intonate well. Glen Rose does some things that are specific and preferred only by him, and likely may not work well for everyone else. Maybe he enjoys a floppy string? who knows?

Both of the vendors I mentioned above sell classical guitar single strings, for $1-2 each, and if looking at the strings offered by D'Addario, you want the part #'s NYL035 and NYL030 to put them on baritone for DGBE tuning.

and these SAME strings will work on tenor if you prefer a wound 3rd & 4th string for GCEA tuning.

Hope this helps! :)
 
This is all very interesting. Thank you so much for taking the time to explain. :)
 
Aquila Carbon Black are a good baritone string. My standby go to baritone sets are either Martin M630 or D'Addario Titanium, both great sounding strings on a number of different baritones.
 
Aquila Carbon Black are a good baritone string. My standby go to baritone sets are either Martin M630 or D'Addario Titanium, both great sounding strings on a number of different baritones.

I have tried both and agree with Dave. I recently put Living Waters on my Cedar topped Baritone and love the sound, although the tension is noticeably different between the D and E strings. Might have to go back to some wound strings for the D and G strings.
 
Aquila Carbon Black are a good baritone string. My standby go to baritone sets are either Martin M630 or D'Addario Titanium, both great sounding strings on a number of different baritones.

I've been thinking about trying D'addario Titaniums on my baritone. Both my tenor and baritone came with Aquila super nylguts, and I like the tension on the baritone. Much easier to play than on my tenor. I'd never heard of the carbon blacks till this thread, and I can't get them locally, so will have to order online. I'll be trying Fremont black fluorocarbon on my tenor. I'm looking forward to a lighter tension.
 
I have tried both and agree with Dave. I recently put Living Waters on my Cedar topped Baritone and love the sound, although the tension is noticeably different between the D and E strings. Might have to go back to some wound strings for the D and G strings.

Yes, I'll be sticking with wound G and D on baritone. Thx!
 
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