Strings Kanilea String Discussion - Best Sound

This is a good string comparison thread. I have an old pack of Martin strings and thought about giving it away but now I will hang on to it just in case. As for Kanile'a, when I compared their tenors side by side with KoAlohas the Kanile'a always came out on top and I was wondering if it was due to better strings or really reflected the build characteristics. So hard to compare love them all.

Mine came with Kooalou Mahana strings, as it was preowned for a month, and that is how the buyer had HMS set it up. They sounded good, and were decently loud, but I don't like them. I'm trying Living Water next. We'll see.

I have one Kanile'a K-1T strung with Low-G Living Waters. The other one has High-g Worth Browns on it.

I have never been too concerned about my tenors being loud. I prefer a musical, chimey, guitar-like sound. The Worth strings enhances the warm sound of the Koa wood. The living Waters are somewhat brighter and more bell like. The Low-G reinforces the bass end of an already present bass emphasis of this K-1T. I think both have plenty of volume. Perhaps not quite as much as a Ko'Aloha KTM-00. But not far behind.

I do not like the "whang" sound of Nylons except on a banjolele. Martin Low-G 600s were okay on it. Oasis warms I did not care for at all. Nor did I like High-g titanium strings.

I'll probably try Oasis Brights and PhD strings when the LW & Worth Browns wear out. Or the UkeLogic Hard & Soft sets I bought last week.

I've been testing different strings on my still fairly new Kanile'a concert. I'm not the biggest fan of Aquila strings so I switched to Worth CMs fairly quickly. They are ok but, as mentioned, don't have that much volume. Not that I would say they're quiet but quieter than the Aquilas. They do have that bell-like chime though which some people like but I personally don't so I switched them to Worth BMs. I like the sound of these more as they are a bit more mellow and got rid of that sharpish chime but intonation with these is quite poor. I've struggled with intonation with Worth BMs with other ukes as well previously but with the Kanile'a the issue seems to be quite heavy saddle compensation because every string is going flat the further I go up the fretboard, with the C string being the worst offender, as ever. This isn't really that surprising since I'm guessing the saddle, and possibly the whole uke overall, is designed with fatter strings in mind. The Worth BMs are still playable but I'm going to try the different D'Addario nylon strings once my order for them arrives. Probably clear nylons first. I also ordered Aquila Sugars and the stock Super Nylguts if no other string seems to work. Can't believe I'm planning going back to Aquila but here we are.

Just as a pointer, lots of people seem to prefer Living Water strings on their Kanile'a so they might be worth a try. I'm guessing they produce that same chime as the Worth clears so I probably won't be trying them out myself. They're quite expensive as well.

Dohle said:

Just as a pointer, lots of people seem to prefer Living Water strings on their Kanile'a so they might be worth a try. I'm guessing they produce that same chime as the Worth clears so I probably won't be trying them out myself. They're quite expensive as well.

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Thanks for the recommendations.

Update on the Kanile'a string test:

I got rid of the Worth BMs and tested D'Addario clear nylon strings on my K1 concert. First thing I noticed is that playability with these was really nice. Intonation was decent and the feel was particularly nice as the strings are really smooth. But the issue with the clear nylons is that the sound is very mid and low heavy so there is very little projection and sustain for the higher tones. Also, when playing up the fretboard it gets even worse. Very poor sustain and projection. The quiet high-end makes the string sound really plinky-plonky, if you know what I mean. Maybe thin would be the proper description for the sound. The warmth of the strings is nice and they don't sound muddy but I do want at least some highs from my strings as well. I will probably try D'Addario Titanium strings later since they are supposed to be brighter but I already know that I won't be testing black nylon strings as those are even darker and mellower than the clear nylons.

So off came the clear nylons after which I decided to try Aquila Sugars. The first thing I noticed with these was that they stretch like crazy. I haven't tried any other Aquila strings in a while but I certainly don't remember them stretching this much. Normally this wouldn't be an issue but with the Kanile'a tuners there's not a lot of space for the strings to wrap around the tuning posts so I actually had to first stretch the strings a bit and then tie them to the tuning posts again in order to avoid the strings overlapping with themselves. Once I did that, however, the Sugars seemed much better than the clear nylons. They still complement the warm sound of a Kanile'a nicely but have some clarity and projection to them as well. After a short test, they didn't sound as muddy as Aquila's nylgut strings usually do but I will have to give them some time for further testing. Intonation was really good already even though the strings haven't completely settled yet. The Sugars definitely seem promising.

Very interesting thread! My Kanile'a was purchased from SUS Uk and before shipping they carved a new saddle, lowered the action and put the Martin 600 strings on it. I have been quite happy with the intonation and sound. It is still warm, but has brightness and bell like sound too. And sustain is good. Martins are a bit squeky which I don't like. I wonder if Living waters would bring more quality to the sound. So I ordered few sets of Living waters and plan to make the change soon. I'm very curious to hear how those sound and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the intonation doesn't go south.

I don't have any experience how Kanile'a and Aquila nylguts go together, but I had an opportunity to loan a custom koa concert for a while which had Aquilas on it. I found them more difficult to play than fluorocarbons, in that particular uke.

If the saddle is adjusted for Martin 600s, i.e., thinner strings than Aquila, I assume you won't have issues with Living Waters either. Since fluorocarbon strings are usually thinner than most other types of strings, I experienced some intonation issues with Worth strings with the stock saddle. Granted, once the strings settled it wasn't actually that bad and definitely playable. I'm testing out different strings with a larger gauge than fluorocarbon strings because I feel the instrument is designed for thicker strings since Kanile'a uses Aquila Super Nylguts as their stock strings. These thicker strings certainly feel different than fluorocarbons and require a bit more effort to play but I'm feeling I'll get used to it fairly easily, especially since the K1 concert is already quite different compared to most of my other ukes.

I bought my K1-C ten years ago, and like Dohle I've never been that happy with sustain and projection on the upper-mids no matter what strings I try. All my uke tuners also seem to agree with me because I have to hit fairly hard the 1st string upper frets to get them to register on the tuners. It's the only uke I own that has this problem. The uke is a little livelier with Worth CMs but still not enough (including intonation issues) to keep my happy.

The newer K1-Cs have a compensated saddle and I thought I'd might call Kanilea to see what they thought of changing saddles to help with the intonation problems (not severe, but not great either). Although some luthiers might cringe at the idea of making a saddle change like that with no other changes, I thought it might be fun to hear the difference and check intonation between the two.

But before that, I'll order the Aquila sugars, and perhaps take it to a local set-up person to see what he thinks.

I made the switch to the Living Water low G on my KSR-T, and I like them a lot. The low end tone is still rich and full, but I think the highs are clearer. Volume is still good. I like the tension better. So I'll be keeping these for a while, but I might try Uke Logic next. They're sounding great on another uke that had Aquilas, which sounded plasticy.

Cadia said:

I made the switch to the Living Water low G on my KSR-T, and I like them a lot. The low end tone is still rich and full, but I think the highs are clearer. Volume is still good. I like the tension better. So I'll be keeping these for a while, but I might try Uke Logic next. They're sounding great on another uke that had Aquilas, which sounded plasticy.

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The low G that come stock on Kanile'a sound fantastic and I can't imagine any improvement over that. I think they are made by GHS but in a special formula for Kanile'a. HMS may even have them as single strings.
https://www.kanileaukulele.com/shop/shop/accessories/accessories-strings/low-g-single/

merlin666 said:

The low G that come stock on Kanile'a sound fantastic and I can't imagine any improvement over that. I think they are made by GHS but in a special formula for Kanile'a. HMS may even have them as single strings.
https://www.kanileaukulele.com/shop/shop/accessories/accessories-strings/low-g-single/

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Mine had Ko'olou Mahanas on it, as the uke was purchased by someone else and pre-owned for a month. So I don't know how the stock strings were. The sound was good, though lacking in the highs, I think. I didn't like the feel of the two wound 3rd and 4th strings, and the higher overall tension.

Ed1 said:

The newer K1-Cs have a compensated saddle and I thought I'd might call Kanilea to see what they thought of changing saddles to help with the intonation problems (not severe, but not great either). Although some luthiers might cringe at the idea of making a saddle change like that with no other changes, I thought it might be fun to hear the difference and check intonation between the two.

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Out of curiosity, what kind of other changes there should be when making a saddle change?

There's a short story behind my Kanile'a. I purchased one before (not at SUS), and surprisingly it had so bad intonation problems that it went back. Maybe a new set of strings and a good period of time would have made a difference, but there wasn't time for that. So when I contacted SUS for this another Kanile'a and told my worries about the intonation, these changes were made. I can say that my OCD pretty much kicked in in that point, and I wondered why such a high end instrument should need so much adjusting? But it came out just fine and if it isn't in the future, meet the luthier we go. Recently I've found myself less and less worried about intonation and more and more just playing away. :music:

Loska said:

Out of curiosity, what kind of other changes there should be when making a saddle change?

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For me it was hearsay. When I mentioned this (intonation problems mostly) to a friend with more experience with luthiers and setup than I have, he said one has to look at everything. The idea was that if it is the neck that is the problem and one isn't going to remove it, then both saddle and nut will need some help, and if it's not possible to raise or lower a fret or three to help, then perhaps the bridge needs to be moved a little and re-glued.

All of this was and is more than I want or need to do. The K1-C is a very good uke that plays and sounds better than most. It was my first expensive ukulele and I agree that "just playing away" is the most important part.

Ed1 said:

For me it was hearsay. When I mentioned this (intonation problems mostly) to a friend with more experience with luthiers and setup than I have, he said one has to look at everything. The idea was that if it is the neck that is the problem and one isn't going to remove it, then both saddle and nut will need some help, and if it's not possible to raise or lower a fret or three to help, then perhaps the bridge needs to be moved a little and re-glued.

All of this was and is more than I want or need to do. The K1-C is a very good uke that plays and sounds better than most. It was my first expensive ukulele and I agree that "just playing away" is the most important part.

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Thank you for this! If problems should arrive, I'll surely take it to a luthier or send it back for repairs to SUS as they suggested. I have grown very fond of my Kanile'a.

Well, I'll try the Living waters soon. I'm by no means a skilled reviewer, but I'll try to report how I find the sound.

Loska said:

Well, I'll try the Living waters soon. I'm by no means a skilled reviewer, but I'll try to report how I find the sound.

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Please do. I'm very interested in how they sound especially compared to Martin 600s.

I've been testing the Aquila Sugars a bit more now and I like them quite a bit. They're actually surprisingly similar to clear fluorocarbon strings regarding the sound. They have nice projection and clarity but the bell like chime is not as overpowering as with Worth CMs for example. Of course they do squeak quite a bit but I'll just have to tolerate it until the new squeakless version is available in shops. I still want to test the Martin fluorocarbons and D'Addario Titaniums but I think I'll keep the Sugars on for a while at least.

So, I actually decided to continue testing different strings on the Kanile'a concert (because I have zero patience and also just love trying out different strings). Just for a laugh, I decided to try D'Addario black nylons since I had ordered a pack and knew I wouldn't use them for any other uke anyway. To my surprise, these are actually quite decent strings, and very surprisingly they seem brighter than the clear nylons which is just bizarre. Maybe it's because the gauges are smaller compared to the clear nylon, who knows. I've previously tried black nylons only on my KoAloha soprano and I hated them because they completely muffled the brightness of the KoAloha. With the Kanile'a, I think these are a much better choice since Kanile'as aren't that bright anyway, so the mellowness of the black nylons probably complements the typical Kanile'a sound much better. Compared to the clear nylons, these also don't lose volume and projection quite as much when played higher up the fretboard (again, probably because of the smaller gauge). Intonation is really good as well, and I like the feel of the strings as I did with the clear nylons. I'll of course have to test these for a couple more days as well but the black nylons show a surprising amount of promise.

I'll probably keep testing a few different types of strings still because I'm thinking of trying to string the K1 concert to low G as well. With that in mind, I would appreciate if anyone could recommend either single strings or string sets for concert scale low G. There's quite a few options for tenors but less so for concerts, so I'll take all the help I can get.

I assume that the Kanile'a low G is intended for Tenor though the description and picture don't make that clear. Probably best to call Kanile'a and ask them if it's suitable for concert. It should balance well with strings you like such as black nylons and Aquila.

Hi all. I recently got the uke logic soft tension with a wound low g. These strings are awesome. I originally complained about the worth CT strings along with my brand new kanile'a tenor being pretty quite, which I was surprised because the worth were really loud and bright with my Kamaka and my old Pono. I think it had to do with my Kanile'a being new and needed some breaking in. After about of month of playing the uke it has opened up and got louder and sweeter sounding. My wife even commented on my uke being loud.

I got the Uke logics on Tueday and I'm pretty impressed with them. The strings are thinner then my worth CT but they are a little brighter and more resonant. The notes isolate really well and the E and A string (more so with the A string) have a bell-like tone. They balance really well with the wound g. Joel did a great job putting these strings together.

The combination of these strings and my new Kanile'a are great. I think it works very well with fingerstyle.

deznuchs said:

Hi all. I recently got the uke logic soft tension with a wound low g. These strings are awesome. I originally complained about the worth CT strings along with my brand new kanile'a tenor being pretty quite, which I was surprised because the worth were really loud and bright with my Kamaka and my old Pono. I think it had to do with my Kanile'a being new and needed some breaking in. After about of month of playing the uke it has opened up and got louder and sweeter sounding. My wife even commented on my uke being loud.

I got the Uke logics on Tueday and I'm pretty impressed with them. The strings are thinner then my worth CT but they are a little brighter and more resonant. The notes isolate really well and the E and A string (more so with the A string) have a bell-like tone. They balance really well with the wound g. Joel did a great job putting these strings together.

The combination of these strings and my new Kanile'a are great. I think it works very well with fingerstyle.

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I like these strings a lot too! Both the sound and the feel.