In defence of Aquila Nylgut!

MikeHollandGuitar

Well-known member
Joined
Aug 7, 2017
Messages
551
Reaction score
11
Just thought I would send a nod to Aquila for their Nylgut strings. Everybody has their own personal preferences for strings and these forums are a way of discussing, giving personal reviews, recommendations and likes/dislikes for strings that they use.
What I have noticed is that there are a lot of players who much prefer other brands and types. The most favoured seems to be fluorocarbon types! This is fine but a lot of players are quite vocal in their dislike for Aquila Nylgut strings.
I have tried a couple of sets of fluorocarbon strings by a couple of well known manufactures and find that they are very nice to play. Easy under the fingers and are very light to the touch. However I much prefer the feel of the Nylgut strings. They are more robust under the fingers. I can feel some resistance when I press the strings which I find reassuring. But it is the tone of the strings that I really like. You can sort of push the string to find different sweet spots on the string. Playing vibrato technique is a real strong point with the string. You can bend and tease the note to achieve different colours and I always feel I am in control of the string. They are not too light as to feel insecure! Great for strumming again for the same reason that I can feel a little resistance in the string to play against. I have heard that the Nylguts colour the sound a little and this maybe the case. If it does it is in my opinion not unpleasant!
I use the Nylguts on a couple of Tenor Ukuleles......An all mahogany Ohana and a koa Kanile'a.
I am not criticizing anybody's string choice here. What other people choose obviously works for them. I am just giving Aquila the thumbs up from my perspective.
I will try different strings from time to time and maybe at some stage I will find another brand or type that I prefer. Until that time occurs I am very happy with Aquila Nylgut!
Mike
 
I like the Nylguts as well, and mostly use them on my tenors. Love the bright tone! I recently purchased a set of Worth Browns and are looking forward to checking them out as well.
 
Yeah, that's cool. Saves more FCs for the rest of us. :D
 
When I first got into ukuleles Aquila Nylguts were the wonder strings. Any ukulele you got, you changed the strings to Nylguts or else. Any ukulele worth playing came with them.
 
Aquila Nylguts are my preferred stings although I guess I should say that I play Tenors or Baritones.

TO my ear Nylguts have a more complex sound. Flurocarbons sound sweet but simple to my ears.
 
I’ve never bought any strings other than Aquilas. I have used a few others that came on new ukes though. I like the Aquilas just fine except that they make too many fretting and picking errors. I even use ‘em on one of my banjos.

When I finally learn and improve enough, maybe I’ll try some of those others. :eek:ld:
 
Whenever I want to strum along to old music that swings I break out my 'hog soprano Martin clone, strung up with Nylguts. There is something about the nylon sound that screams classic flavor to me.
 
Thanks for those thoughts, Mike! I think I'll grab a set of Nylguts and try them out on my little Ohana SK-22 !
 

Thanks for that lead, I found it very helpful. As I recall he does another Video of other string types too.

I’ve mixed experience of the Nyglut Aquila’s but do still use them. Looking back on the forum they were recommended for Dolphins and I have one of those as a beater. Using that Dolphin down at the Uke Club I couldn’t hear myself that well over the players around me so I fitted some standard Blacklines, to my ears the Blacklines were louder and at least as nice to hear. George Elmes has done a video of loads of different strings, IIRC he started with Aquila played professionally with some others and has returned to Aquila, so there might be a guide there. George will have his own particular logic which might, or might not, be good for us too.

Personally I think of Aquilas as really useful rather than the best, something reliable to fit and at a reasonable cost whilst hoping to find an even better string for some particular Uke - YMMV.
 
Last edited:
There's another really good video of Kalei playing one Pono tenor with a load of different string sets:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xsxmo63MW4E

If I sit and listen closely (without watching) I can pick out some of the string set changes. Some. I think feel and response is a huge part of strings, probably more so than sound. I like the feel of nylon strings because they're generally higher gauge and you can dig into them a bit more. Flourocarbons do seem to have better sustain in the higher positions (for me, anyway) which I prefer. Have a mixture of strings on my ukes, including one uke I buy single strings for to get the feel and response I'm looking for. Aquila are on some of my ukes.
 
Definitely YMMV with strings. Just as different tone woods have different qualities, matching strings with ukes can make a world of difference. My Firefly came with Super Nylguts, and I can't imagine it sounding right with any other string. I use FCs on almost everything else. I prefer the brighter sound, even though you can lose some depth.

Exceptions: The Aquila Sugars are on my cedar-topped Ohana (the primary uke I take to jams), and it adds clarity and punch to a uke that's already pretty loud. I also put the Aquila/Martin carbon strings on my beater Makala, and it has a cleaner and richer sound than some much more expensive instruments I've owned.

Yep, different strokes.
 
I think Aquilas are good strings and I appreciate all the work Mimmo does in developing new products.

Sometimes it seems to me that with Aquilas I hear more of the string in the sound, while with fluorocarbons I hear more of the wood. (not sure any better way to articulate that or if it makes any sense)
 
I think Aquilas are good strings and I appreciate all the work Mimmo does in developing new products.

I like Aquilas, every time I play my wife's Kala cedar top I say these sound great.
I still prefer FC, but my tastes are still green and my ear has improved of the year or so that I have been playing ukulele.
Ask me again in a couple years.
 
One of my tenors always sounds comparatively "thin" with fluorocarbon on the 2nd course, which I tune to D, so I'll have to see if Nylgut may work as an alternative there. I'm quite used to mixing strings (not only because I tune in fifths, but because we picky violists don't usually like to use whole sets of the same type of string).

bratsche
 
Nylguts are my string of choice as well. I've tried flourocarbons but never really liked them on the instruments I have.
 
This is just my experience.

To me the 'Aquila New Nylgut' -strings sound to me with having more open string volume than say Martin M600 fluorocarbon strings.

I like Martin strings more because they have more sustain on the fretted notes and give better intonation.
 
Hendulele said:- "The Aquila Sugars are on my cedar-topped Ohana (the primary uke I take to jams), and it adds clarity and punch to a uke that's already pretty loud."

Reading this, I realised that my own Ohana SK50MG (cedar top) still wears the original Nylguts that were fitted when it was new - ten years ago! They still sound good, but it's time for a change.

I've ordered some Aquila Sugars for it and will report back, once they are fitted and settled in.

John Colter
 
I think Aquilas are good strings and I appreciate all the work Mimmo does in developing new products. ...

Agree. Except for one, they are on all my ukes and banjo-ukes. When the original strings on the exception need replacing, it too will get Aquilas. There are a lot of good brands and to each his/her own. I go with what has always worked well.
 
Top Bottom