Aquila Sugar strings? And now testing better version... what to do?

I installed the strings a week ago and played 4/5 hours a day. The uke is a Kiwaya koa soprano, so I will compare it with the previous strings, Worth BM, which will give some landmarks... The first day, the squeak was very present, the sound not so bad and the instrument playable. It improved from the second day, the strings were already more stable and the sound more percussive and bright. The most notable of these strings is the balance of tensions and sound between them, which makes them pleasant to play without having to adapt the finger feeling, the projection is less than the Worth BM but very good, excellent sustain, no intonation problem and a mellow sound closer to fluorocarbon than nylon, only the squeak remains if I play fingerpicking with a slow attack, a friction problem, so... I like them a lot despite the squeak and I'm waiting to see how it moves in the next few weeks, but it's a very good result and a good alternative for those looking for a sound between nylon and fluorocarbon. I also appreciate Mimmo's approach to allow this study in vivo, it's not every day that we find string prototypes in his mailbox...! I will give some more information within a week, I think it's very promising, and I really like this coherence between sound and tension....

I have played the new sets for a week. I have posted a thread with videos.
https://forum.ukuleleunderground.com/showthread.php?138113-Aquila-Sugar-String-Testing&p=2134913#post2134913
My opinion is that the new sugar is definitely superior in sound quality over the old ones. It gives more volume control, depth and tonal color than the old ones. It performs closer to Fluorocarbon strings than to nylon.
It is definitely my favorite in terms of sound. The squeaking is still an issue. Even though it improves after a few days, I can still hear some occasional squeaks while finger picking.
Thank you Mimmo for including me in the testing process.

I have had them on for a week now. I liked the old sugars but I find these even better. I have them on my mainland mahogany tenor. They settle in nicely after a few days. The squeak is still there but it starts fading after a day or 2. Now it is still present if I finger pick, but since I dont finger pick much it is not really a problem for me. I find them to be very clear and responsive. They project well with good sustain. I really like their sound a lot.

Thank you very much for the very good feedbacks guys!
So the only open problem is the squeack. We know that, after a while, it disappear in most of cases.
Maybe there is a definitive solution.
Put 5 spoons of penaut oil in 1 liter of water in a pot, make the solution very warm and put the strings for 15 minutes.
Then clean them
Somebody have time to give a try? Same with the standard Sugar set strings
I have tryed. It seem to work. Of course, if the feedback are positive, we will introduce in in the standard process
Mimmo

mimmo said:

Thank you very much for the very good feedbacks guys!
So the only open problem is the squeack. We know that, after a while, it disappear in most of cases.
Maybe there is a definitive solution.
Put 5 spoons of penaut oil in 1 liter of water in a pot, make the solution very warm and put the strings for 15 minutes.
Then clean them
Somebody have time to give a try? Same with the standard Sugar set strings
I have tryed. It seem to work. Of course, if the feedback are positive, we will introduce in in the standard process
Mimmo

Click to expand...

I am confused, the oil should flow on top of water... is the goal to submerge in hot water? Not sure how peanut oil plays a role? While lifting it out of the water the oil will form a layer? Maybe just rub with warm oil?

I have no further explanations on the rule of this particular oil. sorry.
I indicated what this guy told me. In practice you put the oil in water and then make it warm (90 degree celsyus or so on) Then put the strings in circular profile inside the solution for 15 minutes. Then clean them by a soft paper and install on the uke. Do nor rub the strings with warm oil.

Then comes the question: what effect, if any, will the soaking have on the sound/tone of the strings?

Oh, the things we do in the pursuit of good tone!

I am going to give it a try. The squeak is less now then at initial stringing but has not gone away.

the proces do not affect the sound at all. it work on thge squeack only (actually the player told me that the sound is even a bit better but.. i do not buy it..)

OK here's my report.

I put them on a tenor, but traded ukes with another user, who has since reported his experiences.

I mostly strum on the soprano I put them on and they're great for that. It sounds good, it's loud, intonates well, and I like they way they feel. I had Reds on it, and I like the Sugar strings better.

I mostly finger pick the concert I put them on, and I am not as happy with them for that instrument. They still squeak a lot and I've been playing it most days for about an hour. They feel thicker than the strings I'm used to using and they seem to have more tension. Those aspects are just personal preference, and I haven't decided what my preference is for that uke yet. Curiously, they sound great on the A and C strings, but not so great on the E. It could easily be my uke and not the strings, just telling you what I hear. I have a low G string on that one, so I can't comment on the G.

They did settle in quickly on all the instruments. I changed another concert to fluorocarbons the same day as I changed to the Sugar strings, and the Sugars were much faster at holding a pitch.

Overall, I think they sound great strummed, but I don't think, at this time, I'd get them for a uke I use mostly for fingerstyle.

Thank you for letting me test them, it was fun and interesting, and I look forward to their next iteration. Thank you for giving us so many great options for ukulele strings.

My turn to report in.

I was lucky enough to get two sets of concert sized "new sugar" strings from Mimmo (thank you so much, by the way!) I have several concert sized ukes to try out so I wanted to choose carefully. I had just put the "old" sugar strings on my spruce top KoAloha Opio before the new ones arrived, so I decided to leave those on for a bit but put the new ones on a different instrument. I decided to put the Sugar 2.0 on my Ohana CK-35, a mid-range solid mahogany instrument. After some time to compare how those behave, I will flip the configuration; put a new set of sugar 1.0 on the Ohana and the other new set of 2.0 on the Spruce Opio. They have been in the original configuation (Opio old, Ohana new) for just shy of two weeks, so I thought I would give my impressions before I swap.

The sugar 1.0 sound great on the KoAloha spruce top. They are bright and clear (as you might expect!) but it is possible that this is just a little too bright. The spruce top was bright to begin with, after all... But the balance and sustain is great. The squeak was pretty bad for the first few days, but after the initial break in, I can ignore it most of the time. (Yes, I know that I can use the lotion trick, but...) The transformation from stock KoAloha strings to the sugar 1.0 was certainly noticeable, but not incredibly drastic. The Opio was a great sounding instrument before I started, after all!

The sugar 2.0 on the Ohana CK-35 was a different story, however. The change is incredible! I have tried a *lot* of strings on that instrument and I can say that I have never heard it sound this good. The balance is astonishing. It easily sounds like an instrument that cost twice as much (in my opinion.) The strings settled in incredibly fast and they look and feel amazing. Balance, clarity, and sustain are all great. For strumming, I have zero complaints. As you might have guessed, finger picked the squeak is an ever present headache. It has diminished, but is still there, and still maddening.

I will be switching the configuration soon and will report back after I have had a bit of time with both instruments.

Thank you again, Mimmo for the opportunity to try out the new version and thanks for all your hard work making new strings!

Cluze said:

My turn to report in.

The sugar 1.0 sound great on the KoAloha spruce top. They are bright and clear (as you might expect!) but it is possible that this is just a little too bright. The spruce top was bright to begin with, after all... But the balance and sustain is great. The squeak was pretty bad for the first few days, but after the initial break in, I can ignore it most of the time. (Yes, I know that I can use the lotion trick, but...) The transformation from stock KoAloha strings to the sugar 1.0 was certainly noticeable, but not incredibly drastic. The Opio was a great sounding instrument before I started, after all!

I will be switching the configuration soon and will report back after I have had a bit of time with both instruments.

Click to expand...

Ok, new plan.

After an afternoon of noodling, I have decided that the sugar strings (either version) are just too bright for the spruce top Opio. I switched out the sugar 1.0 for a set of Worth Brown medium tension and I am much happier with the pairing. As such, I have one set of the sugar 2.0 to put on another instrument. I am tempted to either put them on my Blackbird Clara or my Kala Ziricote. These are kind of two far ends of the spectrum, from ekoa to laminate, so I was wondering if anyone here has any thoughts about which way to go.

Which one do you think would benefit more from a bit more resonance or "brightness"? Maybe the laminate?

I'll second Cluze's comments about Ohanas and sugars. On my Ohana SK-35, I swapped out a set of Seaguar fishing line strings with the original series sugars.

The fluorocarbon strings were fine. No complaints. But they'd been on for some time. The sugars indeed are a revelation. The instrument not only sounds brighter, but has more balance and depth.

OTOH, I have a set of sugars on another Ohana, a cedar-topped concert, and they're too bright. It's almost as if it were plugged in and I had the gain settings too high. So yes, they're not for every instrument, but when they're right, they're spectacular.

I got a new cedar top ukulele around Christmas time and I liked how loud it was and how much sustain it had, but it sounded tinny to me and did not go with a lot of the songs that I sing. It came with Aquila Nylguts and I have always liked them. I was reading this thread and I had a set of Sugars here. I'm not sure where they came from, but I know that I had them laying around for a while. So Thursday I put them on my new uke. And I always wipe some mineral oil on the fretboard when I change strings, and I did that. So then I played the uke after I put them on and they sounded pretty good. A lot less tinny. But then Friday I went down and played it and I got the squeak squeak going on. Not a lot, but a little. So the rag that I used to wipe the mineral oil on the fretboard was laying there and I got to thinking that there was probably mineral oil on my fingers when I installed them on Thursday, so I just gave the strings a good wiping down with the rag. No more squeaking, and I actually like the feel better. I don't know how long it will last and if I will have to wipe them down again, but four days and everything is still good. All settled in and not a hint of squeak. I'll let you know if that changes.

I attempted to try using a little synthetic cork grease and rub up and down each string, wiping off any residue from the strings and my fingers, so that there would only be a super thin film and no greasy feeling. For a day or so it was good, but the squeak did return.

I'm about 15 days into testing on my Lanikai Mahogany Soprano (laminate). Here are my observations so far:

* These new sugar strings are a beautifully crystal clear, where the 1.0 Sugar strings have a very slight cloudiness
* The strings stabilized quickly—enough to hold a tune through a song. After two weeks, I still wouldn’t say they’ve settled yet—holding their tuning from one day to the next with little to no adjustments
* I can hear the sound I expected from the Sugar strings within minutes. In contrast, it took about a week for the 1.0 Sugar strings to really sound excellent.
* Of all the strings I’ve tried on my Soprano, these make my Lanikai Mahogany laminate really sing—I have not found a better sound on this uke. Bright and warm with great sustain without being tinny.
* I have purposefully not tried any hand lotion or oil to reduce the squeakiness, I wanted to compare them with the Sugar 1.0 strings I put on my Tenor 7 days before. I don’t get the squeakiness for either one on my left hand, but its very noticeable on both when I’m fingerpicking with my right hand even after 22 days (1.0 on Tenor) and 15 days (2.0 on Soprano) respectively. I’ll report back when it’s gone away. That said, I've been interested in this thread's discussion about squeak reducing options.

Just to update- between yesterday and today I have been playing the sugar strings a fair amount. Pitch has been great and the strings have been really stable. I have been able to pick it up and play without touching the tuning pegs almost at all. The sound has been as full, resonant and loud as it was within the first day or two. Most importantly, I have had zero squeak!

Good to know, but that's a long wait. I hope Mimmo gets it figured out, they are great.

EDW said:

Just to update- between yesterday and today I have been playing the sugar strings a fair amount. Pitch has been great and the strings have been really stable. I have been able to pick it up and play without touching the tuning pegs almost at all. The sound has been as full, resonant and loud as it was within the first day or two. Most importantly, I have had zero squeak!

Click to expand...

Update-
The strings are very stable, the sound is excellent, clear and warm, only slight erosion under the frets after one month despite my four five hours of daily practice. The squeak is sometimes present depending on the relative humidity, is it the skin or the strings...? This problem solved, they will have a great success, the balance of sound and equal tension of the strings are their first quality, but they are full of qualities, I impatiently await the final version.... Thanks again to Mimmo and his team for this test, it will wake up the ukes...!