Warm, Full Soprano

Kibes37

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At the current time, what are opinions on options for strings that add warmth and body to a Soprano? A friend of mine has a new Kiwaya KTS-4. Amazing little guy. She currently has living water strings strung up and the Uke is a week old. She is complaining they sound too flat and bright. I told her give it time.

I wouldn’t mind current suggestions, though.

Thanks.
 
I would suggest your friend try as many different types of strings as she can. The investment for that isn't as big as the uke itself and could make a world of difference.
Based on what you said, I'd suggest she start with nylon, perhaps La Bella #200 (If you cut them in half you even get two sets out of the one pack and they are very inexpensive for strings to begin with). D'Addario Nyltech would be on my list too.
I'd also try various Aquila strings...Give each some time before going to the next to let them settle.
 
Just a couple of general observations:
# I would say that whilst Strings need time and retuning to settle they also need quite some time to give of their true tone(s).
# Strings that bring out the best of one Uke do not always sound good on another. I fit Martin M600’s to most Ukes and have been very pleased with the results, but I’ve also fitted them to a couple and ended up with something that doesn’t suit my tastes at all, too bright and too in y’er face for me. Aquila’s aren’t my first choice but sometimes they’re a better choice than the Martins; I quite like Nylon too, but they can be on the quiet side for my use in a Uke Club setting.

I need to get my head around it more but different makes and models of Uke often have different underlying sounds, and so expecting the same cumulative sound from them when fitted with the same strings is a flawed expectation. LW strings have a wonderful reputation, but don’t neglect how strings interact with the Uke’s own characteristics.
 
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I would recommend trying Worth Browns as the next step and if those are still too bright then try something nylon.
 
I also would suggest giving it time. At least a month of regular playing before trying anything else. The above suggestions are all valid. If the Living Water strings prove not to suit this uke, I personally would try some Worth Brown mediums - and then give those time to settle also. It really is a matter of finding thestrings that the uke prefers.

John Colter
 
I put Martin M600 strings on my KTS-4 ,made a big difference in me liking the uke.
 
I agree with the idea of worth browns. The new Martin premium strings are nice. Some say brighter, some say warmer, so best to see what works for that person on that instrument.

It can be very personal. I have heard clips with various strings that sound great and when I tried the same strings on certain instruments I did not like them at all.
 
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Worth browns are lower tension fluorocarbon and Martin 600s are higher tension fluorocarbon.
I suggest you friend first gets used to playing the one week old uke, then worries about the strings.
While getting used to the uke try a few things out to learn about the uke.
Tune it down to B or Bb for a session to check out how lower tension strings might work.
Tune it to C# for a session to see how some higher tension works.
Run along the C string at frets 3 5 7 10 12 with a tuner attached and see how varying fretting pressure sounds and intones.
Try some picks of various materials and see how they sound.
Think about the idea that a uke can have more than one sound depending on how you play it. If is loud, then the player has a range from soft to loud to play with. If its brash, the player has a range of brash to soft to play with. A player does not always have to sound exactly the same. If the string height is higher (not too high), you have a range of fretting pressures to play with. The person owns the uke, the uke does not own the person. You do not need to be changing strings every day to get different sounds out of the uke.

As is often the case Bill comes out with some great details again and reminds us too of things we sort of knew - or even just suspected - and then had forgotten about. Thinking of the nature of the instrument I had a standard Bruko for a short while and even though it was fitted with Worth Browns it was still too bright for my tastes at that time. I didn’t try Nylon on it but have often wondered whether that material (often described as mellower) was what that Uke was built to use. However, that’s a separate discussion as is ‘should a Soprano have a bright and cutting sound’ ? - personally I like Sopranos and want them to be melodic rather than being bright and cutting. Sometimes the Uke’s characteristics dominate over the strings and sometimes the other way around, sometimes (and I find this hard to achieve) the playing style makes a difference too; it’s a mix of many things and the only way I know to try to manage the outcome is to experiment in a sort of semi-informed way.

As an aside I wonder how tuning down might workout for me in practice in a group session. Perhaps it would be OK to tune down to Bb tuning and then play every chord one whole pitch higher (D shape chord fingering to achieve a C chord, G7 fingering for an F7 , etc). You’d need to remember that there’s only a semi tome between E and F, and B and C; wonder what the F# and C# chord shapes are ... (only joking :D, to sharpen you basically ‘just’ push your hand one further fret towards the bridge).

Booli, who doesn’t seem to have been on UU for ages, did some excellent threads on strings.
 
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Unless she wants to spend a lot of time and money dealing with strings, I would recommend looking online. It will take less time to read or watch these articles than it will to wait for strings to arrive and then install them. And all these links are free!

https://consordini.com/best-ukulele-strings/
https://www.ukulelemusicinfo.com/best-ukuleles-strings/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xsxmo63MW4E
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pbfSnoNHLUg
https://ukuguides.com/beginner/buying-the-right-ukulele-strings/
https://musiccritic.com/equipment/guitars/best-ukulele-strings/
 
She knows it’s too early to tell with the strings, but it’s her first soprano and I think she is worried overall it will always sound bright and flat. I came to the worth strings conclusion from old threads, but just seeing if anything new popped up. Thank you all for your time.
 
Have you played it for her so she can listen to it? Sometimes an instrument sounds so different playing it that our perspective can be odd. Sometimes hearing from the other side can help us adjust our ears a little.
 
Yes, I’ve played it for her. She might just be too much of a tenor fan. I let her know I’ll happily give it a home if she doesn’t want it ;)
 
Yes, I’ve played it for her. She might just be too much of a tenor fan. I let her know I’ll happily give it a home if she doesn’t want it ;)

Yes, those are terrific instruments! I had one years back that I have always regretted selling
 
I second trying the Martin "Premium" Polygut strings.

To me they sound excellent on solid mahogany sopranos.
 
Fremont Black Lines are nice. lower tension. Warm sound. Easy to play. You should be able to get two sets out of the Soprano/concert size strings.
 
Yes, I’ve played it for her. She might just be too much of a tenor fan. I let her know I’ll happily give it a home if she doesn’t want it ;)

If I recall correctly those KTS-4s really get very close to the old martin sound. I love the old martin sound but I wonder if she would like a different type of soprano.
 
Yes, I’ve played it for her. She might just be too much of a tenor fan. I let her know I’ll happily give it a home if she doesn’t want it ;)

Maybe throw a Low G on there? (I know. Low g on a soprano?)
 
It might be some time back but Ken Middleton did a review of this Uke. His take on things was that the stock strings weren’t ideal and that Aquila’s weren’t right for this Martin copy either. He commented favourably on the Worth Strings that he had (previously) fitted but in the video he didn’t say which variant of them he had used. The written comments weren’t clear but, from my reading of the comments, I suspect that BM’s were used.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=BN1DgGqgA_A
 
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She’s not keeping it. She doesn’t like the size. I will probably buy it if she gives me a deal and keep Living Waters on. Worth’s will be on deck. Thanks for all the input. I appreciated all suggestions.
 
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