PhD Low G String Set is crazy good on Kamaka Soprano!

AustinHing

Well-known member
Joined
Dec 18, 2018
Messages
589
Reaction score
7
I just wanna share my experience on PhD ukulele creations Low G string set which is amazingly amazing!

So I had my Kamaka soprano HF-1 with the stock strings ever since I got it. While I love my sweet sounding black strings, it was getting a little stale for me. After reading some positive feedbacks on PhD, I decided my next string set is a soprano/concert low G set from PhD.

Once I had them on, the kamaka simply transformed into something else! The voice... turned into a matured, rich and full bodied tone. Previously she sang like a young child, sweet sweet voice with limited sustain. Now she sings like a seasoned pro singer with lots of depth and controlled complexity to her voice. I won’t say it’s a in your face kind of loud but it’s projecting enough volume to stand out in a room of ukes. And the sustain for individual open note is hitting almost to a full 4 seconds!

The texture and feel is more alike to a thinner nylon and softer to touch. Although it is in fact fluorocarbon, it doesn’t sound like a fluorocarbon at all which tends to be thinner and brighter. It’s more like nylon but not quite so... kind of in between the two.

I seems to be full of it but take my words and just go and try it out for the heck of it! You won’t be disappointed.
 
Last edited:
Yup I have had excellent experience with them as well. They are closer to Living water and luthier strings in terms of profile than worths. They are warm. I have a suspicion that they don’t last as long though.
 
Yup I have had excellent experience with them as well. They are closer to Living water and luthier strings in terms of profile than worths. They are warm. I have a suspicion that they don’t last as long though.

You are spot on! Definitely not worths type of voice. It is much warmer and now my songs (finger picking) eludes a certain classy vibe to it.

Thanks so much for sharing your positive feedback Austin, l have some on order and can’t wait to try them :D

I’m so glad you bought some PhD strings, Penny! I’m sure you will find them inspiring and keep going songs after songs as I have. In fact I’m getting more of them, both high (untested) and low version, and in tenor scale too. Please share your experience on them if that’s okay.
 
For those who are interested, here’s a pic of the string package that I bought.
 

Attachments

  • C53CDC03-F616-46FB-8E3B-51E1FF2224E9.jpg
    C53CDC03-F616-46FB-8E3B-51E1FF2224E9.jpg
    17.7 KB · Views: 33
First there was gut. Then there was nylon. Then there is fluorocarbon. Now there is PVDF.
PVDF has a higher density than fluorocarbon, which means that there is more mass in the PVDF string if it has the same diameter as fluorocarbon. More mass makes it vibrate in a way that makes a nicer noise. So the move to PVDF is similar to the move from nylon to fluorocarbon.
The type of PVDF used in PHD strings has apparently been invented by Dr Jason Arimoto.
Rovex and maybe others are selling fluorocarbon PVDF fishing line in Australia. If I pick the right diameters I can buy four 20m rolls of Rovex Leader for about $30 - $120 in Australia. A set of Worths costs around $30 in Australia. A set of PHD strings will cost around $20 delivered to Australia, probably around $30 if sold by an Australian shop. For the cost of four sets I can pick up 4x20m of PVDF string material. As I usually try to buy in bulk, the pricing is making it economical to just buy the PVDF in fishing line format.
If I lived in LA, I would be buying the PHD strings direct from the shop to get the benefits of higher density strings. Living in Australia I will be looking at the fishing line.

I find myself confused by PVDF because it appears to be Fluorocarbon, line made from it is readily available and described as Fluorocarbon. Are there other forms of Fluorocarbon (material and line) and if so how are they separately identified?
 
Last edited:
Always learnt something from UU. Thanks Bill!

I bought only 1 high g soprano/ concert set yesterday and now in a dilemma to put them on which uke. Should have bought more!
 
I have a pack of high G and a pack of low G purchased when I was in San Diego a year ago. I have not used them.
Glad to see that you like them. Now I am itching to have it strung on my concert uke ! Thank you.

Well, no harm trying! I, in fact had my PhD string set for some time but didn’t string them on because i really like how my kamaka sings with the stock black strings. Now I’m glad that I did swap them out.
 
Yup I have had excellent experience with them as well. They are closer to Living water and luthier strings in terms of profile than worths. They are warm. I have a suspicion that they don’t last as long though.

They are now 10 months and going on mine. I don't know how long Worths last, but they get played for hours and are still going strong.
 
First there was gut. Then there was nylon. Then there is fluorocarbon. Now there is PVDF.
PVDF has a higher density than fluorocarbon, which means that there is more mass in the PVDF string if it has the same diameter as fluorocarbon. More mass makes it vibrate in a way that makes a nicer noise. So the move to PVDF is similar to the move from nylon to fluorocarbon.
The type of PVDF used in PHD strings has apparently been invented by Dr Jason Arimoto.
Rovex and maybe others are selling fluorocarbon PVDF fishing line in Australia. If I pick the right diameters I can buy four 20m rolls of Rovex Leader for about $30 - $120 in Australia. A set of Worths costs around $30 in Australia. A set of PHD strings will cost around $20 delivered to Australia, probably around $30 if sold by an Australian shop. For the cost of four sets I can pick up 4x20m of PVDF string material. As I usually try to buy in bulk, the pricing is making it economical to just buy the PVDF in fishing line format.
If I lived in LA, I would be buying the PHD strings direct from the shop to get the benefits of higher density strings. Living in Australia I will be looking at the fishing line.

They are $10 plus tax here in Los Angeles. If you want, I can message you next time I am in his shop and get you some and mail to you.
 
Just an update on the high g set that I said I was going to try it out.

I tried it on my Martin S1 and it isn’t as what as I expected. The PHD was good but I immediately missed that Martin M600 sound. There was more mids and lows with the PHD. I guess maybe the S1, which has mahogany body is more suited to a thinner and less dense fluorocarbon? I have since quickly put the M600 back on the S1.

I guess there’s really no 1 string set for all ukes and it also really boils down to personal taste and liking.
 
Another update on the PhD high G set just not to leave it hanging. So it ended up on my koa concert (Martin C1K) but without the G string. I kept the existing wound low g string (Kamaka’s) and replaced the kamaka black strings (CEA) with the PhD.

It does sound pretty good for a Frankenstein set. I quite like it and will keep it on for a while. The only reason why I didn’t use the PhD high G string is that this uke is my low g concert.

Also I went back to play my kamaka soprano with the low g PhD immediately after playing with this for a quick comparison. I’m still very blown away by PhD low g on kamaka. I would say it doesn’t sound like a uke anymore. More like a classical guitar than a uke. And I like that a lot. So if you really really like the original uke sound, this PhD low g may not be suitable.
 
I just wanna share my experience on PhD ukulele creations Low G string set which is amazingly amazing!

So I had my Kamaka soprano HF-1 with the stock strings ever since I got it. While I love my sweet sounding black strings, it was getting a little stale for me. After reading some positive feedbacks on PhD, I decided my next string set is a soprano/concert low G set from PhD.

Once I had them on, the kamaka simply transformed into something else! The voice... turned into a matured, rich and full bodied tone. Previously she sang like a young child, sweet sweet voice with limited sustain. Now she sings like a seasoned pro singer with lots of depth and controlled complexity to her voice. I won’t say it’s a in your face kind of loud but it’s projecting enough volume to stand out in a room of ukes. And the sustain for individual open note is hitting almost to a full 4 seconds!

The texture and feel is more alike to a thinner nylon and softer to touch. Although it is in fact fluorocarbon, it doesn’t sound like a fluorocarbon at all which tends to be thinner and brighter. It’s more like nylon but not quite so... kind of in between the two.

I seems to be full of it but take my words and just go and try it out for the heck of it! You won’t be disappointed.

I have an Alvarez RU-16T tenor that had Aquila strings on it. It sounded ok, but had almost no sustain and slides and hammer-ons were dull. I put the PhD low G on and it's like a different instrument. The low G sounds great, the higher strings have a more bell-like ring and the sustain lasts and lasts.

I'm super pleased with these strings on the Alzarez!
 
Top Bottom