New strings on a Waterman, lipstick on a pig?

Back in February I started learning to play on a Kala Waterman soprano (plastic). About a month later I bought a Kala baritone, solid cedar top. Last week I bought a Ohana tenor, all Mahogany TK 35. I really like the two new ones, and they make the Waterman sound like a toy. Kind of tinny and, well, plastic.

Do you think that changing the strings on the Waterman will make it sound better, or am I wasting my time? I’m not looking for our a dramatic difference, just maybe a little warmer.

If you think it’s worth it, any recommendations on which strings? According to the Kala website it currently has Aquila Super Nylgut.

Take the waterman for what it is - a fun uke for the beach and other places where you don't want to take the wooden ones. The ones I saw were cheap so a new set of string in relation to value of uke is relatively high. If you don't care about money sure go ahead and tell us results. I would not buy new strings for this uke but try to recycle used strings from other ukes and see if it makes a difference.

You're wasting your time. If you want a plastic-based option, start throwing a couple of dollars a week in a jar and buy an Outdoor Soprano when it's all over. It will play better (much, much better), sound better (though still sounding like a polycarbonate), and be just as rugged or more so than the waterman.

I'm really down (negative) on the Waterman soprano, mainly because of the playability of the instrument rather than the sound. I reviewed the Color Chord model Kala sells, which is just the matte black model with some extra string marks on them. Kala brought this model out more than 5 years ago. They have more than made their initial investment back on the ukulele, and the build is flawed from the perspective of a player, and non-adjustable. They need to remake the mold and get it right--there's no reason not to.

Then we could just complain about the plastic sound (inevitable) but wouldn't have to complain about the playability.

I purchased a Ukadelic USA Waterman for $28 and immediately put a $5 set of D'Addario Titaniums on it (both from Walmart.com, and I bought the Color Chord one at the same time for the same price). So, yes, relative to the initial purchase the strings were costly. but, it sounds better than the original strings sounded. I found it needs played with a very light touch.

I have been keeping it at work and it is a great stress reliever to me for under $50. I brought in my Rob MacKillop Easy Fingerstyle Studies book and I am a happy worker bee.

fyi - the Enya Nova plastic ukulele now comes in a soprano version for US$60. Better sound and better playability than the Waterman. Maybe not as good as the Outdoor, but much cheaper. https://www.enya-music.com/collections/ukulele/products/nova-u-soprano-black

Thanks for all your input. Sounds like I should stay with the strings I have for now.

Choirguy said:

I'm really down (negative) on the Waterman soprano, mainly because of the playability of the instrument rather than the sound. I reviewed the Color Chord model Kala sells, which is just the matte black model with some extra string marks on them. Kala brought this model out more than 5 years ago. They have more than made their initial investment back on the ukulele, and the build is flawed from the perspective of a player, and non-adjustable. They need to remake the mold and get it right--there's no reason not to.

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I don't know when your review was, but I went through a few Watermans before I found one I liked. I noticed the one I ended up with had some very slight cosmetic differences compared to the others, and I think maybe Kala did change them a bit. That said, I was just looking for something to keep in the car, and my standards were really low. But if I'm not just imagining a change, it seemed like it went from bad intonation to something I could live with.