The jargon used to describe strings on Aquila website

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Hello.

I searched for these terms (both on Google in general, and here in this forum) and could not find them. Aquila gives 4 characteristics for their strings and I understand "sustain" and "brightness", but I do not understand these two:

  • promt
  • singability

I'm new to ukulele and have always used D'addario strings in the past (other instruments) but was exploring. I am familiar with D'addario jargon for the instruments I play, but ukulele world uses new terms. Thank you for your time.
 
Aquila is an Italian company and English is his second language (or third?). Translating a word or concept from one language to another is fraught with issues.
I believe that "prompt" would be what we call "attack" or "punch", referring to the initial loudness on plucking a string.
Sing-ability I'm not sure about myself. Initially I would have guessed "sustain" yet that's already a characteristic. Maybe its a reference to how strong the fundamental frequency that the string produces is. Part of the Nylgut sound is that the fundamental tones aren't as strong as other strings yet they produce lots of overtones. Fluorocarbon strings in comparison are strong on the fundamental tone buy weak on the overtones.
 
I also used d'addario strings on guitars for many years and found the transition to Aquila for ukes very smooth. Actually, Aquila manufactures the D'Addario nyltech strings.
 
hello guys, something we italian make a lot of mistakes with traduction.

So I try to explain:

promt: it is that there is a very fast and quick response by the string when it is plucked.
Singability: it means that the string imitate the modulation of the human voice and all its variations

We can change of course: what is your suggestion?
thanks
Mimmo
 
hello guys, something we italian make a lot of mistakes with traduction.

So I try to explain:

promt: it is that there is a very fast and quick response by the string when it is plucked.
Singability: it means that the string imitate the modulation of the human voice and all its variations

We can change of course: what is your suggestion?
thanks
Mimmo

Thanks for your input mimmo, its good to hear from you.

In English, the musical concept of "prompt" would be expressed as "attack". That's the simple one.
I'm still struggling a little with "singability".
My best guess is that its about whether a string produces strong fundamental tones or strong secondary/harmonic/wolf tones but I'm still not quite sure about this one.
In my thinking the Nylguts are low on singability and fluorocarbon strings are high on singability. Is this what you mean or is it something else?
EDIT: Is it the other way around? Are you saying that Nylguts are high in singability?
I think what you are trying to express is "harmonic response" or "harmonic content", but I'm not quite sure which way around it is supposed to be.
 
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hello guys, something we italian make a lot of mistakes with traduction.

So I try to explain:

promt: it is that there is a very fast and quick response by the string when it is plucked.
Singability: it means that the string imitate the modulation of the human voice and all its variations

We can change of course: what is your suggestion?
thanks
Mimmo

Thanks for trying to explain.

Perceptions in your own thoughts and then translation of them to a different language is difficult to do. This is just a suggestion for you to consider but why not ask someone experienced, like World of Ukes and The Southern Ukulele store, for their characterisations of your strings. From their (English) comments pick what you agree with and can usefully use.

Whilst differences might be small they can still be important, some people will only buy New Nylguts but even though the differences seem small I much prefer Super Nylguts.
 
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I like Mimmo's descriptions. To me they make as much sense as any of the other descriptions I often see used.

Besides, his English is far better than my Italian! ( I always say I have enough trouble speaking one language)
 
I agree, your English is great :)

I think these things are just difficult to put into words - if you think it's the translation than maybe Italian just has better words - we can't find the words in our own language to describe these things :)

Thanks for the help everyone (especially Mimmo).

The inexactness of translations reminds me of the time I was in Heathrow at the end of a long hot vacation and an English gentleman was at the airport Starbucks trying to order his first. I'm 5'3". I don't know how tall the guy behind the counter was, but it was less than 5'3". The Englishman ordered a tall something, and another traveler ordered a venti. He reached for the wrong cup when they were served and he couldn't understand why the tall was the small. The employee explained the sizes a few times and on the 3rd pass the Englishman said "Well I guess this makes sense to a tall fellow like yourself." and his girlfriend sent him to get boarding passes while she reordered and apologized. I thought it was hilarious though.
 
I agree, your English is great :)

I think these things are just difficult to put into words - if you think it's the translation than maybe Italian just has better words - we can't find the words in our own language to describe these things :)

Thanks for the help everyone (especially Mimmo).

The inexactness of translations reminds me of the time I was in Heathrow at the end of a long hot vacation and an English gentleman was at the airport Starbucks trying to order his first. I'm 5'3". I don't know how tall the guy behind the counter was, but it was less than 5'3". The Englishman ordered a tall something, and another traveler ordered a venti. He reached for the wrong cup when they were served and he couldn't understand why the tall was the small. The employee explained the sizes a few times and on the 3rd pass the Englishman said "Well I guess this makes sense to a tall fellow like yourself." and his girlfriend sent him to get boarding passes while she reordered and apologized. I thought it was hilarious though.

That’s hilarious.
 
The inexactness of translations reminds me of the time I was in Heathrow at the end of a long hot vacation and an English gentleman was at the airport Starbucks trying to order his first. I'm 5'3". I don't know how tall the guy behind the counter was, but it was less than 5'3". The Englishman ordered a tall something, and another traveler ordered a venti. He reached for the wrong cup when they were served and he couldn't understand why the tall was the small. The employee explained the sizes a few times and on the 3rd pass the Englishman said "Well I guess this makes sense to a tall fellow like yourself." and his girlfriend sent him to get boarding passes while she reordered and apologized. I thought it was hilarious though.


LOL. That is one of the things I hate about Starbucks. I can never keep track of what the sizes mean. I just order small, medium and large.
 
My best guess is that "singability"is about whether a string produces strong fundamental tones or strong secondary/harmonic/wolf tones but I'm still not quite sure about this one.
In my thinking the Nylguts are low on singability and fluorocarbon strings are high on singability. Is this what you mean or is it something else?
EDIT: Is it the other way around? Are you saying that Nylguts are high in singability?
I think what you are trying to express is "harmonic response" or "harmonic content", but I'm not quite sure which way around it is supposed to be.

OK, I did some research and found that mimmo classifies Nylguts as having high singability.
Therefore high singability is high harmonics rather than high fundamentals.

I'd suggest that "harmonic complexity" is what we would call this concept in English.
 
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