I just won an auction for a beautiful laminate koa soprano ukulele by Ibanez, for under 50 dollars. It is the uks50. I am wondering what strings to put on it. From what I've seen it sounds gorgeous and I want strings to capitalize on that warm bell sound. Thanks so much.
Strings for laminate soprano?
- Thread starter Kitty101
- Start date
Graham Greenbag
Well-known member
Congratulations on winning the auction.
I’ve happily used Martin M600’s on quite a few laminate Sopranos, IIRC I’ve only had one instrument that they were a poor match for. Whilst they are actually good strings I’m not a great fan of Aquila New Nylgut, but I do like Super Nylgut and suggest that you consider them. On the cheaper laminates some people use Concert rather than Soprano versions of Aquila strings (drives the top harder).
If the strings are white / ivory coloured then it might already have Aquilas on it, in which case you might like to use them for some months before considering a change.
I’ve happily used Martin M600’s on quite a few laminate Sopranos, IIRC I’ve only had one instrument that they were a poor match for. Whilst they are actually good strings I’m not a great fan of Aquila New Nylgut, but I do like Super Nylgut and suggest that you consider them. On the cheaper laminates some people use Concert rather than Soprano versions of Aquila strings (drives the top harder).
If the strings are white / ivory coloured then it might already have Aquilas on it, in which case you might like to use them for some months before considering a change.
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merlin666
Well-known member
I would also suggest fluorocarbon, and for brand just get the cheapest you can find either in your local store or if you have to buy online make sure to consider shipping costs. Of course it may be great with the strings are already on, so maybe play it first for a couple of months before you decide to invest further into it.
Do you mean that you like how your uke currently sounds? or do you mean sound samples you heard of this uke model like on youtube?
If you already like its sound, then I'd just get more of the same strings.
If it's the latter, then just find what strings the person used (e.g. via a comment or something like that).
vcs700s
Well-known member
My current go to strings are the Aquilla Sugar strings.
They sound great on laminate and solid Ukes.
I use high and low G depending. Check them out.
They sound great on laminate and solid Ukes.
I use high and low G depending. Check them out.
I heard a sample of it, but that ukulele had clear strings the one I won has black strings, I don't know if they are aquila or those strings no one seems to like on ukes. It was a posted a bit ago but I could try and see if they would still respond.
Graham Greenbag
Well-known member
As far as I know Aquila do not sell a black string, they sell some darker ones (Lava) but not black. My suspicion is that the Uke was older stock and fitted with (once standard supply) generic black nylon strings, usually such strings work but not particularly well. Nylon strings can work well on Ukes but such (nylon) string selection isn’t straight forward, it’s something that’s best left to those that really understand things much better than most of us do.
I suggest the Martin M600 and the Aquila Super Nylgut as, respectively, good first and second choices. (Similar to the D’Addario variant there is a Martin Premium string too and IIRC that’s also made in partnership with Aquila ...)
Your Uke might require setting-up, if you want to then there are lots of old threads on that topic already on this forum for you to research.
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I think it is older stock as well, I ordered the martin strings to replace the black ones. I am very excited to put them on my new uke. I will definitely look into those set up threads. I do have an instrument shop nearby but they typically service violins not ukuleles.
