Fremont Blacklines for Soprano: Hard or Medium?

khairijamian

Well-known member
Joined
Jul 19, 2011
Messages
215
Reaction score
2
Location
Tanjong Karang, Malaysia
Aloha!

Just made the payment for my 3rd soprano uke - the Bruko #6 (Flat), and now deciding the best fluorocarbon string to match it up with my new uke. The #6 is a soprano sized ukulele, with solid mahogany body and one piece maple neck. I went through few threads on strings, and found some decent brands; but the Fremont Blacklines had caught my attention.

The problem is I don't know which one (which tensions) will suit up with my new uke, either the medium tension or hard. And how long will the Fremont hold on to your ukuleles? Is it durable? Suitable for long-lasting usage? Looking up to your suggestions!

My preferred playing styles are strumming with nails instead of fingertips. So any other string suggestion would also be appreciated.

Mahalo! :D
 
Last edited:
Aloha!
The mediums are all around great strings but if you mostly pick try the hard. Actually try them both and maybe consider the clears. They sell for $7.00 a set
Freemonts seem to hold up well and if you live in a very humid climate are a great choice as they are fluorocarbon.
 
Aloha!
The mediums are all around great strings but if you mostly pick try the hard. Actually try them both and maybe consider the clears. They sell for $7.00 a set
Freemonts seem to hold up well and if you live in a very humid climate are a great choice as they are fluorocarbon.

I live in Malaysia, in which, the climate is hot and humid throughout the year, so I guess it would be a great choice for me. Does the medium tension is more suitable for strumming? Because I rarely pick! Also, the Fremonts seems price-wise :D
 
Admittedly I'm a Fremont fanboy. They match up nicely to what tone and playability I'm looking for in my ukuleles. With mahogany they should sound great. I have them on all my ukes except a spruce top and maple sided Pono which was bright by design and the Fremonts didn't sound as good as Worth Browns to me.

I think the mediums are very versatile and would work great as Mike said earlier for strumming, but I play mostly finger picking stuff and they work for me. Haven't tried the clears mainly because of a black string OCD. I need to get over it and try them as they get a lot of recommendations.

I put up some samples of strings on my Pono MPTSH. Should be able to hear the differences even though it won't be apples to apples because of the wood differences and the inherent differences in uke builds themselves. Good luck and congrats on the new uke.

http://soundcloud.com/bdukes22/fremont-blacklines-pono-mptsh
 
I also am a big fan of Fremont blackline mediums and I have them on multiple vintage ukes Gretsch ukes from 20's, 40's and 50's, a 40's Martin 1M, a 30's Favilla uke 2, and A Nue Nue 1879, Ko'Aloha Pikake and I just put them on a Silvertone. All of these are soprano ukes and the Fremonts make them sing. I've tried some other strings including D'Adderios, Martin flurocarbons, and Worth clears and I still like Fremonts best. It is clear that if you're looking for the absolute best sound you should try multiple sets of strings on a given uke but I have too many ukes and too small a string budget to go through the 3-6 types of strings that respected members of the list all tout. So Fremont blackline mediums are the "go to" string for my sopranos, and every so often I try a new type just to see how they sound. YMMV. Good Picking/strumming, g2
 
The Brüko comes with Pyramid Fluorocarbons. You may want to try them first and not take them off immediately. I just replaced those with Freemont Blacklines on my longneck soprano (concert strings, hard, mahogany body) and the Pyramids seemed to have more volume and depth. Second time I'm experiencing this. Same when I replaced my Kamaka tenor strings. So my conclusion so far is that the Freemonts have a brilliant sound but to make that possible you lose in the low end. Last thing I read about this was that string mass is directly related to bass volume. The Freemonts were thinner than the Pyramids or Kamakas so this might be the explanation.

As far as aesthetics go, it's black > clear for me. :)
 
Thanks. I was looking for the same info.
Aloha!
The mediums are all around great strings but if you mostly pick try the hard. Actually try them both and maybe consider the clears. They sell for $7.00 a set
Freemonts seem to hold up well and if you live in a very humid climate are a great choice as they are fluorocarbon.
 
I've had very good luck with Fremont Blackline hard tensions for soprano usage. They stay "good" for quite a long time. They give me a little tighter feel, so I can use gCEA tuning without the strings feeling too floppy; it's a nice alternative to cranking the tuning up to aDF#B, where you might have to worry about over-pushing your vocal range.
 
Personally, I like the Worth BM (brown medium) strings on the Bruko. I have used the Fremont Hards as well.

Both sound good, but the Worth really has the edge on the Bruko sopranos!
 
I like Blackline Hards on my Kaniliea concert, and also use just the C string on a tenor that's got mixed strings (Frankenstring?). If you look at the specs you'll see that the gauges of the E and C strings are the same for sop/con reg, sop/con hard and tenor packs. The A and G strings are the only ones that vary. Having messed around a lot, especially with the different gauges of A string, I suggest trying each of them once (you only have to swap out the A and/or G), then sticking to one you're happiest with.
 
I just thought of something. You could save a few bucks by buying a set of sop/con mediums and a set of tenors, skipping the sop/con hards, because you'll have all of the different gauges of A and G strings available. To reproduce the hard set use the med G string as the A string, and use the tenor A string as the G string. The Ukulele Site has the specs.
 
I agree w Bill1. Try both.
 
I just thought of something. You could save a few bucks by buying a set of sop/con mediums and a set of tenors, skipping the sop/con hards, because you'll have all of the different gauges of A and G strings available. To reproduce the hard set use the med G string as the A string, and use the tenor A string as the G string. The Ukulele Site has the specs.

Interesting analysis, Seesar! Now, please don't think I'm being antagonistic, as that isn't my intention, but in my experience the Fremont Blackline hard tension set is distinguishable, and desirable, not so much by its individual string gauges, as by a certain "texture" that they seem to have; it's hard to put into words, but I'd maybe describe it as a more "solid" feel than other sets. I'd also give them high marks in the categories of consistently-good intonation, and durability.
 
Interesting analysis, Seesar! Now, please don't think I'm being antagonistic, as that isn't my intention, but in my experience the Fremont Blackline hard tension set is distinguishable, and desirable, not so much by its individual string gauges, as by a certain "texture" that they seem to have; it's hard to put into words, but I'd maybe describe it as a more "solid" feel than other sets. I'd also give them high marks in the categories of consistently-good intonation, and durability.

I don't know this for a fact, and someone is free to correct me if I'm wrong, but I think all Blackline strings (tenor, sop/con medium and sop/con hard) are the same material, and the only thing that distinguishes them is gauge. So all models have the same E and C strings, .027 and .031 inch diameters. Sop/con medium A and G strings have a lighter gauge then sop/con hards. And you'll find that different models have the same gauge for different strings, for example, the tenor A string is the same as the sop/con medium G string, .023 inch diameter. And if you're wondering if Blackline sop/con strings are long enough for a tenor, in my experience, the answer is yes.
 
I don't know this for a fact, and someone is free to correct me if I'm wrong, but I think all Blackline strings (tenor, sop/con medium and sop/con hard) are the same material, and the only thing that distinguishes them is gauge. So all models have the same E and C strings, .027 and .031 inch diameters. Sop/con medium A and G strings have a lighter gauge then sop/con hards. And you'll find that different models have the same gauge for different strings, for example, the tenor A string is the same as the sop/con medium G string, .023 inch diameter. And if you're wondering if Blackline sop/con strings are long enough for a tenor, in my experience, the answer is yes.

Point well-taken! That does make sense!
 
Top Bottom