Makala Dolphin strings

kaizersoza

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just out of curiosity, and i know it killed the cat, but can anyone tell me what the stock strings are on a Makala Dolphin please?
 
No certain knowledge but came with what looked and felt
like black GHS. Sounded much nicer with Aquilas,and is
currently strung with Worth Browns!
 
I agree with luthien, I'm sure they come with GHS. We've got six of them over the last few years and I seem to remember at least one having a tag that said GHS. the first couple we got from MGM so they came with Aquila, but the rest have had the black stock strings. IMO the Aquilas are a necessary upgrade, and make them a fairly nice playing uke and by far the best bang for the buck!
 
Kala now ships them with Aquila strings standard, and have for about a year now. I called to make sure when I just bought my dolphin less than a month ago.
 
ok thanx guys, this is my second Dolphin i used to have a blue one, i changed the strings over to Aquilas when i bought it, i'm gonna stick with the GHS strings for a while to see how they sound when stretched, @Luthien, Worth browns, that is interesting, i may delve into them when these strings wear out just for a change, good news to hear that the newer Dolphins will be coming with Aquilas as standard, now that will be a real bargain
 
Yes,I had just used a set of Worth Browns on another
of my instruments and as they come in 'double length'
packs,and the Dolphin needed re-stringing anyway, I
gave it a shot.Works for me!
 
Bought my Dolphin through Amazon and it came with very cheap-feeling black strings. The sound was distinctly "toy" like.

I switched it to a set of Martin Fluorocarbons I had sitting around and it really sounds great. I plan to try Aquila's at some point on it as well.
 
I 'believe' there are still plenty of stocks about with GHS strings as they clear them before Aquilas come through into stores. Buyer beware.

I think it's great though that Kala obviously did their homework and saw countless folk recommending Aquilas as automatic upgrade
 
I 'believe' there are still plenty of stocks about with GHS strings as they clear them before Aquilas come through into stores. Buyer beware.

I think it's great though that Kala obviously did their homework and saw countless folk recommending Aquilas as automatic upgrade

mine still has the GHS strings Baz, though for £20 new on e bay, you still can't go wrong, i been playing it tonight and i think i will change the strings on the weekend if not before, and i agree fair play to Kala for upgrading to Aquilas with the new stock, the Dolphin will blow the cheaper end ukes into the wind now
 
January 2, 2012 via Amazon from West Music.

I suppose that is the old stock clearing out then? I think the buyer I went through moves a lot of stuff and they swore the strings were aquila and so did kala. I wouldn't know, being as I've only been playing for a fortnight now.
 
Anyone ordering a new one without seeing it and wanting to check, ask the dealer what is on your actual uke. If the strings are black, brown or clear they are NOT Aquilas. If the dealer says they are opaque white, they are.
 
Anyone ordering a new one without seeing it and wanting to check, ask the dealer what is on your actual uke. If the strings are black, brown or clear they are NOT Aquilas. If the dealer says they are opaque white, they are.

Darnit! I KNEW it! I must have gotten old stock, too. My strings are black. Must be GHS, right?

Well gosh darn if I ain't ordering some Aquilas ASAP. I didn't want to invest much $$ in a thing I've never played but I have decided I'm dedicated so I'm ready to dump my dough into my new passtime.

Of the many vendors out there, who is a good one to support with my business?
 
I have 2 dolphins, One has aquila concerts on it (the old aquilas not the new ones), and the other has aquila sopranos.

At first i really liked the feel of the sopranos but now I prefer the chunkyness of the concerts, makes it feel solid and it sounds great, the sopranos are good for kids though, they dont have to squeeze so hard.

welcome to the dolphin appreciation society by the way :)
 
Hmm, I called Kala last week and the representative said all Dolphins are shipped with non-Aquila strings. They should get their story straight. I just ordered 4 Dolphins from NCUA and they come with non-Aquilas, but easy to upgrade -- can't wait :drool:
 
I bought my dolphin in December from West Music as well, through Amazon. (As an aside, I had to email West Music twice with a couple questions and they were great to deal with.) The strings were definitely the cheap ones, but I ordered the Aquilas when I ordered the 'uke. I kept the old strings on for two months while I worked up the nerve to change the strings, and can you believe it? In two months the strings sounded like they were wearing out! The sound wasn't as horrible as I expected, but the Aquilas were a huge improvement. The old strings sounded very, very quiet and tinny. The Aquilas have much better volume and sound, well, 'ukey-er.

So my advice is to just order the good strings (I like the Aquilas, but I'm curious about the Worths now!) right from the get-go. It sounds like there are still lots out there with the cheap strings, if indeed Kala is now shipping with Aquilas, but since the Aquilas are white it's easy to check.
 
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