Living Water Strings

Hi Guys,
I have a bit of a collection - of different ukulele's and have been 'chasing the sound' on them, for some time. Have been installing Ken's 'Living Water Strings' on many of them with great results!
I have two Oceana ukes from Zac, a Tenor and a Baritone - both with them on. Also on my Mainland mango Concert , my Harmony Baritone I got from Jon, and on the maple Tom Guy tenor I just picked up, that was on the marketplace recently - a stunning instrument and what a HUGE difference that these strings made to it! I knew it had a voice waiting to get out and these were the strings needed to do the job. Wow - it is a great uke!
My Collings Koa Concert has great sound already, as does my Makapili Concert and Baritone - so these won't need to get switched out just yet -though I did get strings from Ken for them -
I highly recommend Ken's 'Living Water Strings' - and really need to get some decent sound clips of them , when I find the directions to my Zoom recorders ( I picked up a H4N and a Q3 just for this type of thing) and post 'em -
-these ukes that I am using them on are awesome too by the way!
- I take several days to one week , to let the strings stretch into their 'working' readiness and settle in. -Tuning them several times a day - It does take a bit, to get them there - but well worth it.
-
Thanks Ken!!! -0)

Ed G

good review, I find they take a while to stretch but when they do, they are fantastic

Agreed. Ken's Living Water Strings are great!
I have a set of re-entrant dGBE on an old, heavy tenor banjo and they work really well. He can custom make that set if anyone is interested.

Agreed, Ken's Living Waters are super-duper!

How is Living Water compares to Worth CT/BT and PHD strings?

I put Living Water strings on a Kamaka Baritone and have grown to really love the very smooth feel of them, and the warm sound that fits that instrument very well. Now I've put them on a Bradford archtop tenor and Kanalea super concert.

These feel so nice for fingertip strumming and softly picking with the pads of my fingertips, I have almost given up on metal string guitars and electric ukes that used to get half my playing time.

These are very nice in my opinion.

-Vinnie in Juneau

Living Water vs. Aquila, Worth, Kamaka, Koolau, Daddario?

Has anyone tried the Living Water Strings on a Flea or a Fluke and what are the results?

Kamanaaloha said:

Living Water vs. Aquila, Worth, Kamaka, Koolau, Daddario?

Click to expand...

I just replaced the Aquila's on my venerable Lanikai LU11 Soprano with great results. Was a little leery at first, since I loved the Aquila's on that uke, but the new ring is beautiful.

The reason made the jump was because I had also replaced the Aquila's on my Kala tenor with LW (first high-g, then low-g) and was amazed at its new sound. I keep it tuned gceg and it's my portable slack-key uke.

I then proceeded to replace the low-g Worth brown's on my thin-bodied tenor (mostly cause I wanted it high-g for my girlfriend, and was out of worth high-g strings) and I'm happy with it. That uke sounded awful with Aquila, but honestly, on that uke, if I'd had more worth brown's lying around I probably wouldn't have changed to LW.

Replaced the Aquila's on my Kala Baritone with low-d LW, and it's perfect. Had to adjust the nut a little, but totally worth it. Love the feel and the sound. Tuned slack-key, dgbd.

I don't want to sound like I'm hating on Aquila, it's just a different sound. I'm keep Aquila reds on my Makala dolphin and regulars on my Makala concert and have no intention of ever changing them. Even the Lanikai I put LWs on... I'd have no problem switching it back to Aquila's, specifically because of the Aquila sound on that uke brings lots of fond memories.

As for vs. Kamaka strings- I love Kamaka ukes, not a fan of the nylon strings. I just put Martin M600s on my Kamaka and it brought the uke to life. In general, for sporano ukes, the M600s are my favorite, but LW are definitely on par. Based on my own stable and experimentation, my current feelings are:

Soprano: Martin M600s = Living Water > Oasis > Aquila > Aquila Reds > Kamaka
Concert: Worth Clears > Aquila
Tenor: Worth Browns = Living Water > Aquila
Baritone: Living Water > Aquila

brUKEman said:

Has anyone tried the Living Water Strings on a Flea or a Fluke and what are the results?

Click to expand...

I have put those onto my Flea with great results.
With My limited experience and ability I find these to be EXCELLENT. I love the sound they produce.
The original black Hilo strings were dull and lifeless
Aquila strings sounded quite brash (and caused buzzing issues) and sounded 'rough' when picking you can hear your fingers rubbing if that makes sense?

The living strings are smooth, ring like a bell, really clear sound, and they feel great. They are almost silent when gently picking.

If I could find one fault, I would say that they can be a little 'twangy?' As they are quite thin. This could just be my poor technique tho!

In essence, I love these strings, and recommend them wholeheartedly. I also have them on my Lanakai and will be adding them to my next investment on its arrival! (Tenor Fluke)