which strings should i put on for my new uke?

iamesperambient

iamesperambient

Well-known member
Joined
Aug 30, 2013
Messages
1,589
Reaction score
28
Location
new brunswick, new jersey
Ok i have a new kala pacific walnut concert im looking to change the aquillas for a warmer mellower sound. I'm looking at oasis warm (not sure on low or high G i need help with this decision too) living water (which i love on my baritone) or worth browns (low or high G again need help deciding) please help! can not decide!
 
Almost anything would be warmer than standard Aquilas on it. Those Oasis should sound decent, not as warm as some others which is good to my mind.
I'm not sure I'd go from Aquilas (probably brightest) to the "warmest" string set. I'd prefer working from "too bright for my tastes" to "warmer" instead of "warmest." Hope I'm being clear. Just my philosophy. Lots of ideas about which strings here on the Underground. Good luck at finding the "perfect" string set for your ears. Hopefully, someone with one of those walnut Kala's will be able to shed some light on best strings for it.
 
PhilUSAFRet said:
Almost anything would be warmer than standard Aquilas on it. Those Oasis should sound decent, not as warm as some others which is good to my mind.
I'm not sure I'd go from Aquilas (probably brightest) to the "warmest" string set. I'd prefer working from "too bright for my tastes" to "warmer" instead of "warmest." Hope I'm being clear. Just my philosophy. Lots of ideas about which strings here on the Underground. Good luck at finding the "perfect" string set for your ears. Hopefully, someone with one of those walnut Kala's will be able to shed some light on best strings for it.
Click to expand...

think I'm going to check out
the oasis warms
 
PhilUSAFRet said:
Almost anything would be warmer than standard Aquilas on it. Those Oasis should sound decent, not as warm as some others which is good to my mind.
I'm not sure I'd go from Aquilas (probably brightest) to the "warmest" string set. I'd prefer working from "too bright for my tastes" to "warmer" instead of "warmest." Hope I'm being clear. Just my philosophy. Lots of ideas about which strings here on the Underground. Good luck at finding the "perfect" string set for your ears. Hopefully, someone with one of those walnut Kala's will be able to shed some light on best strings for it.
Click to expand...

I'm more of a baritone guy because of
the mellow tone and it would be nice to
get my concert to be mellower than it is now
with Aquila plink plinks I'm thinking oasis
low g should give me a nice mellow
tone or the worth browns just not sure
which of the 2 is more mellow
 
iamesperambient said:
I'm more of a baritone guy because of
the mellow tone and it would be nice to
get my concert to be mellower than it is now
with Aquila plink plinks I'm thinking oasis
low g should give me a nice mellow
tone or the worth browns just not sure
which of the 2 is more mellow
Click to expand...


with my research and as many videos as i could watch on youtube (not many) i decided to go with
oasis warm high G. Gonna try these out and than i'll do worth browns low G, than i'll try living waters
for my concert. (i have decided living water for me is the best brand for baritone uke ill see how it is
on concert).
 
My experience is with Aquila and Oasis and La Bella and D'Addario I'll take Aquila with D'Addario coming in second. I used to think I wanted warmer sounds for my ukes until I got warmer sounds. I'll take Aquila almost every time.

So many people like Worth's that I'd love to hear some in person sometime. I have a feeling though I'd want the Aquilas back. I really like the way Aquilas feel also. That has turned out to be almost as important as the sound. I really like the sound of D'Addarios but I don't care for how they feel.

I'm sure this post has been of almost no help to you. ;)
 
Icelander53 said:
My experience is with Aquila and Oasis and La Bella and D'Addario I'll take Aquila with D'Addario coming in second. I used to think I wanted warmer sounds for my ukes until I got warmer sounds. I'll take Aquila almost every time.

So many people like Worth's that I'd love to hear some in person sometime. I have a feeling though I'd want the Aquilas back. I really like the way Aquilas feel also. That has turned out to be almost as important as the sound. I really like the sound of D'Addarios but I don't care for how they feel.

I'm sure this post has been of almost no help to you. ;)
Click to expand...

I have worth clears on my soprano
their super bright def going to put browns on it
or oasis I just prefer a more mellow sound.
 
iamesperambient said:
I'm more of a baritone guy because of
the mellow tone and it would be nice to
get my concert to be mellower than it is now
with Aquila plink plinks I'm thinking oasis
low g should give me a nice mellow
tone or the worth browns just not sure
which of the 2 is more mellow
Click to expand...

I love mellow too, its weird because my mahogany tenor has aquila's on it and has this amazing bright ring tone that is well, incredibly pleasant. Its not plinky or martin sounding at all but just has a bright ring to it that is just really lovely. It's like its a warm brightness? My martin which is Koa, well I expected it to be brighter but instead my martin is way more mellow then my tenor, but the aquila's sounded muddled on it because the instrument doesn't have the same brightness my tenor does. I'm still waiting on my worth browns but I am going to run to my local uke shop and get the martin strings, and another set of worth browns because I am too anxious to wait until next week for mine to arrive, I got my shipping notice yesterday and now won't get them until next week when I thought I would get them today or tomorrow.

Its so perplexing because when I got the martin I thought it sounded more plinky then my tenor but now it just had a totally "different" sound and its like... lower is how I would describe it. It also has a low G which of course makes a difference but its like the entire instrument hits lower in tone.

I have no idea what I am talking about, but its all very interesting! I Prefer my Martin right now but I think thats because I play it the most... and I feel the strings are just not right. Its very frustrating to have an instrument and feel like its not quiet perfect and wanting to have it be so. I don't fault the instrument though, I fault the strings.. but maybe in the end its the instrument? I've never changed the strings on my tenor, love how it sounds. I've never changed the strings on my baritone, love how it sounds. But I know its possible because I took my Moku and changed its strings and went from frustrated to very happy but couldn't keep it due to scale. So there is hope!
 
Last edited:
pixiepurls said:
I love mellow too, its weird because my mahogany tenor has aquila's on it and has this amazing bright ring tone that is well, incredibly pleasant. Its not plinky or martin sounding at all but just has a bright ring to it that is just really lovely. It's like its a warm brightness? My martin which is Koa, well I expected it to be brighter but instead my martin is way more mellow then my tenor, but the aquila's sounded muddled on it because the instrument doesn't have the same brightness my tenor does. I'm still waiting on my worth browns but I am going to run to my local uke shop and get the martin strings, and another set of worth browns because I am too anxious to wait until next week for mine to arrive, I got my shipping notice yesterday and now won't get them until next week when I thought I would get them today or tomorrow.

Its so perplexing because when I got the martin I thought it sounded more plinky then my tenor but now it just had a totally "different" sound and its like... lower is how I would describe it. It also has a low G which of course makes a difference but its like the entire instrument hits lower in tone.

I have no idea what I am talking about, but its all very interesting! I Prefer my Martin right now but I think thats because I play it the most... and I feel the strings are just not right. Its very frustrating to have an instrument and feel like its not quiet perfect and wanting to have it be so. I don't fault the instrument though, I fault the strings.. but maybe in the end its the instrument? I've never changed the strings on my tenor, love how it sounds. I've never changed the strings on my baritone, love how it sounds. But I know its possible because I took my Moku and changed its strings and went from frustrated to very happy but couldn't keep it due to scale. So there is hope!
Click to expand...



When i refer to mellow for my tastes, i mean tonally resonate, has good sustain but lacks
that punchy treble 'plink' and is more on the subtle/warm/mellow side. I don't think it can be
'warm and bright' at the same time. It can be warm with clarity and a good tone/resonance to it.
To me bright is just not what i dig its to harsh to punchy to in your face, warm sound is like
morgan freeman talking (relaxed calm, clear, mellow soothing) , bright is like Gilbert Gottfried
talking (harsh, annoying, in your face punchy, nervousness making). To each his own but i have
grown and learned what sounds work for me for what I do.
 
Try tuning down a bit. I tuned a Korala concert down to Bb. It has Worth clears on and it's definitely more mellow. Changing from Aquila to Worth strings helped but tuning down helped again.

My Bruko tenor is tuned down to EAC#F# still with its original Pyramid carbon strings which tend to be bright and it's also more mellow. I think the lower tension helps the sustain.
 
Tootler said:
Try tuning down a bit. I tuned a Korala concert down to Bb. It has Worth clears on and it's definitely more mellow. Changing from Aquila to Worth strings helped but tuning down helped again.

My Bruko tenor is tuned down to EAC#F# still with its original Pyramid carbon strings which tend to be bright and it's also more mellow. I think the lower tension helps the sustain.
Click to expand...

I've probably mentioned this in other threads im not a big fan of changing the overall voice of each instrument more into trying to shape the tone.
I like the voice of GCEA i just want to shape the tone to be a little less bright. I don't watch to change it's voice.

Which is why i like reentrant G on a baritone its voice stays the same, it just adds a little sparkle because of the high D
so a baritone keeps its low mellow tone but gets a little more of the sparkle from a standard uke, kind of a perfect recipe for me.
But i'm not into actually changing the instruments voice (tuning) from one to another. Just looking for the right strings if you look at an EQ
or multi band compressor strings can have similar results it just shapes the tone, can add brightness or warmth, add clarity or mute it slightly
etc etc thats what i'm after not changing its voice completely.

As for worth clears i don't like them that much on smaller ukes, a bit to tonally redundant to me very treble and plinky.
I'm checking out these oasis warms on my concert and i will see if they make the difference. Its just a very subtle change i'm looking
for just slightly less bright, but i want to keep the standard tuning.
 
Last edited:
I have worth clears on an acacia tenor and love them. Also have them on a cedar/rosewood concert and love them there too. My next string will be Living Waters or Southcoast.
 
Ukejenny said:
I have worth clears on an acacia tenor and love them. Also have them on a cedar/rosewood concert and love them there too. My next string will be Living Waters or Southcoast.
Click to expand...

I think worth clears had a nice clean /clear sound just to bright for my taste. I find south coast strings far to confusing. I love living water high D sets for baritone ( i think its the ultimate string) im just trying to search for the right string for concert (hopefully these oasis warms do the trick for me).
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

UkuleleHan96
Should I Put Aquila Strings On My Mahalo Soprano?????
Replies
16
Views
2K
dhoenisch
D
cyber3d
Should all 4 strings have the same height (action) at the nut?
Replies
14
Views
1K
cyber3d
cyber3d
S
Should banjo uke strings go above or below tailpiece
Replies
10
Views
2K
DPO
DPO
fretie
How many strings should I get?
2
Replies
23
Views
1K
fretie
fretie
Brian1
What strings should I get for my Brand New CUSTOM Hawaiian...
Replies
6
Views
571
consitter
consitter
Top Bottom