Is it really fishing line?

Earlier in the century when customers weren't so picky, the history of Worths on the Worths site clearly stated that the original Worth strings were cut from high quality Japanese fishing line. High quality Japanese fishing line is still expensive to buy in Australia today, it is not cheap rubbish. I think now that Worths probably may have an order at the factory to get some additional processing as appropriate to instrument strings, or they may have their own facility to cut, check, polish, package, whatever, the strings so they are ready to use on a musical instrument.

I have wondered whether the fluorocarbon strings have some additional processing or are a higher standard as far as consistency, diameter, etc. Perhaps it is an issue of differences in thickness or other. FWIW- I have noticed a difference in the sound and feel of different brands of fluorocarbon strings.
 
Theres a difference between nylon and FC though.
Plastics are just linked carbonX chains.

Nylon is a linear polymer. Its a long zig jag chain, that ends up wadded together like a pile of yarn
Flourocarbon is a cross-linked chain, like a net with the frayed ends terminated by a fluorine atom.

Its why fc is denser and has more tensile strength than nylon.
It's not just marketing. It's physics, and the material matters.

Monofilaments are just plastic noodles. They're made the same way spaghetti is made. Probably why strings come from Italy and Japan. Guess who eats alot of noodles?

That doesn't mean all fc are the same. Just like Barilla is different from Cremette.
But yeah, strings are strings. You can use it for a uke, or for a fish. The string doesn't care.
 
Many of you have seen this video before of the Aquila string factory but I do like the low tech feel of the place. Seems an appropriate thread to insert it.
 
Many of you have seen this video before of the Aquila string factory but I do like the low tech feel of the place. Seems an appropriate thread to insert it.

Thank you for sharing that! I have always appreciated how Mimmo will come on the board from time to time; now I have a whole new appreciation for what they do! I thought it was a much larger company (and perhaps it has expanded since 2008), but this is a whole new mental image for me. I love their KIDS strings (colored and priced for education) and just wish they had fluorocarbon, which I tend to prefer on my own ukuleles, as I would buy them from Aquila (100% personal preference, I might add...I would never tell someone that they had to choose or like my preference).. I am waiting for their new sugar strings to come out in stores!
 
Yup.... Aquila reds for me. Never catch a fish with one... easily.
 
Theres a difference between nylon and FC though.
Plastics are just linked carbonX chains.

Nylon is a linear polymer. Its a long zig jag chain, that ends up wadded together like a pile of yarn
Flourocarbon is a cross-linked chain, like a net with the frayed ends terminated by a fluorine atom.....

"Flurocarbon is a cross-linked chain" with frayed ends?

Nylon and flurocarbon are indeed different in many ways - but cross-linking isn't one of them. Please don't try to give the group a lesson in polymer chemistry, since you apparently aren't up to the task.
 
okay. I have to admit it: I don't get it. Worths are made of the same material as fishing line; Aquilas are made of the same material as panty hose. What's the significance? That only an effeminate man would use Aquilas? That Worths are great at low G tunings because they can catch more bass? There seems to be some unspoken conclusion that everyone is sharing like an ornate inside-joke. Let me in on it.
 
Over the past years, this question has come up over and over again. I guess its subtext is that string manufacturers are scaming customers by selling an overpriced product they buy cheap from a dubious source and that essentially, they are all the same.

I have no idea if fishing line is really all that cheap, if my strings are identical to it, or if they all come from the same source. To me, the manufacturers provide a valuable service by putting together suitable packages of strings that can be used on a musical instrument. I don't want to go through different roles of fishing line myself in order to find the ones that happen to intonate properly and have good balance across all courses. For this service, and a certain guarantee for it, I'll gladly pay a couple of bucks per set extra. Perhaps my perception is totally biased by clever marketing, but I think I can see, hear and feel some notable differences between some of the brands. So even if they did come from the same source, they're not all the same.

For those who do want to buy roles of fishing line instead: that's fine, too.
 
Really? That's it? It seems a bit base to be grousing about paying the cost of a breakfast to get three or more years of playability from a package of Worth strings. I tend to agree with you. It wouldn't be worth my time to go to a sporting goods store and buy some spools of line to find out whether 10# test, or 12, or 14, or 20 will fit the nuts and give the proper tensions when tuned. However I can see where it would be worth a music teacher's effort to find the four spools that would adequately provide a classroom of instruments with strings.
 
If anyone considers that modern ukulele strings are somehow tainted by association with fishing line, they can always seek out traditional instrument strings made from animal tissue. They are still available, and some folk wouldn't use anything else. It's your choice.

John Colter.
 
Really? That's it? It seems a bit base to be grousing about paying the cost of a breakfast to get three or more years of playability from a package of Worth strings. I tend to agree with you. It wouldn't be worth my time to go to a sporting goods store and buy some spools of line to find out whether 10# test, or 12, or 14, or 20 will fit the nuts and give the proper tensions when tuned. However I can see where it would be worth a music teacher's effort to find the four spools that would adequately provide a classroom of instruments with strings.

The spools option has been used by builders and ukulele clubs, too. I think my friend Paul said it works out to $1.90 per set of strings...which is a significant savings. Aquila has a better solution for education: colored KIDS strings that end up being about $2.50 per packed shipped in packs of 20 right from Aquila. This really helps instruction on a classroom set of ukuleles (We have 112 of them).
 
My concern always has been using what feels good and looks good and sounds good. I tried baz's fishing line experiment (he even suggests the proper tensions for each course in his video), and it works for me. I've also bought commercial string packs since, including Martins for my tenor. I've tried several varieties of Aquilas. The nylguts that came with my Firefly are fine. The ones on my Koa Flea were muddy and dull, so I swapped them out with fishing line within a couple of weeks. Very happy now.

If I ever run out of fishing line, I may return to individual string packs, but that issue isn't likely to come up any time soon.

If you have some sort of status-related issue accepting that your $15-$20 pack of strings may simply be high-grade fishing line that's been carefully tested, sorted, and packed for your convenience, then I've got nothing for you.
 
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"Flurocarbon is a cross-linked chain" with frayed ends?

Nylon and flurocarbon are indeed different in many ways - but cross-linking isn't one of them. Please don't try to give the group a lesson in polymer chemistry, since you apparently aren't up to the task.

Nylon: It's straight. It will always grow linearly, and then gets wadded up in a glob
US20070107145A1-20070517-C00001.jpg


Flourocarbon:
From left to right, you can see what happens when it polymerizes and gets longer. It starts to branch and bind back to itself.
cfchain.jpg


If you want to think of it.. like untangling xmas lights. A straight line (nylon) of lights will pull more, than a net light.
FC is like a net of carbon, and if you were to cut it from a sheet, the frayed ends are replaced with fluorine atoms
 

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Nylon: It's straight
View attachment 104358


Flourocarbon: It's branched, and linked
View attachment 104359
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If you want to think of it.. like untangling xmas lights. A straight line of lights will pull more, than a net light.

None of those structures that you've posted are branched (one is substituted, which isn't the same thing, and two are alicyclic, not branched), and they also aren't the polyvinylidene fluoride used to make the fishing line - so what's the point? (For background, I do know a little bit about this sort of thing, being a Ph.D. polymer chemist retired from Dow Chemical with 40 years experience.)
 
None of those structures that you've posted are branched (one is substituted, which isn't the same thing, and two are alicyclic, not branched), and they also aren't the polyvinylidene fluoride used to make the fishing line - so what's the point? (For background, I do know a little bit about this sort of thing, being a Ph.D. polymer chemist retired from Dow Chemical with 40 years experience.)

Ugh... perfluoro2methylpentane is branched. just look at it.
I dont see why youre so dead set on trying to say Im wrong.

The point I make is a valid point. They are functionally different, and I may not have used precise terminology in trying an uncomplicated explanation with terms of spaghetti, and nets vs strings because when making a point to a non-technical audience, thats what you do.

It wasnt meant to be a technical abstract for a chemical journal.
 
Glad we got that all settled, again. Now on to more important subjects, like what's better high G or low G...:smileybounce: :shaka:
 
ok, so how much string tension and what diameter of fluoro uke strings should I use to garrote myself?

or should I just use Seaguars fishing line or piano wire?

j/k :)

:nana:
 
ok, so how much string tension and what diameter of fluoro uke strings should I use to garrote myself?

or should I just use Seaguars fishing line or piano wire?
:nana:

This was actually my point. Things are things. Anything that can be used for something becomes that thing based on it's useage, not because it was "intended" for that.
The OP was is fishing line uke string, or vice versa.

If you had a long enough uke string, you could catch fish with it.
And you can string a uke with fishing line, which then makes it a uke string.

Either way, it's plastic extruded through pretty much a pasta machine.

Just like the old gut strings were not born strings, but intestines.
 
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