Nylon fans, assemble!

[BigJackBrass]

This afternoon I had to take the aNueNue Black Tide strings off my Ohana soprano. I honestly thought that the neck must have twisted or something, because the intonation was appalling, even to my cloth ears. Swapping them for Fremont Blacklines reassured me that the uke isn't a write-off: clear, sharp and quite accurate, they made it sound like its old self.

Not wanting to waste the Black Tides, I popped them onto my Flea soprano to see how they fared. Far better, is the quick answer. The sound is much less flabby and the intonation sounds fine. Not sure why they are so ill-suited to the SK-38 but clearly they need pairing very carefully with an instrument. I'd suggest that anything prone to a slightly booming projection (the Ohana is like a drum being vigorously kicked by a Doc Marten boot) should be avoided.

Of course, that's rather moot if they don't make them anymore.

 

[LarryS]

So you mean fishing line!

 

[Dohle]

So you mean fishing line!

If you prefer.

 

[Ziret]

I engaged in a similar experiment and was pleasantly surprised by the AG x AQ strings. I use mostly Uke Logic and Worth so I expected these to be like piano wire.

I do like them very much, especially the feel of the thicker gauge. I play strictly tenors.

I like them too. My experience with nylon is pretty limited, though.

 

[donluca]

Out of curiosity... which nylon/nylgut strings have the lowest tension/thinnest gauge?

I've done some research but they all look very similar to each other and most look like to be Aquila rebranded.

 

[merlin666]

Aquila does not provide gauge information because apparently Nylgut strings stretch a lot and gauge gets smaller as tension increases. For Nylon strings d'addario has detailed information for the three types they have, and the comparison to their carbon and nyltech strings is also interesting. I thought about compiling all their info into one table for posting but didn't get around to it yet.

 

[Dohle]

Out of curiosity... which nylon/nylgut strings have the lowest tension/thinnest gauge?

I've done some research but they all look very similar to each other and most look like to be Aquila rebranded.

As merlin666 mentioned, Aquila doesn't give out their gauges so it's a bit difficult to compare different nylgut strings. Generally speaking, I believe nylgut strings are slightly thinner than nylon strings but, on the other hand, have more tension as well. Clear nylon strings are usually the lowest tension where as black nylon is higher tension. Of course, this is only talking about standard tension strings since you can have high or low tension versions of those as well.

 

[donluca]

As merlin666 mentioned, Aquila doesn't give out their gauges so it's a bit difficult to compare different nylgut strings. Generally speaking, I believe nylgut strings are slightly thinner than nylon strings but, on the other hand, have more tension as well. Clear nylon strings are usually the lowest tension where as black nylon is higher tension. Of course, this is only talking about standard tension strings since you can have high or low tension versions of those as well.

Interesting, so the Ernie Ball clears might be lower tension than Nylguts despite having thicker gauge.

There's a post with Aquila string gauges here

And a huge string comparison is floating around the net, I may have it in the browser history of my laptop, I'll dig tomorrow.

 

[Dohle]

I did a comparison with that chart and D'Addario clear nylon strings for which I took the tensions from D'Addario's website. For concert strings, only the first string with the clear nylons has more tension than the equivalent Aquila Nylgut string. For the other strings, Nylgut strings have more tension. For tenor strings, all Nylgut strings have more tension than clear nylon strings. Soprano strings can't really be compared because the D'Addario clear nylon strings for soprano are meant for D tuning whereas the Nylguts are meant for C tuning. So judging by this, it's not completely universal but generally speaking Nylguts are higher tension despite being (again, generally) thinner. Then again, I don't think it really matters since at least I'm not able to notice such small differences in string tension. It's the same thing with black and clear nylon. Black nylon is generally higher tension but I can feel no difference between them.

 

[donluca]

Well, of course the density of the material used definitely plays a big role here, so the equation thick string = more tension isn't always true.

Moreover, I was under the impression that all the various siiml-nylgut stirngs around (like d'Adddarios) are just Aquila string which get rebranded, so they should be all the same.

It's interesting to see practical examples, now I really want to see if Ernie Ball's uke strings are "slinky"-worthy of their electric guitars siblings

 

[merlin666]

It seems that Aquila type strings have density between nylon and PVDF so they can push tension a bit without getting too thick.

 

[Dohle]

Well, of course the density of the material used definitely plays a big role here, so the equation thick string = more tension isn't always true.

Moreover, I was under the impression that all the various siiml-nylgut stirngs around (like d'Adddarios) are just Aquila string which get rebranded, so they should be all the same.

It's interesting to see practical examples, now I really want to see if Ernie Ball's uke strings are "slinky"-worthy of their electric guitars siblings

The D'Addario Nyltech and other similar strings not under Aquila's own brand are definitely made from the same material but they can still - and often do - have different gauges. Furthermore, I've heard a few mentions that the D'Addario strings specifically have less variation in the gauges than Aquila so they are made more accurately. No idea if that's true but that's what I've heard.

Ernie Ball uke strings are just regular nylon strings. Not bad mind you, I use the clear nylons on my Kamaka at the moment, and I'll probably start using them on my Kanile'a as well since they have a ball end on them.

 

[Graham Greenbag]

Alex at SUS did a video comparison of various popular Fluorocarbon and some Ernie Ball Nylon strings (both clear and black sets) on a Concert Uke.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=5OlM-k3Cwx8

I have reservations about string demonstrations in that I find that it takes a week plus for strings to settle and give of their best. However such videos are indicative and that is helpful.

 

[donluca]

The D'Addario Nyltech and other similar strings not under Aquila's own brand are definitely made from the same material but they can still - and often do - have different gauges.

Interesting! On the italian Amazon the D'Addario Nyltech are actually cheaper than the Super Nylguts, might give them a shot one day.

OT: the uke is really growing on me! It complements my electric guitar in a most amazing way: when I feel like plugging in, fiddling with pedals, amps, etc., I reach for my electric, but for the rest of the time I always make sure to have my uke close to me to just play a bit with it and relax or try some new song. Really enjoying it so far!

EDIT: just listened to the comparison Graham posted and to my own ears it was no contest, like not even close: Ernie Balls clears all the way. I absolutely hated the others which makes me think I have to stay away from the fluorocarbon strings (and probably from 99% of the suggestions on the internet as everyone seems to favor the fluorocarbon over nylon/nylguts).
Just goes to show how personal strings are.

 

[PetalumaRescuke]

Timely topic, I just cleated 4 cracks on a Johny Marvin Tenor (Actually a concert) It had a set of black Hilo Nylons on it. Tuned it up and ran it through a few songs and scales, sounded better than I remembered so I swapped a set of Worth BM on it. First noticed that the tension seemed considerably higher, the sound was brighter, as expected, the chime was also more pronounced. Subjectively I am going to reinstall the Hilo strings.
Question; is there an age limit on strings of any kind other than gut? The Hilo's are at least 15 years old but have no dings.

 

[merlin666]

I think that Nylon gets brittle over time and when exposed to a lot of UV. But this may take place over decades rather than years. I tried out some Mele ukes and really liked their Hilo strings. I guess when they are done you will notice.

 

[Graham Greenbag]

The first part of this general strings video by Alex at SUS talks about nylon strings and gives some interesting insights that somehow I’d either forgotten or had not yet encountered. It’s a long video but it’s all worth listening to and puts some things into better context. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=BuR7Aw8pf6Y

It seems to me, and I might well be wrong, that black/brown strings in general are more mellow than clear ones. How pigmentation physically changes the string is a mystery to me, I’d love to understand that more. What I’m beginning to wonder about now is the way that that mellowness is achieved. My suspicion is that a dark string set takes away / suppresses higher frequency sounds such that the overall sound has less treble in it, however this action also makes the string set quieter than a clear set. Of course if a particular Uke and strings produce more than enough volume already then the reduction in treble to achieve a different sound mix might be perfectly acceptable. Note that not all Ukes respond in the same way to string vibration input and not all strings give the same vibration inputs, it’s a complex interaction and Alex touches on that in his video.

So for clear versus coloured strings of the same size and material ‘mellow’ means quieter and less (removed) treble rather than unaltered volume and a different bass / treble mix. Of course I could be wrong but the Ernie Ball string demonstration in the video a little above (response #33?) supports my idea.

 

[Loska]

Are these strings, UWNY-4-CC by Ortega, familiar or any good? Package says that these were developed in cooperation with Aquila. I wonder would these suit to Kamaka as for now it lacks a bit too much warmth with Uke logics.

 

[clear]

Are these strings, UWNY-4-CC by Ortega, familiar or any good? Package says that these were developed in cooperation with Aquila. I wonder would these suit to Kamaka as for now it lacks a bit too much warmth with Uke logics.

View attachment 129085
View attachment 129086

They are the right color

WRT Aquila New Nylgut, the Kamaka strings feel different.

 

[donluca]

I thought about compiling all their info into one table for posting but didn't get around to it yet.

As promised: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B9XJ7_3iJeaNdTRhYi1LdmN3cUk/edit

I didn't do this, someone else did, can't remember the author, I found it in my browser's history.