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Karl Monetti
`Olu`olu
USA
756 Posts |
 Posted - 01/21/2009 : 10:53:05 AM
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OK, what are your favorite brands of uke strings? I like the look of ko'olau golds, but the wound string looks like rusty baling wire!
What are the BEST strings you can get?
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Karl
Frozen North |
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marzullo
`Olu`olu
USA
923 Posts |
Posted - 01/21/2009 : 3:39:43 PM
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aloha karl, long time no see...
i like ko`oalu golds. that puts me in the minority, but i love their feel. my wound string looks okay, you sure it just isn't covered with hoare frost?
a lot like aquila, and they're good, but not my favorite.
mark nelson likes rotosound, and mark sounds awfully good. but he's one of those high-G fans and i'm a low-G guy (it impresses the ladies). last i checked, they only had high-G sets. the wild colors are a big plus.
aloha,
keith
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Karl Monetti
`Olu`olu
USA
756 Posts |
Posted - 01/22/2009 : 07:41:41 AM
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Keith,
The wound string on my ko'olaus is an ugly flat, salt and pepper gray. They sound good, but why couldn't they have used a color closer to gold?
I have found there is a HUGE difference in the sound of ukes with different strings. The second one i made sounded terrible; I only could find cheap black strings. I noticed the string tension was much lower than on the first one i made, for which I had found Aquilas. I just got some Aquilas in and put a set on the "poor" sounding uke, and it now sounds like the other one; great!
No more cheap strings for me. |
Karl
Frozen North |
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Mark
Ha`aha`a
USA
1628 Posts |
Posted - 01/22/2009 : 08:17:06 AM
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quote:
mark nelson likes rotosound, and mark sounds awfully good. but he's one of those high-G fans and i'm a low-G guy (it impresses the ladies). last i checked, they only had high-G sets. the wild colors are a big pl
That must be some other Mark Nelson (and believe me, there are dozens of 'em... google "Mark Nelson + music" and see what I mean).
I use either Aquilas with a Hi, or Guadalupe Custom Strings. The multicolored wound ones. I use both Hi and Lo G on tenors... I keep the rez & the Tele in Lo G. The Guadalupe lo G sets have a non-colored G string -- nothing a few deft twists with some colored markers can't fix. |
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Karl Monetti
`Olu`olu
USA
756 Posts |
Posted - 01/22/2009 : 9:05:49 PM
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Whoa, Mark, you have a telecaster uke??? Or, was that, you have Tele Savalas' uke?
And a resophonic/resonator? I'd love to see them.
Two winters ago a musician friend of mine went to Hawaii and came back with two ukes. Right away he put out feelers for a Ukulele Users Group. The first week we had over a dozen ukers who came out of the woodwork. Some had know there was a ukulele somewhere in the house that Uncle Fudd used to play, others were actually players.
Man, there were some wild and wolly ukes there! Of the dozen, only 4 or 5 were traditional looking. There were two banjo ukes, one airplane, a pineapple, one looked like mandolin! It was really neat to see. And hear! Man, those ukulele orchestras of yore must have been something to behold. Of course, they were probably in tune! That would have made a huge difference.
The UU Group stayed together thru the first summer. I just played guitar, hoping someone wold know some hawaiian songs. Only one did, Lovely Hula Hands, and she came only one time, played it, and never came back, so we lost that one. THe rest wanted to play standards, including Mack the Knife! So, I taught them Little Red Riding Hood (Sam The Sham) and a few other goofy songs. I really wanted to sing Tiptoe Thru the Tulips, but they would have none of it.
Since then I actually have met a group of hawaiian guys who play a lot of island music and occassionaly to shows, weddings, benefits. Lots of fun. But, they won;t let me sing Tiptoe Thru the Tulips either! |
Karl
Frozen North |
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Earl
`Olu`olu
USA
523 Posts |
Posted - 01/23/2009 : 05:12:47 AM
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For the BUG (Boise Ukulele Group) "Tiptoe" is about the only song on the semi-official frowned upon list. It seems to be almost universal. It's actually not a bad little song, if you can purge your brain of the Tiny Tim version. Sort of like Neil Young songs. I like many of them if someone other than Neil Young sings them.
I too like Ko'olau golds. Aquila Nylgut seems to be the other favorite. I have some Worth strings to convert one of my tenors to a low G, but have not gotten around to putting them on yet, so no report there. |
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Mark
Ha`aha`a
USA
1628 Posts |
Posted - 01/23/2009 : 08:38:51 AM
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I've always wished Tiny Tim woulda sung some Neil Young songs...
"Down by the river.... I shot my ba-by..bee hee heeheeehheeee"
Karl-- Tele as in 'caster. From KWave... I think they are still available through a few stores, like Elderly. I heard that the Les Paul is gone. That's OK, I've always been more of a Tele-Strat kinda guy.
It sounds great plugged-in, too.
Which gives me the perfect opening to talk about my new CD-- Funtime Uke-A-Rama! I played it through a twangy-blackface amp with tons o' tremolo for that Bakersfield uke-a-banger sound.
Check it out in the "Recordings" section.... |
Edited by - Mark on 01/23/2009 08:42:47 AM |
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hawaiianmusiclover06
`Olu`olu
USA
562 Posts |
Posted - 01/23/2009 : 1:26:46 PM
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I had the aquilas strings on my Kala concert uke, then I changed it to the D'Addario porte Arte's strings. They are the best strings in my opinion.
Alana :) |
Aloha Kakou, maluhia a me aloha mau loa (Hello everyone, peace and love forever) |
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mpi_50
Lokahi
USA
133 Posts |
Posted - 01/23/2009 : 2:17:35 PM
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| I've always been happy with black diamonds. |
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cpatch
Ahonui
USA
2187 Posts |
Posted - 01/23/2009 : 2:42:10 PM
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Check out the following video, in which 5 different sets of strings are compared on the same uke:
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=DSgV6POe9nI |
Craig
My goal is to be able to play as well as people think I can. |
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Teri
Aloha
USA
19 Posts |
Posted - 01/23/2009 : 6:23:28 PM
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| Okay guys. I like the Worth clear on my tenor. I have used the Ko'olau gold and they were nice but the Worth are better and seem to stay in tune better. I am not a fan of the Aquilas so I put them on my Hilo tenor and they are okay. I think you have to go with what feels good and sounds right. I actually ordered about 3 sets of strings and put them on my ukulele till I found the ones I liked. |
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Karl Monetti
`Olu`olu
USA
756 Posts |
Posted - 01/24/2009 : 08:41:11 AM
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| Thanks everyone, I will try the brands mentioned, many of which i never heard of before now. |
Karl
Frozen North |
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kaleponi
Aloha
4 Posts |
Posted - 01/26/2009 : 2:59:54 PM
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for my 2 cents, Guadalupe strings are the finest string I have used.
I have tried worth and aquigla ? and martin ,on my 1940's martin t-1 tenor.
worth made it sound to soft and the strings would strech to the point it look like
heat got to them.
Guadalupe in L.A. make strings for most latin musicans, like los lobos ect.
and i find them very bright and light |
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Karl Monetti
`Olu`olu
USA
756 Posts |
Posted - 02/26/2009 : 7:56:11 PM
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| OK, now I have tried all the strings suggested. I do like some better than others. The one consistency i find is the inconsistency of the 3rd string. Some of them sort of buzz or just sound dull. The ones with palpably less tension on them seem to be worse. ANybody else have that problem? The worst was a set of Ko'olaus where the third string was wound. |
Karl
Frozen North |
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Pops
Lokahi
USA
387 Posts |
Posted - 03/01/2009 : 07:31:39 AM
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Karl,
I really like the Ko'olau golds on my tenor. I have Aquilla's on one of my concerts and I really them them and Hilo's on another concert and I really like those, also. I have a set of the D'Addario's ("Jake" set) and I'm not wild about them...too much like a guitar string.
Best wishes,
Mark |
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CDon
Aloha
USA
5 Posts |
Posted - 03/02/2009 : 03:10:22 AM
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Are you referring to their custom wound strings or the plain nylons?
Don
quote:
Originally posted by kaleponi
for my 2 cents, Guadalupe strings are the finest string I have used.
I have tried worth and aquigla ? and martin ,on my 1940's martin t-1 tenor.
worth made it sound to soft and the strings would strech to the point it look like
heat got to them.
Guadalupe in L.A. make strings for most latin musicans, like los lobos ect.
and i find them very bright and light
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