Types of Strings

The type of strings that you decide to put on your ‘ukulele is a matter of preference. The ‘ukulele, being how limited it is in accessories, is fairly reliable on the quality of the strings to improve the sound. A good set of stings can bring out the best, and a bad set will point out the worst. That being said, if you just don’t care about strings, buy some Hilos and replace them when one breaks.

There are a few different kinds of strings:

• Nylon strings are the most common kind of string. This is what GHS and Hilo strings are made out of. Nylon is most susceptible to tuning problems due to temperature.
• Fluoro-carbon is used by Worth.
• Wound stings are mostly used for C and low-G strings. There are a few brands that are making all strings wound. Wound strings squeak and sometimes catch your hand when doing slides.
• Monofilament material is pretty much fishing line.

Low G strings are a topic of hot discussion lately. I personally think they are the way to go.

More and more brands of strings are popping up on the market, and it can be hard to decide what ones to buy. The brands I have played:

Worth – My favorite. These fluro-carbon strings pack more punch than most. They are bright sounding and pull very tight across the fretboard. Endorsed by Koaloha, these strings are used by Herb Ohta Jr., David Kamakahi, and Brittni Paiva. There are two main kinds of strings that Worth makes: brown and clear. The brown strings are supposedly warmer, but I think they sound flat and dead compared to the clears. The clears are what I like. I’m usually a bass/middle frequency guy, I don’t like songs with treble boosted anything. But these strings work for me because my ‘ukulele has such a warm sound, it all balances out. Both kinds of string comes with an optional unwound low G string (yay, no squeaks!) in normal, medium, or heavy tension.

Aquila – Loved by many. These strings are white and made with nylgut. They are very smooth. Unlike Worths which (for descriptive purposes) feel “wet”, the Aquilas feel “dry” to me. Almost to a fault, as I find that the strings sometimes roll out from under my fingers. Aquila strings are not as bright as Worth strings, but they are brighter than Hilo strings.

D’addario J71 Pro Arte – Used by Jake Shimabukuro. More warm than Aquilas, with the “wet” feel of Worths. These strings are clear and made of nylon with a flat warm tone. I like these strings probably second best to Worth. They feel very fat and “there”.

Hilo – The original. Hilo strings were some of the first on the scene. They are kind of “the ‘ukulele strings” and if I ever get frustrated with trying other brands, I know that Hilos will be there. They look black, but are really dark purple (look at them against a light). These are some of the warmest sounding strings available. I would consider these light gauge strings – you can bend they easily. These are what every player should start with in their search for the perfect string. And they’re cheap!

Ko’olau Gold -  While the gold color is neat, I found that the sound was not up to par on other strings. They were really dead sounding. The one thing I did like though was how smooth they felt – even more so than the Worths. I could see how they would work for some people, but they didn’t float my boat.