Best Ukulele Strings (2020)

hi I'm Alex from the southern ukulele

store and today we are going to take a

bit of an overview look at aquila

ukulele strings so it's quite a few

different types here and not all of them

will be relevant to you

some of these actually are not

necessarily relevant to anybody anymore

let me explain why

the first type of string that we're

going to look at today is the most

popular Aquila string this is known as

new Naga this is an aquatic Knology Naga

meaning nylon gut it's a synthetic

material usually colored white if it's

it this package should be colored white

and that will be the string that 90% of

you had on your first ukulele unless

you've been playing more than 10 years

in which case it may have been something

different but Akula have found a place

in the market that no one else really

has they've managed to get their string

on pretty much every ukulele under 300

pound this probably goes back to the

earlier days of the ukulele boom where

players were going on ukulele forums or

review websites popped up and quite

rightfully said that I bought this

ukulele but it just doesn't sound as

good as it could no I managed to get a

set of these Akeelah AK wheeler that's

another point I bring up in a second

Akeelah a coiler strings and they're

fantastic they've improved the

intonation you could only sounds better

all of that was true and a good setup

would have also remedied the problem so

ik wheeler in their own way managed to

find a shortcut for manufacturers where

they wouldn't necessarily have to try as

hard getting the instrument out the door

to get a better string a better sound

from a better string so if you have ever

tried black nylon strings or clear nylon

strings and then compared them to a qui

lers you'll know that the nylon string

is very stretchy so beginners ukulele

with nylon strings by the time it left

the factory the strings were still

stretching

and quite often they never found their

their place where is the acquiesce you

pop them on and within a couple of days

the ukuleles harmonically resonant

unhappy with itself so now guy is a

fantastic material if you want to get

the best out of a cheaper instrument and

some high-end instruments has no doubt

but that brings me on to the negatives

there are negatives about Nile gut

strings they do have a tendency to make

a lot of instruments that should sound

very different sound the same

now I a few years back I did a test for

a customer where I recorded a ukulele

that was 800 pound with AK wheelers on

and I recorded the ukulele was a hundred

pounder the coolers on and they could

tell the difference between the two when

I switched back to the fluorocarbon

strings that was on the 800 pound

ukulele originally they definitely

preferred it and ultimately it convinced

them not to put a queen US on that

ukulele anymore so now Gert has its

place but if you're finding that it's a

little bit underwhelming don't be afraid

to try something new and aquila probably

know that because they keep producing

new types of string and I believe the

chap called me Moe the man the kind of

mad professor that owns runs and designs

Akula strings from Italy

he can't stop making new strings and

tinkering with his formula hence why

this is known as new no ger because it

precedes the original Nile gut string

which I honestly could never tell the

difference between the two but MIMO

obviously can and these are very good

strings to get going these will be the

strings that if someone that your

ukulele group goes Oh rubbish I tell you

what you want to get a set of those are

clean of strings

that's the shrinks they're talking about

unless they tell you otherwise

so that's new Nile gut I'm gonna have a

sip of my drink and we'll start on the

next one okay so the second set strings

here you heard of new noggin

now I've just talked about it at late

what about super naga

now super naga is a strange material in

itself it's slightly different to your

standard nile gut string but where does

it come from and what makes it so super

well the official story for this is the

upgraded version of our famous now guts

super now that string has a charming

natural pearl color and a very smooth

and polished surface feeling it's less

stretchy than any previous version of

Naga stable and quicker to tune when you

super now get is stronger and does not

suffer damage from sharp edges of the

nuts or marks from frets or nails that's

the official version and that is all

true but my understanding of where super

naga originated is with canele ukuleles

or can Alea if you are getting upset by

my pronunciation I'm terrible is it

Aquila is it Aquila does it matter

MIMO doesn't mind if I call it Aquila so

super naga is all of those things but

the origin of it lies with kana leia

ukuleles I believe that for about 15

years now kara Leia are the kind of

first and now probably the only Hawaiian

ukulele brand to use Aquila as their

string of choice but with the issues of

that new Naga and Naga causes comes that

kind of plasticy kind of cheaper sound

and I know kind of layer liked the look

of the white strings on their koa

ukuleles so they talked to Equator about

developing a new set for them that later

evolved into these super nile gut

strings but before these became

commercially available I used to see

these strings on the kinda layers now

I'm going to do a little zoom in while

I'm talking on the super nile gut string

against the new nile gut string and

you'll see it's slightly different in

color but honestly you've got to be a

little bit of a magician and a little

bit magic to know the difference I can

only really tell the difference by feel

I mean they really are smoother so if

you're finding that you like to move up

the fretboard a bit quicker then I think

the super now gets probably more for you

than the Naga which can feel a little

bit sticky by comparison

yeah I love super Naga there are other

ukuleles that I've seen used these in

the past

include eastman some of the for a short

while a couple of martin ukuleles came

with them Matan matin yeah i mean quite

a few brands have trialed these strings

and deemed that they are worthy of their

instruments so give them a try if you've

not tried them before I like the super

Nagas they've definitely got their place

in the market and for the one pound

difference between these and normal Nile

gut strings I do find that they stay

fresher for longer so if you like a

queen err and you've never tried the

super naga it's maybe that should be

your next you next ring change and

moving quickly on to the while on the

subject of super naga let's move quickly

onto the Aquila

lava brown strings now these are the

same string as the supernal gap strings

but they are dyed the kind of dark

charcoal color the Aquila packet says a

gray black string colored with a touch

of mother-of-pearl inspired by volcanic

rocks our new lava series naturally

inspired by a volcano and Hawaiian

symbol of new life is our respectful

homage to the Hawaiian people who made

the ukulele worldwide famous and share

their happiness with thousands of people

all around the world the lava sea

restrings maintain the same identical

mechanical and sound properties of our

famous white pearl super nugget string

this is all true some people just take

the look of the white strings if you

hate the look of the white wheeler

strings but love how they feel and sound

then the lavas are the string for you so

we've covered these let's talk about the

Aquila red strings the Equator heads are

the most divisive marmite string on the

market when they first came out I

remember vividly tearing what I had of

my hair at the time out with Rob the

owner of the shop and police manager

shop before me because every single

person who bought a set of these Aquino

red strings found that the first batch

they snapped within a few days now this

has improved over time but these strings

have kind of been labeled as the string

Lee you

if they work for you keep using them but

if they snap quickly once don't try them

again we keep doing the Reds despite

their reputation because there are some

players out there that can make a set

last for two or three years which is

crazy when you consider that most

ukulele strings alone should probably be

changed if you're playing daily kind of

after 8 to 12 months the red strings are

a bit different to the standard Naga and

the super Niall girl they haven't almost

like a slight resistance on the fingers

when you play them and Samwise they're

ever so slightly mellower than the

normal equations when they first came

out they were very very popular for jazz

players anyone playing a tenor in low G

would give these a try they were and

continue to be a good alternative to

something like the worth brown strings

or a poly gut string which I'll talk

about shortly a queen of themselves they

described these strings quite

differently to how I audibly hear them

and choose to recommend them to people a

cruller like to say that these strings

have a unique feeling and a strong

consistent sound until recently it was

necessary to increase the strings gauge

to get a lower pitch tone our

revolutionary new approach changes the

specific weight of this material

increasing it progressively to leave the

gauge almost unchanged the result is

amazing instruments sound brighter more

powerful and more responsive for the

entire range of the fretboard so that's

probably why they're a little bit more

prone to snapping if you tune up to

pitch and you've got a string the

slightly higher tension and you play

with any kind of force then you're gonna

find that the string is in slight

turmoil it can sound fantastic but I

personally disagree with a coiler zone

description and the purpose that they

will fill these strings belong to you I

mean they are good strings but they are

certainly better for and mellow a player

and give the red to try once and like I

said the rule is you know if you try

them and they snap within the first

couple of days then they're probably

allergic to your ukulele

but yeah they're not a perfect string

but like in the guitar world where you

get players that love silk and steel

strings and some people that only use

nickel wound strings against steel wound

strings you know it's horses of course

as everyone's got their own preference

their own sound and what they want to

hear from their ukulele and this could

be it

okay so let's talk about the Aquino

sugar strings this is the newest thing

that Aquila are doing and we love them I

personally use these on my ukulele they

have their faults like any string but

they are truly unique they don't feel

quite like a fluorocarbon string the

reason for the name sugar comes from how

they're made they are made they're like

a bioplastic string that's derived from

sugarcane so it's a completely unique

feel a completely unique sound it's

bright like a fluorocarbon string but

has some depth to it I highly recommend

these for the low G because the worm

strings are wound over that she became

material and I find that they have more

sustain then kind of classical guitar

style wild string a queen of describe

these as being these give the ukulele

brightness very similar to Fleury carbon

strings promptness of attack amazing

sustain great and powerful dynamic Tom

bruh and a very easy for bharata and

that's all true I mean I'm not the most

expressive player in the world but I do

play a lot of finger style and I find

that these strings are amazingly

balanced and they ring out just so well

if you have a solid wood ukulele and you

want some want to try something that has

some kind of I want to say some kind of

eccentric character to it you know it

makes you ukulele sound old and new at

the same time give give these a try I

mean they say as well on the packet that

they have very low moisture absorption

I think the stability kind of under

humidity changes isn't something I've

had to experience and I've had no

customers comment on this but these are

supposedly a string that can handle kind

of traveling so if you are going

traveling soon there's a lot of our

customers are and you're buying you

perhaps try these strings

I mean these are nothing's not been out

that long so I have less to say about

these than some of the others but the

sugar strings if you currently use

something like a Martin Savidge or

daddario fluorocarbon string then these

are whatever tried to slightly different

texture and the downsides of these

strings is that the first few days after

you put them on they squeak so when you

run your hand up down up and down the

fingerboard you get a really nasty high

pitch it's almost like they're treated

with something to keep them fresh and it

maybe it's that maybe it's the moisture

on your fingers or something like that I

don't know but after a couple of days

that wears off and I actually found that

using a little bit of guitar polish that

when I first put them on for a customer

the other day actually got rid of the

problem almost instantly that would be

the only reason not to try these space

unless you're a really really manly

player and you want to be the quietest

person in the room these are these are

very good strings and they really suit

any ukulele give them a try okay so

we're gonna touch on the carbon blacks

now this hair this is a string that

we've sold quite a few of over the last

couple of years but they are now sadly

discontinued the carbon black is

acquiesce attempt at a black

fluorocarbon string so a mellower jazzy

sring AK wheeler like - I think he's

probably a promotional thing they like

to say that their sugar strings aren't

fluorocarbon their carbon blacks are not

black fluorocarbon strings but I think

these are about as true to a dark

fluorocarbon string as you can get I

mean I put these recently on a and I

muir ukulele that I have and I found

that it just really warms the whole

thing up so if you want a kind of

traditional Hawaiian sound all right

these might be worth a try you might not

see these in shops for very long you

know as of October 2008 Iman a film

knees I mean we've got maybe half a

dozen sets left of each but fear not

because if you like them these strings

now appear under a different guys I get

the impression handshake deal went on

with Martin and these strings are now

being made exclusively for Martin

made in Italy packaged in Mexico is what

it says on the back of the packet and is

even and developed exclusively with a

coiler logo on the string packet there

so these are now known as a poly gut

string if you want the codes for them

it's m6a 5rm 610 but basically the same

string just a new incarnation of it give

it a try I mean it's a slightly manner

alternatives of the sugar strings these

probably served as a queen a stepping

stone to get into a flurry Carbon string

even though they don't call it a

fluorocarbon string anyway yeah poly gut

or carbon black as it used to be known

okay so there is one set of strings left

in the Aquila catalog of that I can do

for you today this is the ordering

Guerrero signature set now those of you

that were hoping I'd be doing buy a

nylon I'm sorry but here in the UK we've

not been selling the bio nylon strings

for probably five years I'm not even

sure if they're still in development I

haven't done a lot of research from

outside of the UK I'm sure they're

decent strings but the times we have

them in stock no one wanted them and we

were a little bit underwhelmed by them

so we're gonna talk about this instead

the ordering Guerrero set is a green

nylon string it feels like a clear nylon

string and sounds like a clear nylon

string and when you fit them to the

ukelele it stretches like a clear nylon

string sound wise though it's slightly

deeper it's got a bit more bass to it

they say on the packet that all during

Guerrero and Aquila went back and forth

for three years developing this set and

I can see why they're the perfect set

for a Strummer I wouldn't necessarily

say that they are the best set for a

finger picker if you if you like to play

configure style then perhaps look at

fluorocarbon string or even a Niall gut

string these strings have a lot of

attack but not a great amount of sustain

so if you're even if you're someone

maybe like a form B style player these

might be a good choice for you I don't

know what order in Guerrero uses these

four I played I've seen him play a few

times and I found it to be very much a

hard Strummer you know like almost like

a flamenco stir

guitar player and that makes loads of

sense when you try these strings but if

you're a slow player or somebody that

likes to kind of linger on and hope for

a bit too long these probably aren't the

strings for you okay so that was the

bulk of the Akula string catalog thank

you all of those that have been asking

for this video for a while now

I needed the I needed someone else's

enthusiasm to get around to it I love

talking about ukulele strings but aquila

do such a vast array of strings and

there are such similarities between them

hopefully you can see now why I stalled

on it for a little while I didn't want

to give you guys a bad video and I

wanted to give you good information

hopefully I have this time and if

there's any other strings you want an

in-depth description of don't hesitate

to leave a comment as you can see I read

the comments and when I get time I get

around to responding and fulfilling

those videos yeah if you have any

questions otherwise you feel free to

email us at shop at southern ukulele

store credit UK or you can give us a

call on oh one 202 for 308 - oh I

believe I have a direct email now at a

shop which is Alex a ukulele code at UK

yeah I've been Alex anyway and I look

forward to doing another video again

soon take