Calling Fellow Uke Players - String Info?

Hadn't heard of those strings Phil - interesting though - may just give them a try at some stage - thanks.

For me, it's the high "low" string that give the uke its chirpy, chiming character, especially when strummed. For fingerstyle it can limit arrangements, but it also forces me to think differently and try to exploit the the two fret difference between the outer two open strings for easier melodic lines. Just my preference though.

Sorry, not much of an answer is it?!!

Keith

Well i just managed to book a ticket for myself to go and see The Ukelele Orchestra of Great Britain at the Opera House in Buxton, Derbyshire.

Seen odd bits online, but thought i would go see for myself what the crack is. Will it be my thing or not i dunno?

Anyone else seen them live?

cheers keith - should be interesting

yeah cheers leo - I did notice they used the same jokes on a couple of different stuff I watched. might just get the odd cd or dvd if I get any?

Old thread I know but as I'm new and play the uke, thought I might add some words.

Ken Middleton's Living Water strings are fluorocarbon strings. They are excellent. The tension is very playable on soprano and concert sizes and the strings have a very clear, bell like tone. They lean towards being bright strings and project and sustain well. Most importantly, they intonate well. Lots of ukes suffer from poor intonation, particularly the C string but decent strings sort this out for many.

I put them on a Headford banjolele which came with reasonable nylon strings and suffendly there was tone, projection, separation and stability.

I also have them on a Ron Collins tenor ukulele. After quite a while being happy with the tone, I am itching to try some Worth Browns (also fluorocarbon) as I now feel that I'd like to see if the uke can conjure up just a tad of mellowness to the tone. Also, I want to determine if the ever so slightly stiff action at the first fret will 'change' with a different brand or whether it's a nut tweak modification. I'll probably try them in the Autumn.

All uke strings and especially fluorocarbon ones take a well to settle down. Very annoying but once fluorocarbons settle down, that's that.

Martin - I don't think you'll be disappointed. I love them on my Rob Collins tenor and HeadFord long neck banjolele. I have Worth Browns on my concert and really like them, but when I eventually change them, I'll change them for Living Water. I only want to try Worth Browns on my tenor because I've never tried anything else on it.

Fluorocarbon strings stretch a lot. I think the last set I put on, I wound about 1 1/4 turns on to the tuning peg. By the time they settled in I had over 3 turns on the peg!!!

Which tenor are you hoping for?

Martin,

I'll see if I can take some photos this weekend. In the meantime, it looks not too dissimilar to this one tinguitar.com/gallery/airline-ukulele-in-khaya-spruce/

Rob Collins Airline uke

I've had it a month short of two years now. It's a really nice uke. It is well built and very well set up. Rob is of course an excellent uke player and I'm sure he has a good blast on each and everyone he makes - I mean, I would if I were him. I remember him telling me that the most important thing in building a uke wasn't the tone woods used, but how well it is built. I have a nice Kala mango soprano and a better (though cheaper) Hudson Concert (Cranes of Cardiff). I think the Hudsons are (or were when I got mine) re-badged Kala ukes.

I guess my tenor is a 'custom' order in that it is different to his standard spec of the day - which I think at the time was all meranti. I told him I fancied a cedar top or a spruce top as my Hudson Concert has a spruce top and I liked it. He simply advised a spruce/khaya combination and I left the rest up to him. I waited just over 5 months for it to be built. I have to say that I think it is a bargain.

The neck is meranti, the fretboard is sonokeling rosewood, the bridge and head veneer are sapele. The top is bearclaw spruce and the sides and back are khaya. I also had him fit an Artec PP-404U transducer fitted just in case I ever played through an amp  (I have Roland Cube GX but seldom use it - good little amp though). A hard tenor TGI case from the Southern Ukulele Store fits it like a glove.

The G string nut slot might be a gnat's proverbial too high as I sometimes poorly finger the first fret on this string. It is such a slight thing that I'm going to wait until I try Worth Browns on it before taking any action on the nut. Since I got out the old acoustic to start playing with my daughter a couple of weeks ago, my fretting hand has become stronger and the fretting issue seems to have gone. I am happy to tinker with my other ukes - I made and fitted a bone saddle and bone nut to my Hudson concert. I've savaged the saddle and nut on the Kala soprano to sort out intonation problems and have a couple of bone blanks ready to be made into a permanent fix. I've also had to dress a number of frets on both theses ukes 9and others). My Rob Collins and the £25 pink cheapo I bought for my daughter have been the only two 'perfect' ukes I've ever picked up. Action always seems to be a dog's dinner on ukes - especially imported ones. Having said that, I had a tinkle with a few of the latest Tanglewood ukes recently and I was quite impressed with both the build quality and set up. For any guitar players out there who fancy a uke (and I challenge anyone to play one without smiling), Tanglewoods seem widely available and hard to beat for the price.

Crikey, I can't half ramble on!!

Gav.