Aquila Soprano Ukulele New Nylgut Strings Fifths Tuning 30U

The quality is of course like any Aquila string, which I appreciate the intonation and texture of greatly- the etched surface aids no nail playing. But the fifths tuning is a very valuable tool for the seasoned ukulele player. Theres a wonderful expansion which happens in this interval where composition becomes very free. Where in the traditional tuning and other instruments in fourths repeating repertoire comes most naturally. The fifths tuning allowed my instrument to lead my ear into more intimate understanding of the soul of my ukulele in turn bettering my flourishes when playing standard.

I put them on a knife ukulele for my great grand daughter and Sounds like mandolin only better!

Love that this option is available (5ths/Mando tuning). I had an issue with shipping and Strings By Mail provided first class resolution and customer service. Thank you SBM!

The strings look great, I can't wait to try them out. Thank you so much, and I look forward to doing business with you folks again.

Tim

I bought these because I wanted to learn mandolin but didn't feel like spending a couple hundred dollars on an instrument I don't know how to play. I had a ukulele that I wasn't playing much though, so I thought perhaps I could tune it like a mandolin and learn the tuning that way. After looking around a little it seemed like this was the only set of 5ths tuning ukulele strings being sold. They sound great – very loud and clear – and if I switch back to regular ukulele strings I think I'll stick with Nylgut. (As for learning the mandolin, it's going pretty well. I just think of it as one more fret per string than the guitar. A real mandolin is a lot harder on the left hand due to the double-course steel strings of course, but I'm a lot less reluctant to buy one now.)

A few reviews mentioned concerns about the E string snapping. I read Aquila USA's FAQ about gut strings (not Nylgut, but I imagine a similar principle applies) which says to tune them up to a minor third below nominal & leave them overnight before fully tensioning them. They also recommend to slacken the highest string by around a whole step when you're not playing. I've been doing that & had no problems with string breakage in the couple of months I've had them on. (I also suspect that rough edges on the nut or bridge might cause problems for some people.)