Sugary sweet :)
Review by Drew B. on 5 May 2018 review stating Sugary sweet :) I put these on a solid spruce top Islander concert ukulele (sorry if breaching any sort of product placement code, just being specific!). I was curious about the new material, but I wasn't really expecting anything special from them. They feel sort of softer than a set of standard Aquila string, which I'll be comparing to due to their wide use and familiarity. The actual strings density seems different, they bend differently.
Anyway, I found them easier to install than the standard strings that can be annoyingly stiff when trying to do small bends such as the twists at the bridge and, depending on your method, at the tuning pegs. They are more pliable. At standard GCEA tuning they started off with a somewhat high tension, the actual tuning process was pretty straightforward though I think the strings are a bit stretch-ier and required much larger intervals of retuning after gentle manual stretching (pulling string up w/ one finger at bridge and running it up to the tuning peg). Probably also needed a couple more of these stretching assistances, but not noticeably.
Now the strings! This is hands down my favorite low G string I have ever tried, right off the bat. It's much sweeter, less twangy and metallic than the 3 or 4 other types I've played with. The C string possesses most of the same qualities of the G, and I like wise love it. They will probably become the standard two low strings I use if they are comparable on the other size ukes! I suppose it must be something technical like the particular harmonic balance of the material, but they have a lot more of a balanced presence within the sound of 4 string chords. One of my initial thoughts on the first strum was: "My, this is quite bassy!" It's in a pleasant way though, not overwhelming, as said earlier very balanced. Picked on their own they maintain that presence and ring longer than standard strings, but they are softer and mellow. Less like the traditional plucky ukulele sound, if that makes sense.
The next, top two strings lose a noticeable amount of the qualities possessed by the lower two. They are also quite quite, requiring more emphasis in strums and especially when plucked in pairs with lower strings for example. When it's just the two, in direct comparison the higher string gets overpowered by the lower if picked with the same amount of force.
As a whole, these strings resonate more and longer, eg they ring/sound for longer than the standard set. After a very brief "set in" phase of playing them, the tension eases up a bit and all of the strings are much easier for me to perform bends with, they also are easier to do good sounding hammer ons and hammer offs, requiring less effort to produce a tone. One final, surprising note, is that I am able to produce audible harmonics far more easily at the 12th and 7th frets if course but also able to get some at the 5th consistently with some practiced precision, and even more surprisingly at the 3rd-ish fret! But not with enough consistency to be useful, and also barely audible to anyone but yourself in a quiet room. Still, not something I've ever encountered in not metal strings and worth mentioning.
Conclusion? If you couldn't tell, I love these strings, at least on concert as that's all I've tried so far. They are highly capable strings, I enjoy the subtle mellowness they brought to the typically very bright tone of a spruce top though on that note I'm not sure what I'd think of them on a more mellow mahogany uke for example. I am also probably going to be changing the top two, higher pitch strings to some with a little more volume. I like them for the most part, particularly playing melodic lines on them, but the melody tends to get slightly lost amid the fuller low end of the sound. I'll post an update if I have any notable additions!
Hopefully you didn't mind the length, I just figure these might catch a few eyes as a newer product and if I were apprehensive about buying a product so new it had only one review I'd want it to be a thorough one. Also these are definitely worth a shot, you might be surprised, and maybe you'll even love them as much as me :)
On Aquila Sugar 153U Concert Ukulele Strings Low G (1 wound), Full Set
