and while I am on the subject of links to websites, how could I not recommend
www.ukuleleunderground.com
Great site, loads of lessons and reviews, but by far the biggest star of the show is the forum page. The friendliest (without doubt) forum I have ever been involved with. Whether you are a beginner or an old hand, the guys on this site will love to hear from you.
Sadly, I am nowhere near Taunton, but if I was, I'd be right along. Loads of interesting stuff on this site - and best of all are their songbooks. If you are a Ukulele beginner, you could do a lot worse than download these - I defy you to NOT find a song in their you like. All nicely laid out with chord diagrams too. If you are a beginner and you live in Taunton.... well, you know what to do!
(NOTE - This is a very old Got A Ukulele post from 2009. I used to update it to reflect changes in string brands, but it became an endless task. I therefore consider it a bit out of date! Bear that in mind!)
A bit like guitar, there are a range of strings available for the Uke. If you are a Ukulele beginner and have bought an entry level instrument, the chances are, it will arrive with cheap basic strings on it (usually GHS). You can tell, they will be jet black and shiny, or clear and shiny.
One of the very best upgrades you can make to a cheaper Uke is a string upgrade - probably costing you no more than about £6 or £7.
Now, dont expect to walk into your local music shop and see a huge range - that aint gonna happen. The internet, and ebay, is your friend however. As for which, it's hard to recommend a perfect string for everyone, simply because such a thing doesn't exist. The thing is, we all have different ukulele, different playing styles, different tastes and different ears. There is no one size fits all. What may suit one person may not suit another. The answer is to experiment.
A couple of brands that you may come across include:
Aquila - Italian made from a substance called nylgut, which attempts to recreate the properties of real gut that instruments used to be strung with. They are pretty thick, and are not slippy - have a kind of rough coating. They are white and opaque. make sure you get the right set for your size of instrument (ie soprano, tenor etc), and choose high or low G string.
In my view, Aquilas are superb strings, particularly at bringing cheap ukuleles to life - they are loud, have loads of bell like sustain and are quite bright sounding. Some people, however, dont like them - they are thicker than some strings, and if you are an absolute beginner, they can hurt the fingers. The rough coating can also make a noise when you slide your fingers on them that some people dont like. For me though, as a guitar player - my fingers are used to the soreness, and the noise you get from wound strings. If they dont sound right for you, take a look at the next suggestion.
Worth - these are Japanese strings, and come in a bewildering range of styles. As well as size styles, they come in different thicknesses, and two colours (brown and clear). I personally like the Brown Mediums, labelled as BM (well... duh!). These strings are thinner than Aquilas, and are smooth in finish (so slippy). I think they also have less tension, and are easier on the fingers. They sing better than Aquila to my ears when picked, but I prefer Aquilas when strummed. - Horses for courses I suppose. They work very well on mahogany instruments. Some say there is no difference between the brown and clear strings, but to my ears, the brown are mellower. Worths generally I find are a mellower sound than Aquila.
Others - you will probably struggle in the UK to find much else to buy - but if you do see others, try out Martin flourocarbons - nice strings apparently. I think the key is to go for flourocarbon strings, not nylon.
To be honest though, there are SO many and you want to know what I use don't you? I use these. Seriously!
Have fun - but I do urge you - if you have an entry level instrument with cheap strings - upgrade - it is well, well worth the effort.
My latest acquistion - handmade, solid wood Uke from Germany - the Bruko No.6. Really like the looks, very bright sound - dont see many of these about!
------------------------------
Since posting this, have actually sold this uke - too many ukes not getting played, so off to the great ebay in the sky! - allowed funds to go towards the newest acquistion - yes, yes, I know that is self defeating and makes no sense, but what have you gotta do?....
Then bought a beautiful Mainland Concert Scale mahogany - no idea how they make these for the price - all solid instrument -really warm sound, and unique looks!
Introduction to my Ukes - Part 1 - My Fluke Flea - in Purple. Wonderful instrument - plastic back, laminate top, plastic (yes plastic) fretboard - but it has a wonderful wonderful sound all of its own.
If you enjoy this blog, donations are welcomed to allow me to invest more time in bringing you ukulele articles. Aside from the Google ads, I don't get paid to write this blog and for reasons of impartiality a not sponsored by brands or stores. Your donations all go back into the site to allow me to keep bringing you reviews, and in the end the ukuleles acquired are given to local schools and charities.
