Ukulele Strings

Ukulele strings are nylon, not steel, and the two questions that decide which set you need are the size of your instrument and the material you want. Everything else follows from those.

1. Which size ukulele

Our soprano/concert sets fit both sizes, which covers most ukuleles sold — if you are not sure which you have, this is almost certainly the one. Tenor is the next size up, and our tenor set is a low G: the fourth string is wound and tuned an octave below the usual reentrant G, giving you a fuller range and a deeper bottom end for fingerstyle and solo playing. Baritone is the largest, tuned lower again, and it is the ukulele that feels most like a guitar under the hand.

2. Which material

Clear nylon is the traditional choice: bright, balanced, articulate, and the sound most people picture when they think of a ukulele. Black nylon is warmer, with a softer attack and a rounder, fuller tone — the same set with the edges taken off, and a favourite for players who find clear nylon too bright. Titanium goes the other way: brighter still, with more projection, a firmer feel and sharper note definition, for players who want to cut through in a group.

Soprano/concert and baritone are made in all three. The low G tenor set is clear nylon.

Gauges

W marks a wound string. Gauges are not in ascending order, because a ukulele is tuned re-entrantly — the fourth string sits higher in pitch than the third, which is what gives the instrument its bright, chiming chord sound. The low G tenor set is the exception, and that is the point of it.

How Ukulele compares to our other specialty sets

These are our ukulele sets. For other nylon-strung instruments we make Classits classical guitar sets and vihuela sets. If you also play a course-strung instrument, our mandolin, bouzouki, and bajo sexto and quinto sets are all loop end.

Made in the USA.