D'Addario Tenor Ukulele Strings, Nyltech, EJ88T, 4-String Set, Pack of 1

As a new Ukulele player, I purchased a very inexpensive concert size ukulele here on Amazon. (Under $60.00) in January 2024. I wanted to experiment with a different string set to see if the Ukulele overall sound would improve. I decided to purchase a set of D'Addario Black Nylon strings. I strung them, tuned them and began to play. Like all strings they needed time to settle requiring constant tuning and stretching. For three weeks of playing about 2 hours daily, they sounded dull and lifeless with average tonation. Dissapointed, I began to consider alternative.Suddenly, seemingly out of nowhere, the sound changed dramatically. Bright projection, excellent tonality and a warm feel when playing them. My point is, I know LOVE these strings and I am happy I had the patience to not dismiss them right away. Maybe it took longer for them to stretch/settle than other strings? I'm not sure but for all of the other new players out there, give your new strings time and play often. You will be happy with the results.

I bought four sets of these to use on century-old tenor banjos I’ve reworked slightly to use as baritone banjo-ukuleles. (Their 11” pots make them sound MUCH better than baritone banjo-ukes with eight inch pots.) It is 31” from tailpiece to the farthest tuner. I tried some more expensive fluorocarbon strings, but they were two inches too short. Gold Tone baritone banjo-uke strings fit, BARELY, but they are quite heavy and so quite thump, rather than having a clear ring to them. These strings have an extra six inches of string! They tuned up easily. I liked the tone at once. Fluorocarbon strings, like nylon strings, stretch a bit over several days, and the tone quality definitely improves over three or four days as the string tension increases. Even at this point, however, I like these strings a lot. (Where I live there is a banjo-uke jam every week that has over forty players. I’m fixing these up to resell at cost to people who want quality instruments. I also play five-string banjo with nylon strings on it, and I perform on plectrum banjo. Check out my book called DGBE: Playing Chords All Over the Neck. Available here.)

Update: I was contacted by D'Addario the day after I wrote my initial review and was absolutely taken care of by George in customer serviceAfter I received a new set of strings and stretched them in, I must say I'm impressed they have good presence, tone and are comfortable on my fingers to playOkay I was all excited about trying these D'Addario Titanium strings on my new Kala KA-B baritone ukulele. I put them on and was just stretching them in and the D string broke, right in the middle (very odd) I Didn't even get one song on them.I am a long time guitar technician and know my way around changing strings and many other things.I did email D'Addario and hoping they just send another set. I was going to review them here and on my YouTube channel but now I'm not so sureI hope D'Addario comes through and they work out, because I'm certainly not going to buy another set of these, unless they do

Quality string.

This review is for the D'Addario Titanium strings on a standard high G tenor ukulele. These strings are not bright. They are MUCH louder than the previous Nylgut strings that were on the instrument. To understand how they are not bright, use your fingernail to tap a piece of plastic on a bottle or some other hard plastic. Then tap a piece of wood. The plastic probably sounded brighter when you made contact and the wood sounded duller. That is how these strings compare. When my fingernails contact these Titanium strings there is no brightness. There is no attack or snap at the higher frequencies. I've heard fluorocarbon strings and don't like the brightness of those. The D'Addario strings are the opposite of those. Dull, no attack. On the other hand they are very loud. They have a punchiness to them.They sound OK. The material is softer than Nylgut. Which makes playing comfortable. On the other hand these strings have a slippery nature. The fingers don't land and remain in place. There is a tiny bit of slipping that requires extra attention.These strings were very difficult to install. No matter how many wraps were put on the ends they kept slipping and losing tune at the bridge. I have many years experience stringing classical guitars. I know how it is done. Classical guitar players use 400-600 grit sandpaper to smooth the fingernails for a better sound. I keep my fingernails smooth for playing ukulele too. To stop the strings at the bridge end from slipping I detached the strings for the third or fourth time and used sandpaper on the last few inches to make them rough. Doing this worked to stop the strings from slipping at the bridge end. Get sandpaper before you begin installing these strings and do the same the first time to save yourself a lot of annoyance.Will I buy these again? If they wear in and become a bit brighter, maybe. That is unlikely to happen but one never knows. Maybe the tone will win me over after a while. The material feels very soft. It might wear a bit and change the tone. These are very loud strings compared to the Aquila Nylgut that were on it. On my instrument some overtones can be heard with hard plucking of the strings. Is that good? It makes tuning a bit more work. It does add to the richness of the tone. My experience with these strings is short. I can say that they are not bright as advertised.Will these strings sound different in different humidity and temperatures? I sometimes use my ukulele at work where I demonstrate products to crowds. It is used to draw a crowd and then the presentation is begun. As weather changed and temperatures changed, my previous set of strings would at times be bright and at others become dull. That is why I changed strings. The last set was getting played over thirty hours per week and just wore out. The loudness of these Titanium strings will be beneficial. In time they'll get a lot of playing. I'll know soon enough if I want to get the same set a second time.