Nylon folk guitar strings?

Replies

Henry Strat-o-varius Lowman February 13, 2011 at 11:02am

Yes, and yes. I use 20, 30 and 80 lb test.
MichaelS Country Boy Guitars February 13, 2011 at 10:57am

Nice location on the tuners Henry, I should have guessed that was one of yours. Do fishing lines come in enough different gauges? And do they stay in tune as well as "real" guitar nylon strings? Curious minds want to know.
Henry Strat-o-varius Lowman February 12, 2011 at 11:50pm

Nope.
colin mcgrath February 12, 2011 at 12:58pm

That bolt doesn't cut into the lines?
Henry Strat-o-varius Lowman February 12, 2011 at 12:32pm

I used nylon fishing line on this one. Same idea.
Henry Strat-o-varius Lowman February 12, 2011 at 12:31pm
colin mcgrath February 12, 2011 at 12:27pm

That is a plus about the nylon, is the ease on ones fingertips. No bloody trails on those necks.
David L. February 12, 2011 at 12:07pm

I didn't like the feel of uke strings on my soprano uke and also wanted to stick to regular guitar tuning and chords so used hard tension classical strings and used the string meant for two strings up on the guitar so

                   Uke       Guitar string

                    e                G

                    B                D

                    G                A

                    D                E

Sounds good on the little uke (I also lowered the action quite a bit).

Also on two of my regular guitars I found the steel strings a bit tough for my fingers so used classical strings with ball ends and they work a treat.
Mark Werner February 12, 2011 at 11:05am

Nylon strings have but half the tension of typical steel strings, and nylon-string guitars are made taking this into account with thinner tops, lighter bracing, etc.

I too used nylon on my uke, and they sound pretty good but as noted, a bit on the quiet side. (of course, you can amplify...)

It might be interesting to take a box with a solid top and reduce it considerably by thickness-planing or whatever; then add some light bracing and try nylon...
colin mcgrath February 12, 2011 at 10:48am

I did on my uke size one. Had a nice tone but was a little too soft for the sound I like. I'd say it is worth trying. I will just keep the nylon for my classical git.