I have had ukes that I had given up on but with a different set of strings many have become my favorite ukes to play.
Before my recent trip to Hawaii, I was certain I was cedar top tenor, flurocarbon, wound low G player thru and thru. I had my spruce top Tiny Tenor listed, since it wasn't that warm cedar sound I wanted. It didn't sell before my trip, so I held the listing and had some nudges to keep it.
On the HMS podcast ep with Aldrine and Aaron, they had a pretty good string discussion that highlighted that Aldrine and Kalei both often use D'Addario nylons.
When I visited HMS, I asked Kalei what he would suggest for my TT and he pointed out the D'Addario Clear Nylon EJ65T set. I finally put 'em on today and boy was he right! It was a whole new sweetness and I fell back in love! I also tuned down a half step and my goodness. I couldn't put it down!
As the spruce opens up, I'm sure I can experiment more. But for now, I'm so glad things worked out the way they did and I ended up holding onto it.
I don't think I'm a fully changed man, as I still love the warm tones of my cedars, but this spruce with nylon strings has a new place in my heart.
I'll be ordering more nylon sets to try on the cedars too. I'm not sure if they'll be overly warm or if they'll get even sweeter. Either way, I'm excited to keep experimenting, experiencing, and learning!