Seaguar Fishing Line

[Jerryc41]

Baz recently changed the strings on a Pickapick, and there was a substantial improvement in sound. He used Seaguar Blue Line fishing line. I've heard people mention using fishing line quite a few times. I don't think I'm going to do this, but if I did, what size line would I have to get? The cost would be much greater than buying individual string sets.

Amazon.com : Seaguar Blue Label Fluorocarbon Fishing Line

 

[badhabits]

Baz also has a video and a post on that. Been discussed a bunch here too. Lots of recipes out there.

Something Fishy? Fishing Line as Ukulele Strings

Leading ukulele and musical instrument review blog including beginners tips, chords and clear advice guides for uke players

www.gotaukulele.com

 

[man0a]

Here is an interesting website discussing what weights of Seaguar have similar gauges to some popular name-brand ukulele strings. https://ukukee.wordpress.com/2015/09/11/useful-for-fans-of-fluorocarbon-ukulele-strings/

 

[Knows Picker]

I'm no expert, but I kept popping regular nylon strings. I was admittedly trying to exceed the break strength (21 inch scale and 440Hz).

Just to try it I used some regular old 40lb monofilament that I had been using for catfish leaders. I was just messing around to see if it would work until I could dream up something better. I have to say it works so well I haven't changed it since. The tone and volume are consistent with the existing strings that were on there.

 

[man0a]

I'm no expert, but I kept popping regular nylon strings. I was admittedly trying to exceed the break strength (21 inch scale and 440Hz).

Just to try it I used some regular old 40lb monofilament that I had been using for catfish leaders. I was just messing around to see if it would work until I could dream up something better. I have to say it works so well I haven't changed it since. The tone and volume are consistent with the existing strings that were on there.

You used the same 40lb line for all 4 ukulele strings or just for the A or G strings?

 

[Knows Picker]

Just for the A that kept popping.

 

[Knows Picker]

The instrument is actually a 1921 Orpheum No. 1 tenor banjo. And based on the website calculator of a well-known Italian string maker, I was just a little bit over the break point. So the table is accurate!!

 

[UkerDanno]

The cost would be much greater than buying individual string sets.

I agree, that's why I would never try this, and you're stuck with all the same strings all the time...forever!

 

[merlin666]

Baz also has a video and a post on that. Been discussed a bunch here too. Lots of recipes out there.

Something Fishy? Fishing Line as Ukulele Strings

Leading ukulele and musical instrument review blog including beginners tips, chords and clear advice guides for uke players

www.gotaukulele.com

Thanks for sharing. As for cost one can always cut and package and create your own string brand. Then the math should be if you sell a pack at $8 profit how many spools do you have to turn over to sustain your hobby/survive/become a millionaire?

 

[Kenn2018]

Years ago, the "music director" for our uke club asked if people wanted to get together to buy some reels of Seagaur line and divide it amongst themselves. I think he had 12 or 14 people buy in. They were quite happy with the strings and they each had enough for quite a few instruments.

I believe someone recently posted about the differences between the pink leader line and the blue reel strings.

 

[Wiggy]

Deleted... found my answer in man0a's reply.

 

[M3Ukulele]

I’m curious on the article showing Red label for high g set and red/ace for low G. the blog says they are like Living Waters strings. I am wondering if they are low tension or height tension. I purchased a spool of .20mm pink Fluro fishing line for A strings. I found the Pink to be OK but too high a tension. Anybody using this Red or Red/Ace formula?

 

[Knows Picker]

Ya'll don't have spools and spools of fishing line just laying around on the workbench?

I guess most ukulele players must be into "noodling."

 

[Graham Greenbag]

Baz recently changed the strings on a Pickapick, and there was a substantial improvement in sound. He used Seaguar Blue Line fishing line. I've heard people mention using fishing line quite a few times.

Thanks Jerry for starting this thread, I’d have otherwise missed Baz’s interesting experiment.

In my own experience strings can make a huge difference to what a Uke sounds like. The wrong strings can hobble a Uke and the right ones can give it ‘wings’, low cost Ukes are often fitted with the first rather than the second type. I think manufacturers’ string choice is often down to counterproductive cost cutting, and maybe some ignorance too. Just because a company make Ukes doesn’t mean that they have a suitably good and practical knowledge of how they are used and how their product might be developed - things other than the manufacturing process are also important.

Like most folk I don’t have reels of fishing line on my work bench, but I can buy new packaged string sets and do keep part used sets for future experimental purposes. A set of fluorocarbon Martin M600’s is reasonably priced here in the U.K. and cheaper again in the USA so, for those that want to, results similar to Baz’s aren’t that hard to near enough replicate. Other comparable brands are available, etc.

I get that Baz can’t modify (to play better) every Uke that he tests and that he’s got to award merit points on what he’s actually playing, the Uke in his hands. Although I don’t follow his weekly tests I do read them from time to time and find them a helpful first guide. On the other hand, just as an able enough owner, I’ve transformed many cheap and poor sounding Ukes with a decent set-up and reasonable replacement strings. Admittedly that’s work that no buyer should need to do, and work that many people aren’t able to do, but it has allowed me to have suitably nice sounding and playing instruments without spending a lot of money.

As above I value what Baz has to say and appreciate the obvious constraints that he works within. However, when I read and listen to his reviews, I now also wonder how much better particular instruments might sound after a bit of ‘corrective’ work on them. Baz’s fitting of the Seaguer strings to the Pickapick makes a very useful start on answering that difficult question.

 

[SebastianF]

If you don't want to spend the money on 4 rolls of Seaguar or whatever brand fluro fising line, I would suggest looking into the Savarez Alliance KF Carbon strings.

They are made by the same corporation (Kuhera Japan) as the Seaguar lines, so they might as well be what they sell as fising lines under the Seaguar brand.
The nice thing is that they offer a wide variety of gauges in 1 or 2 meter lengths. So you can tinker yourself, or find some orientation trying to match what other makers use for their fluorocarbon strings. I think a set of these is in the same ballpark in terms of investment as any other regular stringsets.

 

[Jerryc41]

If you don't want to spend the money on 4 rolls of Seaguar or whatever brand fluro fising line, I would suggest looking into the Savarez Alliance KF Carbon strings.

They are made by the same corporation (Kuhera Japan) as the Seaguar lines, so they might as well be what they sell as fising lines under the Seaguar brand.
The nice thing is that they offer a wide variety of gauges in 1 or 2 meter lengths. So you can tinker yourself, or find some orientation trying to match what other makers use for their fluorocarbon strings. I think a set of these is in the same ballpark in terms of investment as any other regular stringsets.

Thanks.

 

[ukecaitlin]

String packets often have the diameter listed for each string. There is also a thread here where people have set up tables (search 'Ultimate Fluorocarbon comparison chart' on this forum for size of common strings.)

I can't get Seaguar in Australia, but as I kept having trouble with Worth Clear A stings delaminating, I bought .495mm fluorocarbon fishing leader and I'm chuffed. I still have four packets of the rest of the Worth strings so no need to buy any more. But it is a beautiiful sounding string and suits the rest of my Worths.

I did initially buy nylon fishing line, not realising the difference, which sounded weaker and just kept stretching, so I do have a spool of line here if someone knows a fisher! But very happy with the fluorocarbon line.

 

[tonyturley]

Bytown Instruments in Canada has Seaguar strings repackaged as their "Gone Fishin'" line of strings. I tried them on one of my tenors and they were OK. Even with shipping from The Great White North they are still a lot cheaper than buying rolls of fishing line.

 

[Cluze]

I am sure that most of what I am about to say simply repeats stuff in other threads about this topic, but I'll say it here anyway in case someone doesn't want to hunt down those other threads.

I have gone the fishing line route with a lot of my string changes over the past few years. There are only so many manufacturers of fluorocarbon monofilament in the world. I suspect that a *lot* of the fluorocarbon ukulele "strings" that you buy with different labels on them are actually just re-branded fishing line from one of the big makers. Seaguar makes a very good, very consistent, product and that is all you really need when you are trying to make ukulele strings. (Please note that I can't speak for Seaguar when used as an actual fishing line as I don't really fish...)

The recipe I use is taken from (I think) Baz, of Got A Ukulele fame:

Soprano/Concert
G - 40 lbs
C - 60 lbs
E - 50 lbs
A - 30 lbs

Tenor
G - 50 lbs
C - 80 lbs
E - 60 lbs
A - 40 lbs

These are all high-G, by the way. I don't have fishing line for low-G. I generally use a Fremont Soloist for my low-G needs.

I have tried both Blue Label and Pink Label. I feel they both sound and feel *pretty much* the same, and the string diameters (as reported by Seaguar) are virtually identical (see note below on this point.) I slightly prefer the Pink label, because I like the slight pink color. Some folks claim to hear a difference between the two, but I haven't really done a rigorous test of this, so I can't say for sure.

As of this writing (01 April 2022), you can get the full set of these strengths in 25 yard spools of Pink Label on Amazon for about $70 for Soprano/Concert or about $80 for Tenor. Since you have 25 yards of it, you can get somewhere around 35 to 45 string changes (depending on scale length and using real back-of-the-envelope math.) That works out to around $2 per string change.

If you are someone who has only a couple of instruments and leave your strings on for years at a time, it probably doesn't make much sense, but for me it's great. I have a *lot* of ukuleles, I prefer flourocarbon strings, and I change strings pretty regularly.





NOTE: On the diameter of Blue vs. Pink diameters: the spools I have don't quite match, but I think it may be an error in labeling. Here are the diameters of all the Seaguar Blue Label strings I have tried, in inches/mm:

Lbs inches / mm
20 0.016 / 0.405
30 0.020 / 0.520
40 0.024 / 0.620
50 0.026 / 0.660
60 0.029 / 0.740
80 0.032 / 0.810

(I bought the 20 to try a "low tension" recipe by dropping everything down 10 lbs. I didn't like it. Too low tension...)

My Pink Label spools match *except* for the 40 Lbs. They are labelled as 0.022 inches / 0.620 mm. But if you convert 0.620 mm to inches, it is (within rounding) 0.024 inches like the Blue Label claims. I tried comparing the Pink to the Blue with calipers, and they are identical to within the accuracy of my calipers, and much closer to 0.024 inches than 0.022 inches. So I assume that the "0.022 inches" on the Pink Label is an error and they are 0.024 inches just like the Blue Label claims.