Ask The Experts - GHS Strings

Welcome to the "Ask the Experts" section, where we will have some of the members of our Artist Family field questions regarding gear, recording, performing and more. Stay tuned!

Latest questions

WHAT SET OF STRINGS YIELD THE LEAST AMOUNT OF FINGER SQUEAK?

If all you're looking for is less finger "squeak," then the Precision Flats will easily do the job. However, the tone may not be what you want. Our NIckel Rockers are an excellent choice for tone and less finger noise. The final cover wrap is slightly flattened during the winding process, making the string smoother than standard roundwounds, which equates to less finger noise. The Burnished Nickel Rockers take this one step farther, as they are then lightly polished/burnished for an ultra-slick feel with little to no finger noise.

ARE THE NICKEL ROCKERS AND BURNISHED NICKEL ROCKERS SIMILAR IN FINISH?

They are similar, yes. Both the Nickel Rockers and Burnished Nickel Rockers are rollerwound strings, so they'll feel smoother than a normal roundwound string. However, the Burnished Nickels are then lightly polished, which make them smoother than the standard Nickels. Many people find that the polishing makes these strings feel faster and slicker.

WILL THE GHS CROSSOVERS FIT MY NS DESIGN OMNI BASS?

Simple answer is no, they won't. The GHS Crossovers were designed speicifically for the NS Design Electric Upright (either WAV, NXT, CR or EU series) and have a 46.5" winding length for this purpose. They are far too long for the Omni Bass.

However, the NS Design Omni Bass is designed with a 34" scale, and can accept standard electric bass strings that have a 38" winding length. To this end, the closest option we have to our Crossovers are the Brite Flats, which are also ground Alloy 52 nickel-iron. Other players have had excellent result using our Precision Flats on their Omni as well.

HOW DO THE THICK CORE BOOMERS COMPARE TO COMPETITORS "DROP TUNE" SETS?

First, you need to understand that GHS has historically used slightly larger core wire in all of their strings, as we have felt that was a key feature of the tone and feel that we were going for. Ironically, when someone says they're using a "heavier core wire," while it's true for their products, there's a good chance our regular Boomers have the same gauge of core wire.

Now, onto the Thick Core Boomers, which have slightly larger core wire than our regular Boomers. Basically, in simple terms, the Thick Core Boomers would punch the other "drop tune" strings in the stomach and take their lunch money. The tone and sustain is what you'd expect from GHS, except more so. And while other "drop tune" strings say they handle Drop D and Drop C very well, we've had some of our artists use these in C Standard Tuning and even Drop B with excellent results.

WHAT IS A "LILI'U" UKULELE, AND HOW IS THAT DIFFERENT FROM MY 8 STRING TENOR UKULELE?

The "Lili'u" tenor 6-string ukulele was originally designed by Sam Kamaka Jr. in 1959 to commemorate Hawaii's statehood and pay tribute to Hawaii's last reigning monarch, Queen Liliuokalani. In 1976, Kamaka released the "Lili'u VIII," an 8-string tenor ukulele to celebrate the Bicentennial of the United States.

Nowadays, many different companies create 6 and 8 string tenor ukuleles with the same tuning as the original Kamakas, so in terms of string sets needed, the LIli'u 6 and 8 string sets are ideal for your tenor ukulele.

As for the name of our sets, both sets were originally created from our Hawaiian Sales Rep in the mid-late 70s, and while we can't say exactly what the reasoning behind the names are (since the sales rep has since retired), it's fair to say that they were named as such to honor the Kamaka ukuleles as well as help customers find the strings for their Kamaka Lili'u ukuleles.