Mike's Oud Forums

Aquila D strings

Amon - 9-8-2021 at 12:09 AM

Hi all,


I have super nylgut Aquila strings (gray pack) in Cfadgc on my (first) oud, and I keep having this internal mini-discussion:

the D strings only are made of some "more metallic" material than the other courses. I'm not sure whether they're fully metal or heavily metal-coated, but I like them a lot, both in how they sound, and in how they create a kind of gap or reset compared with the other courses. I was wondering what was the general opinion on that particular course from that brand. A part of my brain wonders how the whole instrument would sound if every course used a similar material, while another part of my brain thinks it would probably not sound very oud-ey anymore.

any thoughts would be appreciated :)

Jody Stecher - 9-8-2021 at 05:30 AM

Well, um, since you asked:
I played one oud that was strung with an Aquila set with this kind of D string. I thought it sounded unpleasantly harsh (on that particular oud ). I agree that it created a gap and that's yet another reason I did not like it. There is already a sonic gap between at typical wound D and unwound g. Why do we need a timbre difference between A and D as well? I liked the original Aquila formulation of Arabic oud strings. I'll never understand why they kept changing the set. To my ears each newly formulated set sounded worse than its predecessor.

Jason - 9-8-2021 at 06:48 AM

I just got in a set of Aquila strings with plain copper wound (not silver plated) lower strings, like the original sets from years ago and the "new nylgut" G and C courses, which are sort an off-white color. I'll put them on later today and post a review once they're settled in. I always liked the plain copper wound strings from Aquila so I'm glad to see they're available once again.

Amon - 9-8-2021 at 10:18 PM

thanks for the input guys. In my case, being totally new to this instrument, the sonic gap feels like an audio mapping indicator (like a car GPS lol) but at the same time my brain is whispering "maybe what you want is a mandolin, buddy" lol

I was wondering about the maker's decision. I've been involved in product design and I know these things are usually not winged, so I'd love to know how they chose to go in that direction.

Badra - 9-12-2021 at 10:11 PM

Quote: Originally posted by Jason  
I just got in a set of Aquila strings with plain copper wound (not silver plated) lower strings, like the original sets from years ago and the "new nylgut" G and C courses, which are sort an off-white color. I'll put them on later today and post a review once they're settled in. I always liked the plain copper wound strings from Aquila so I'm glad to see they're available once again.


there's a oud I have that I haven't restrung in like 15 years because it has those copper wound and old Aquila set that I feel is better than the new ones. So this is good news because I need to change them. The sound is so mellow on those wound strings, but too mellow because of it's age.