Mike's Oud Forums

aquila strings END OF PRODUCTION

manuel - 11-15-2013 at 02:55 AM

Hallo to you all,
i see AQUILA stopped producing OUD STRINGS.
do you know if anyone else produces NYLGUT strings?

thank you all

manuel

Jody Stecher - 11-15-2013 at 06:38 AM

I've been told by several reliable sources that Nylgut is Aquila's invention, patent, and property. No one else makes these strings. Have they actually stopped producing the gauges used in their various oud sets or simply ceased packaging these gauges as "oud strings"? It would be a big loss if their treble strings were no longer available. But I'd be surprised if those gauges were not available simply as "music string". I will investigate and report back.

manuel - 11-15-2013 at 06:45 AM

Yes, I'm going to do the same.

i will come back with some news.....

bye

Aquila Update

Jody Stecher - 11-15-2013 at 01:09 PM

I have been in touch with Curtis Daily at Aquila USA. He affirms that Aquila ceased packaging and selling oud strings a few months ago. He still has a few sets of various kinds (but no more 13o) and he can be reached at

aquilastrings@gmail.com

Brian Prunka at oudstrings.com has *some* Aquila sets and singles left. He can be reached at

info@oudstrings.com

once these sellers are out of Aquila stock and if (as it seems) they cannot replenish them, there are still sets available from various internet sites. All the usual suspects. And eBay sellers have them too. For now.

I got out my digital micrometer and after measuring 3 times I have discovered that Aquila nyglut "Classical Banjo" first (d) strings are the same gauge as the cc in their Arabic 13o set (.57 mm) and that the Classical Banjo third string (G) is the same gauge as the gg in their Arabic 13o set (.76 mm). I haven't found anyone yet who sells these except as parts of sets. But the sets can be got fairly cheaply for those who are desperate for that luminous sound that nygut produces on *some* ouds.

Matthias - 11-16-2013 at 01:22 AM

Hello friends,

let me tell you, that I still have a lot of sets of the Aquila Nylgut Aoud sets on stock + several single strings. You will find them in my online shop:
http://music-strings.de/index.php?k=239

I do have
--> 86 arabic tuning sets
--> 18 turkish tuning sets

The quantity is not shown, but you cannot order more than what is on stock.

Best regards

Matthias

aquila - 11-17-2013 at 07:59 AM

Hello to everyone
This is Mimmo the aquila owner.
I saw your comm here.
yes, we stopped the productiona while ago.
we done this choice because we heard that many complaints about the sound quality of our strings. We had a bad feeldback fro Morocco.
Do you have some suggestions? Maybe we can reconsider this solution reducing the variety of oud sets that we offered. they are indeed too much
maybe we can keep in production the arab 11 string F and C medium tensione and the Turkish med tension of the most common tuning and just the 13 string arab oud only. Or it is better the light tension? which are your suggestions!
Mimmo http://www.aquilacorde.com,italy

Brian Prunka - 11-17-2013 at 09:15 AM

Hi Mimmo,

There were some tuning problems people experienced, mainly it seemed with the thinnest strings.

Overall many people really like your strings, but it does seem more sensitive than nylon or PVF to unison tuning issues (I think because your strings are dense and thus comparatively thin, there is less margin for variation).

I think this could be fixed by including an extra high string with every set, in case there is an issue. The additional cost wouldn't be much, and I think it would be worth it to people to have a spare.


Based on my experience, the most popular set by far was the 13o set (CFAdgc' light tension).

The 16o, 59o and 9o sets were pretty popular, but only about half as popular as the 13o.

15o, 57o, 6o and 5o were somewhat less popular.

A lot of people just want to buy the nylgut trebles, 25o,26, 33o, 34o, 35o, 42o, 43o, 44o

The Turkish sets don't seem too popular, I have had reports that even the 'light' tension is too much for many Turkish ouds.



So if you were just going to offer a few options, I would suggest:

One set that was basically like the 13o but had slightly lower tensions on the 5th and 6th courses so that it could be used for any combination of C/D/FF/GG tuning

59o set, but add an extra low F string: most people that use this tuning expect a 12-string set, not an 11-string set.

Possibly the 9o set, but again lower the tension of the lowest two courses to accommodate a range of tunings.

Offer the full range of treble pairs listed above.

A separate 13 string set is not necessary, just make the extra 42o pair available to add to the 13o set.


Your "normal tension" set is actually rather high tension by oud standards (normally oud sets are between 3 and 4kg, I believe yours is 4.2, correct?), so your "light" tension sets are actually the most normal.

Jody Stecher - 11-17-2013 at 09:33 AM

Dear Mimmo,

the sound quality of your strings is excellent on many ouds. I have been happily using only Aquila "light" strings on one of my ouds for several years. I am told they don't sound good on some other ouds but no one brand of string sounds best on all instruments. For instance I use your nylgut Classic banjo set on several of my 5 string banjos and these banjos now sound better than they ever have. But on some other banjos other kinds of strings sound better.

The problem with your oud sets is not the sound, it is the gauge. Your "light" Arabic oud string set is at the very edge of safety for most ouds with a scale of more than 59cm, and that means most Arabic ouds. The other Aquila Arabic string set is probably too heavy for safety. I haven't tried them but I can well imagine the sound being poor.

There is a secondary problem and that is sometimes your plain nylgut unwound strings do not intone exactly the same within a pair. This seems to occur often enough to take notice. I am not having this problem but others have reported it. Not only am I not having a problem, but your treble strings are my favorite and I would be sad not to have them available.

Your plain unwound nylgut strings combine very well with other kinds of wound strings. (The reality of oudists is that some players will use mixed sets, even using a different brand for each string!). If I may make a suggestion, it would be a good thing and good business for you, if you would sell your "light" treble unwound strings (in their present gauges and perhaps in a future truly lighter gauge) separately from a complete set. I know that all gauges of plain nylgut may be purchased in 120 cm lengths but the price is very high that way and there is a lot of waste because there is too much length for one oud string but not enough for two.

A second suggestion would be an Arabic oud string set that is a bit lighter than the one that has been available. At 61.5 scale the sound of your recently discontinued "light" set is excellent but a bit too tight for getting optimum vibrato.

Thank you, Mimmo.
Jody Stecher
Quote: Originally posted by aquila  
Hello to everyone
This is Mimmo the aquila owner.
I saw your comm here.
yes, we stopped the productiona while ago.
we done this choice because we heard that many complaints about the sound quality of our strings. We had a bad feeldback fro Morocco.
Do you have some suggestions? Maybe we can reconsider this solution reducing the variety of oud sets that we offered. they are indeed too much
maybe we can keep in production the arab 11 string F and C medium tensione and the Turkish med tension of the most common tuning and just the 13 string arab oud only. Or it is better the light tension? which are your suggestions!
Mimmo [url]http://www.aquilacorde.com,italy
[/url]

aquila - 11-17-2013 at 10:32 AM

Hi guys,
I found out which is the problem in matter of intonazion of the upper strings.
So this problem is solved. The new nylgut go up in tune in a very fast way also.
I will think what to do.
For sure I will delete some sets. They are too much
Please give me almost two weeks
Ciao
Mimmo :):)

Brian Prunka - 11-17-2013 at 10:47 AM

Thanks, Mimmo!

Glad to know you figured out the intonation issue. Otherwise, there are many people who like the sound of your strings. Including, I might mention, Simon Shaheen.

best regards,
Brian

Luttgutt - 11-17-2013 at 02:42 PM

Hi Mimmo!

Good to know.

I agree With most of what the guys Write above..

I have used Aquila light on two of my ouds for some time now, and happy With them..

But the wound dd strings never worked for me. I think they are too thin.

And concerning the low strings, I actually use BEADgcf, and the tention on CF are allready too low for me. So I would actually like a higher tention on those (not lower) :-)

Thanks and keep up the good work.

aquila - 11-19-2013 at 05:12 AM

Hello guys,
Mimmo again
Brian... may I ask you alitte help? I would like to send you a set of arabic tuning model 13O with re balanced 5 & 6th basses.
And a RED SERIES unwound for the 3rd. I would like to know if it is ok.
Maybe it is a revolution.
I already made the suggestion you gave me.
a few sets and the spare ff. Sorry, I cannot offer others spare nylguts for business considerations.
BTW: the next nylgut be made yellow brown like gut and not white
ps Brian. if you like to help me mail me to
aquila@aquilacorde.com
see you soon!
Mimmo, rrom rainy an could Italy

Jody Stecher - 11-19-2013 at 06:43 AM

An unwound third course for 13o is intriguing and might be a really good thing. I don't have the means to measure "Newtons" but the feel of the current wound third course of that set is that it is tighter than the other 5 courses. A lighter wound course would be another solution. In my opinion, just by feel, not scientific, the AA course is also very tight in set 13o. The FF and C however do not feel as if they need to be adjusted by very much. It is the dd and AA that feel tightest at 61.5 cm.

Brian Prunka - 11-19-2013 at 07:58 AM

Hello Mimmo,

Thank you for the message and I am glad to hear it. You just made a lot of people happy.

I would be happy to test out the strings if you want to send them to me. Please send two of each so that I can try them on different ouds.

I got a message from Gianluca, but I had sent you a more detailed message yesterday. Let me know what you think.

Best regards,
Brian

rojaros - 1-23-2014 at 09:31 AM

I'm having an Aquila set on my arabic oud and I quite lime it. Hope it will continue to be available...

aquila

danieletarab - 1-24-2014 at 03:32 PM

THis is Daniele from Italy. I think that the Mimmo's attitude is just fantastic. He's being very humble, professional and concerned about customers. I put some aquila strings on my oud few weeks ago and yes, I had problems with intonation of the first pair. I'll try again once Mimmo will produce the new sets! Congratulations to Mimmo!

Jody Stecher - 1-24-2014 at 03:56 PM

Quote: Originally posted by danieletarab  
THis is Daniele from Italy. I think that the Mimmo's attitude is just fantastic. He's being very humble, professional and concerned about customers. I put some aquila strings on my oud few weeks ago and yes, I had problems with intonation of the first pair. I'll try again once Mimmo will produce the new sets! Congratulations to Mimmo!


It would be even better if customers could get replacements for the unwound treble pairs. Never mind *free* replacements, although that would be very welcome. A customer cannot buy a pair of nylgut treble strings except by buying a full set. If an oud player puts on a new set of Aquila oud strings and one or both pairs of trebles do not match and all the remedies mentioned in this thread do not work (this has now happened to me) then the only thing to do is use a different brand of treble string or buy a whole new set of Aquiila strings and *hope* — with no guarantee — that the treble strings will be in tune.

stringmanca - 4-3-2014 at 02:35 PM

Any updates on this? The Aquilacorde site has 'New Nylgut' listed ( http://www.aquilacorde.com/produzione-monofilamenti-musicali-bulks/... ) - is this the 'new improved' product?

Brian, I noticed that your site still has the Aquila strings 'Out of Stock' - are you going to be carrying these new ones?

I've been using the 59o 'F' set for years and don't know what to do without them!:xtreme:

Thanks!
Nathan

Matthias - 4-6-2014 at 12:07 AM

Quote: Originally posted by stringmanca  

I've been using the 59o 'F' set for years and don't know what to do without them!:xtreme:

Thanks!
Nathan


Hello,

I still do have 10 sets of the 59O on stock:
http://music-strings.de/index.php?a=10102

Best regards

Matthias

stringmanca - 4-11-2014 at 08:06 AM

Good to know - thanks, Matthias!

freya - 4-27-2014 at 04:39 PM

G'day,

I am seeing "new" nylguts advertised various places on line. Does anyone know if these are the recently "reformulated" versions? The part numbers seem to be the same as with the older strings.

Cheers,
Harry

Brian Prunka - 4-27-2014 at 07:53 PM

Aquila is only making the 13o and 9o sets, and the 42o and 33o high f'f' courses. "New Nylgut" was introduced almost 2 years ago, so it may or may not be the "new" "new nylgut" . . . could be the "old" "new nylgut".

If it's anything other than 13o or 9o then it isn't the new formulation.

Matthias - 4-28-2014 at 02:56 AM

Quote: Originally posted by freya  
G'day,

I am seeing "new" nylguts advertised various places on line. Does anyone know if these are the recently "reformulated" versions? The part numbers seem to be the same as with the older strings.

Cheers,
Harry


Hello,

new NYLGUT is and stays new nylgut. There are no two different types. A bit more than 2 years ago AQUILA changed the formula from the first and white edition to the new type.
It is correct the NEW NYLGUT is offered at many places, as it has raisen to the mainly used strings for lutes. ( thats what I can say following the interest and sellings in my shop and the lute players request. ). Yes I'm selling theese strings in my shop ( http://music-strings.de/index.php?k=68&lang=eng ).

The only difference between the lute NEW NYLGUTS and those from the oud, guitar and ukulele sets is that the lutes strings are in gut color and are not polished like the others.
And as it was asked here too, AQUILA's NYLGUT is only available from him, he has patented this. No one is producing that strings too.

So it will be no problem to bring togather the sets which are not available any more directly from AQUILA, as the wound strings are still in production, which are the same. Only one restriction is there, individual wound strings are only available in the copper version. No silverwound strings are offered.

So if someone is interested, please contact me through my shop contact page.

Best regards

Matthias

Brian Prunka - 4-28-2014 at 05:29 AM

Matthias, Mimmo has said on this very thread that he has changed the production; it may not be a new formulation, but he must have changed something:
Quote:
Hi guys,
I found out which is the problem in matter of intonazion of the upper strings.
So this problem is solved. The new nylgut go up in tune in a very fast way also.

Matthias - 4-28-2014 at 11:52 AM

Quote: Originally posted by Brian Prunka  
Matthias, Mimmo has said on this very thread that he has changed the production; it may not be a new formulation, but he must have changed something:

Quote:
Hi guys,
I found out which is the problem in matter of intonazion of the upper strings.
So this problem is solved. The new nylgut go up in tune in a very fast way also.


Yes Brian, you are right. I wanted to mention this, but unfortunately I forgot this.
He changed the formula only for the thinner strings, as there were breaking problems. This concerns the diameters from 36 - 46 as Mimmo told me. I did not get other informations from him.

Matthias

Brian Prunka - 7-29-2014 at 04:34 PM

For those of you who are fans of Aquila, I wanted to let you know the current situation.

Aquila is producing only two sets:
13o Arabic tuning "light" (actually medium) tension C FF AA dd gg c'c'
9o Arabic tuning "normal" (actually high) tension C FF AA dd gg c'c'

The 13o set now has silver-plated copper wound strings (instead of the old plain copper).

The only nylgut pairs available are:
42o "light" tension f'f'
33o "normal" tension f'f'

So if you want a high f'f' set, you need to buy the regular set and add the appropriate f'f' pair. The 57o and 59o sets are discontinued.

I tried to talk Mimmo into continuing the availability of the individual c'c' and gg courses, but he declined.



I have the current offerings in stock, plus a handful of individual wound strings (in case you use D or G on the low courses). These follow the old system, so "light" strings are plain copper, not silver-plated. Unfortunately, the old stock of individual nylgut are all gone.

Jody Stecher - 7-29-2014 at 04:41 PM

Quote: Originally posted by Brian Prunka  

I tried to talk Mimmo into continuing the availability of the individual c'c' and gg courses, but he declined.



Thank you for trying, Brian. That is very unfortunate, especially if Aquila has truly corrected the discrepancy in pitch problem that sometimes happened between members of a pair of trebles.

Brian Prunka - 7-29-2014 at 06:44 PM

I know. I can only imagine that they want to sell full sets, but I was very clear that I don't anticipate much difference in the number of full sets I sell—the sale of individual strings always seemed to be largely independent of the people who wanted whole sets. We'll see.

Jason - 8-5-2014 at 07:18 PM

What would you guys recommend trying now that I can't get the low tension Aquilas? I actually like the sound of broken in well used strings on my Ghadban... older strings tame the brightness of the floating bridge. Anyone want to sell a set of used Pyramid lute strings? :D

Matthias - 8-20-2014 at 01:13 AM

Hello,

for those who are interested I can compose sets from the individual Aquila lute strings.
  1. plain Nylgut strings - gut color and not polished like the ones in the oud sets
  2. copper wound bass strings - the same as in the former sets


Best regards

Matthias

Jason - 8-24-2014 at 07:35 PM

Matthias any idea what those sets would cost shipped to USA? Thanks

Matthias - 8-25-2014 at 12:44 PM

Quote: Originally posted by Jason  
Matthias any idea what those sets would cost shipped to USA? Thanks


Hello Jason,

for the most of my shippings around the world 7.70 Eur are sufficient.
The whole details about the shipping costs can be seen here.

Best regards
Matthias

Jason - 8-26-2014 at 11:47 AM

I mean how much are the strings? I didn't see them listed on your site

Matthias - 8-27-2014 at 03:53 AM

Quote: Originally posted by Jason  
I mean how much are the strings? I didn't see them listed on your site


Hello, Jason,

Please let me know which set ( give me the old number, codex ?? ) you are interested in. Then I can put it ito the shop

Matthias

mercm525i - 10-16-2014 at 10:45 AM

Quote: Originally posted by aquila  
Hello guys,
Mimmo again
Brian... may I ask you alitte help? I would like to send you a set of arabic tuning model 13O with re balanced 5 & 6th basses.
And a RED SERIES unwound for the 3rd. I would like to know if it is ok.
Maybe it is a revolution.
I already made the suggestion you gave me.
a few sets and the spare ff. Sorry, I cannot offer others spare nylguts for business considerations.
BTW: the next nylgut be made yellow brown like gut and not white
ps Brian. if you like to help me mail me to
aquila@aquilacorde.com
see you soon!
Mimmo, rrom rainy an could Italy


Brian, did you get a chance to try the RED series unwound string for the 3rd course mimmo suggested? Was that also nylgut? What did you think of it?

Brian Prunka - 10-16-2014 at 02:08 PM

I didn't think the red 3rd worked very well. However, my experience with Aquila previously is that sometimes they don't work very well on one oud but sound really great on another so I have saved the string and will try it on another oud to compare.