I did a little more experimenting. I did find some Savarez New Cristal in my collection, they were used and I can't remember for how long but I don't think they were worn out. In comparing to the EJ25B to my ear there is not a big difference, but they had less higher frequencies and sounded somewhat duller. Then I tried the Dogal NR127C which I had recently got and I would say they were more similar in sound to the Savarez but definitely better IMO. Compared the EJ25B they sounded a bit fatter in tone but again lacking some high frequencies. I found it difficult to choose between them, my preference could vary day to day. So I am going to maybe switch them in a week and see what I think. I am thinking of maybe trying the Sugar strings on my old student guitar to see they put some life into it.
You are right of course. D'Addario do have more high frequencies than the New Cristal but just a pinch less full bodied sound. I did not like EJ25C on this guitar, that I loved on my economic guitar though. EJ45 sound very well on this guitar but were quite dead on my economic one. Do you feel there is difference between the EJ25C and EJ25B? I asked D'Addario directly a long time ago and got this answer: "Yes the clear ones are brighter in tone when compared to the black nylon so depending on whether you use a pick or the guitars wood etc... one may want to choose one over the other"
Be careful with the sugars while installing them. Be pretty sure there are no sharp edges on the bridge bone. My economic guitar has 12 holes, after adjusting this with a luthier, and immediately cut the sugar 1st string while installing it. Thinking again when I installed Aquila strings for testing on my guitars, I always had a stress down the abdomen just like something very bad was going to happen, and I always looked the other way. Once a sugar 1st string broke, my bad here as I installed it back for the 3rd time, and snapped making my left hand actually bleed! (just a bit but never had this with any other string ever)
I am not aware of a difference between the EJ25C and ELJ25B but I like the black color. I did try the EJ25C but it was a long time ago and can't compare them against the EJ25B. The EJ25B is plenty bright enough for me. After hearing what you (and others) have said about the Sugar strings breaking I will just put EJ25 on my other guitar. That guitar already has a ding in the top from a string snapping. I am planning on selling it in the near future.
Hello again from this thread! A very generous friend gave me this very expensive set of Aquila.
This is a video (mostly audio) for being able to catch a glimpse of the sound qualities of Aquila Silk&Gut 900, by comparing it to the well known nylon of the D'Addario EJ45. By comparison of the strings on the same guitar you might be able to hear the differences of the timbre the silk core basses and gut treble strings have.
0:00 Francisco Tárrega - Recuerdos de la Alhambra 2:23 Verano Porteño - Astor Piazzola 3:26 Francisco Tárrega - Lágrima 4:31 Francisco Tárrega - Adelita 5:20 Sabicas - soleá 7:49 Jerónimo Maya - Tango 10:05 Paco de Lucia - Guajiras de Lucia 12:40 simple buleria compás 15:25 Francisco Tárrega - Capricho árabe 17:53 Agustín Barrios - Vals No.3 19:32 Isaac Albéniz - Asturias 22:44 H. Villa-Lobos - Prelude No.5 26:51 Fernando Sor - Op.9 Variations
Things that cannot be heard in the video: Aquila's Silk & Gut 900 is not supposed to be tuned on 440Hz, but I did tune them in 440Hz anyway, and thankfully, they did not break. The gut trebles on this set are varnished so they have a very smooth feel unlike unvarnished gut, more like nylon. The Aquila set is very heavy tension wise even if tuned lower. No easy and ethereal legatos and vibrato as in the Damian set of the previous video. The sound of the Aquila set is louder and bulkier but lacks the elegance of easier and softer gut and nylon alike. The silk core basses are strong in fundamentals and not so lyrical and bright as nylon core basses, which of course can be heard in the video.
Hope this video helps!
Cheers!
P.S. I liked the Damian gut strings a lot more. You can hear them on the lutherie section gut thread or on my channel.
Hi, A couple of weeks ago I put Aquila Alabastro normal set 19 C = medium tension strings on my vintage Japanese ASTURIAS guitar and I was satisfied. Although I prefer the Knobloch SN strings in all tensions because of their durability, in my opinion, the Aquila Alabastro strings project well and are easy to play. Here are 2 videos:
Hello. Mimmo Peruffo, the owner of Aquila strings, is currently testing some new strings from sugar cane, that are now without the infamous squeak that some guitarists were complaining in the past. During this trial period he has send samples of the various stages of these new trebles, after having added substances to eliminate the squeak and tame the excessive brightness of the 1st e string. The result until now is very good indeed and these new trebles are really starting to get a good grip on me so I am not really sure if I am going to be changing them soon[:D].
They are really good, powerful, with lots of sustain and sweetness if played accordingly. But they also have a pretty good bite for flamenco. You could say that they combine the best qualities of nylon and fluorocarbon without the harshness and thinness of sound of the latter.
The downside is that they are not yet available on the market but I hope they will soon be. Today I also installed the Aquila red basses to hear if they match with these new trebles and they surely do. One last thing is the colour of the new sugar trebles, previously transparent and currently on the market white, are now, with the new additives, black. You can't get more flamenco than this[:D]
Here is a pic for now. Sound coming soon in comparison so you can judge too.
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Hello. Here is a video of our group using Aquila strings on the oud and guitar. The guitar strings are the red basses with the biokarbon trebles (black sugars I mentioned above)
The signing is Greek. We covered a Greek traditional song in a rumba like style. The guitar solo starts at 2:22 in case you want to skip[:D]
This is the Ambra 2000 set. Very nice trebles, very different than your usual basses. In a few days I will also post the usual comparison with the ej45 along with a review. In the meantime have a nice summertime.
This is not a competition between strings video. It is just a very well known set (D'Addario EJ45) compared to a not so well known set (Aquila Ambra 2000) so you can hear differences in timbre to help you decide if you want to try it yourself.
Guitar: Vassilis Lazarides flamenco blanca
0:00 Recuerdos de la Alhambra (F. Tárrega) 3:01 Lagrima (F. Tárrega) 4:19 Adelita (F. Tárrega) 5:16 Verano Porteño (A.Piazzolla) 6:48 Asturias (Leyenda) (Isaac Albéniz) 10:23 Prelude No.5 (H. Villa-Lobos) 14:29 Prelude No.1 (H. Villa-Lobos) 17:48 Etude No.11 (H. Vila-Lobos) 20:54 Variations on a theme by Mozart (Fernando Sor) 24:10 Gnossienne No.1 (Erik Satie) 25:44 Capricho Arabe (F. Tárrega) 28:08 Solea (Sabicas) 30:28 Tango falseta (Jerónimo Maya) 32:39 Simple buleria compas 35:32 Guajiras de Lucia (Paco de Lucia) 37:55 Partita B.W.V. 1006 (J.S.Bach)
0:00 Recuerdos de la Alhambra (F. Tárrega) 3:01 Lagrima (F. Tárrega) 4:19 Adelita (F. Tárrega) 5:16 Verano Porteño (A.Piazzolla) 6:48 Asturias (Leyenda) (Isaac Albéniz) 10:23 Prelude No.5 (H. Villa-Lobos) 14:29 Prelude No.1 (H. Villa-Lobos) 17:48 Etude No.11 (H. Vila-Lobos) 20:54 Variations on a theme by Mozart (Fernando Sor) 24:10 Gnossienne No.1 (Erik Satie) 25:44 Capricho Arabe (F. Tárrega) 28:08 Solea (Sabicas) 30:40 Tango falseta (Jerónimo Maya) 32:47 Simple buleria compas 35:35 Guajiras de Lucia (Paco de Lucia) 37:55 Partita B.W.V. 1006 (J.S.Bach)
What cannot be heard on the video:
Aquila Zaffiro is a great, high quality set, definitely worth trying, and it is made from plants!!!. To the touch, in my opinion is closer to nylon than carbon, as it is softer than fluorocarbon. It is brighter than nylon but not harsh at all when played loud. Even though I tried the superior tension, which is hard tension, it is not hard to play, I would say way easier than the hard sets of Savarez with new cristal trebles.
One thing for the nylon players. Aquila says on their site that the sound is similar to fluorocarbon. Do not be afraid to try these zaffiros though as they can be very sweet too without too much effort.
For flamenco, I must say that they perform very very well indeed! I like them better than many as they feel like nylon and behave accordingly as you push them harder, but they have a brighter, more defined and aggressive tone. I will dare to say that I like them better than Luthier nylon[:-] But they are not the most unique from Aquila nor the most differentiated, not that this is a bad thing.
Helluva lot of effort you put into this, Andres. It's interesting and I like your playing. Thank you. Don't think I'll be switching from D'Addario though.
I love the La Bella 427 but trying all these Aquilas has been very much fun I must admit, and not very hard on my pocket as I find them in a relatively good price from Lord of the Strings mostly, that is a Dutch online strings shop (I think). For Europe he has very reasonable shipping costs.
One more + for Aquila for the length of the strings which of course makes it easier to change them but also enough extra bass to use when they get older, so to have a fresher sound.
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Here is the Ambra 900 set. Archive purposes mostly as this set is not the best for flamenco.
The surface of the trebles, as being rectified, feel close to the unvarnished gut strings. The sound is also close to the gut strings on some aspects, but of course not the same. One has to play softly to get closer to the gut string sound as with gut itself that does not give more sound if played very hard. You can of course play the Ambra 900 hard, but in that way move further away from the gut sound. The sound of the rayon basses is also close to the silk core basses.
The tension is as expected higher that the normal tension sets but not unplayable. To me they feel as a "normal" hard tension set but with way easier legatos and better grip due to the rectification and the materials used.
Here is the playlist in case you are bored to visit the channel, as I am also most times. [:)]
0:00 Recuerdos de la Alhambra (F. Tárrega) 3:01 Lagrima (F. Tárrega) 4:19 Adelita (F. Tárrega) 5:16 Verano Porteño (A.Piazzolla) 6:48 Asturias (Leyenda) (Isaac Albéniz) 10:18 Prelude No.5 (H. Villa-Lobos) 14:25 Prelude No.1 (H. Villa-Lobos) 17:48 Etude No.11 (H. Vila-Lobos) 20:54 Variations on a theme by Mozart (Fernando Sor) 24:10 Gnossienne No.1 (Erik Satie) 25:44 Capricho Arabe (F. Tárrega) 28:05 Solea (Sabicas) 30:40 Tango falseta (Jerónimo Maya) 32:47 Simple buleria compas 35:35 Guajiras de Lucia (Paco de Lucia) 37:55 Partita B.W.V. 1006 (J.S.Bach)
Again not suggested for flamenco, but do as you like[:D]
Last but not least the Aquila Perla! Phew.. That took a long time to complete but now I can rest finally. If I am not mistaken I have bought, tried and recorded every Aquila set on the market until this day 24/9/2023 (hope they do not release a new classical or flamenco guitar set tomorrow :lol: )
Back to the point of the post. The Perla have a fat, full bodied, sweet, round sound. Closer to regular nylon most guitarists are used too but again not exactly the same. Nevertheless if someone tries Aquila for the first time, trying Perla could be safe and familiar.
Are they good for flamenco? Yes, definitely, especially if you want a sweeter string than EJ45. They sound sweet and round all the time so my preference is a bit different but still..
Guitar: Vassilis Lazarides flamenco blanca
0:00 Recuerdos de la Alhambra (F. Tárrega) 3:01 Lagrima (F. Tárrega) 4:19 Adelita (F. Tárrega) 5:16 Verano Porteño (A.Piazzolla) 6:48 Asturias (Leyenda) (Isaac Albéniz) 10:18 Prelude No.5 (H. Villa-Lobos) 14:25 Prelude No.1 (H. Villa-Lobos) 17:49 Etude No.11 (H. Vila-Lobos) 20:54 Variations on a theme by Mozart (Fernando Sor) 24:10 Gnossienne No.1 (Erik Satie) 25:44 Capricho Arabe (F. Tárrega) 28:05 Solea (Sabicas) 30:40 Tango falseta (Jerónimo Maya) 32:47 Simple buleria compas 35:40 Guajiras de Lucia (Paco de Lucia) 37:55 Partita B.W.V. 1006 (J.S.Bach)
I have to say now what I said before, that Aquila has all the sounds and variety a guitarist could have ever imagined, like a garden full of every beautiful flower one has ever seen.
