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RE: Aquila most durable set? (in reply to AndresK)
Thanks Orson! Seems like the new owners might have been setting up shop and then the pandemic hit New York.
I did try the Aquila Alabaster and thought the trebles were ok, not bright sounding but maybe that was the goal. I did not like the bass strings at all. Took them off soon after
The alabastro really missed punch. The rubinos are much brighter, but not brittle, and also have that punch for flamenco (for classical too in my opinion). Just ask if strings by mail have the Red basses rubinos because I think they had silverplated in older sets. I will email Aquila to be sure about the current set.
Hello again! Here are a couple of videos with the Aquila Rubino . Pretty rough with LOTS of mistakes, so please do not be too harsh (just a little is always welcome).
The first one is more flamenco as it is a known soleares from Sabicas.
It is our village were we spend time on vacation since the day we were born (me and my wife), and the last six years with our son too. We spend most of the summertime there and it is very relaxing and beautiful in a very simple way.
Hello. One last video for Rubino. They are more than month on the guitar and if you ignore the slight scratches on the 2nd and 1st string (I do not bother), they sound great. The red basses also sound like new to me after a month! I am sorry but it is a classical piece composed by my classical guitar teacher, with whom I studied to get my diploma in classical guitar until 2008.
This time I post the comparison of EJ45 with Aquila Critallo. Cristallo is a clear nylon set. I am not very fond of this particular set from Aquila, not because it is not good, but because it is not so interesting and different than standard crystal nylon strings from other brands.
as always, Guitar: Vassilis Lazarides flamenco blanca
0’00” Recuerdos de la Alhambra (F. Tárrega) 2’23” Verano Porteño (A.Piazzolla) 3’24” Lagrima (F. Tárrega) 4’21” Adelita (F. Tárrega) 5’06” Prelude No.1 (H. Villa-Lobos) 6’42” Etude No.11 (H. Vila-Lobos) 8’04” Asturias (Leyenda) (Isaac Albéniz) 11’14” Vals No.3 (Agustín Barrios Mangoré) 12’56” Bronce Gitano (Sabicas) 15’21” Tango falseta (Jerónimo Maya)
What cannot be heard on the video:
Cristallo (superior tension) is a very clear and warm set. Brighter than standard nylon in most cases. As it is a higher tension set than the EJ45 it is a bit harder on the left hand too. The intonation of the EJ45 is better to my ears and easier to get the guitar in tune across the fretboard. Cristallo and EJ45 both are not so good in keeping the tuning as the Rubino or the Alabastro which are less prone to temperature and moisture level changes.
0’00” Recuerdos de la Alhambra (F. Tárrega) 2’23” Verano Porteño (A.Piazzolla) 3’24” Lagrima (F. Tárrega) 4’21” Adelita (F. Tárrega) 5’06” Prelude No.1 (H. Villa-Lobos) 6’42” Etude No.11 (H. Vila-Lobos) 8’04” Asturias (Leyenda) (Isaac Albéniz) 11’16” Vals No.3 (Agustín Barrios Mangoré) 12’57” Bronce Gitano (Sabicas) 15’27” Tango falseta (Jerónimo Maya)
What cannot be heard on the video:
Sugar (extra tension) is a very clear, sharp and warm set. Brighter and more focused than standard nylon. As it is a higher tension set than the EJ45 it is a bit harder on the left hand too. The intonation of both sets is spot on across the fretboard. Aquila Sugar keeps the tuning better than the EJ45. Sugar, as clearer and more focused, can be heard with more detail at further distances. Sugar is a lot louder but that is not a very fair comparison as it is harder than the EJ45, something that is not the case with the Sugar normal tension that I have tried many months ago. The brightness of sugar is not carbonish at all, but on the contrary has a sweetness that comes closer to nylon, although very far away acoustically. Many say that EJ45 has a tubby G string, which is true in many cases but not when played on a flamenco guitar. Anyway the Sugar G string is clearly not tubby at all, but focused, precise, clear, loud. Sugar is nicer on the fingertips when compared to Aquila Alabastro or Rubino.
I would suggest, if you want to try them, try the superior tension set first as it is supposed to be the same, tension wise, as the luthier 20's. The extra is a bit harder and thicker on the trebles, closer to corum new cristal hard, which I find a bit too hard for my taste. The normal sugar that I tried some months ago had a lot of weird buzzing on the 2nd string when hit hard.
Overall amazing strings. Thank you for the time to see all this.
Posts: 14799
Joined: Dec. 14 2004
From: Washington DC
RE: Aquila most durable set? (in reply to AndresK)
Thanks for your efforts in this thread, it’s a good reference. I am happy with the strings I’ve been using. I honestly feel D’Addario holds up in all cases until the sugar extra tension examples. That sugar set really comes alive imo. Cheers!
Ricardo, thank you for your comment and for taking the time to check these comparisons. I always read your contributions with great respect many years now and this has been more than helpful.
Just a quick comment on the sugar extra tension. The 2nd and 3rd strings are way too thick. I had to file the end of the string that had to pass through the bridge hole (my 2nd string bridge hole is s bit narrow). Not too much filling, just a bit and only 1cm of the string end to get through enough to pull it.
JasonM thank you for contributing. The sugar that most distributors have is the older version. Aquila changed the formula to squeakless making the trebles white, this summer, so you might have to check if they have the latest set. Ordering straight from Aquila can be overpriced. But there is always the possibility to get only the trebles.
I also tried the new Granato that is like the Rubino but higher tension. Seemed too metallic but great for cutting through the mix and without any distortion when hitting very hard the right hand. For example when playing very loudly the single note theme from Rio Ancho I could hear myself clearly even in a big room with very much natural reverb. The Granato, although the same tension seem easier because they are a lot thinner. The sugar trebles are a lot warmer.
I am waiting for strings by mail or lord of the strings to have the new superior sugar because Aquila is very expensive ordering straight from them, even though they have a cheaper mail order now.
I will add the Sugar superior tension to the list. I have 1 set of Luthier 20’s left which must be kept as a scientific control sample
Very funny you mentioned the scientific control sample because I did exactly that with my last set of 20's. I sent it in January to Mr. Mimmo in Aquila, so he could measure and give me his opinion on tension. He was very kind to find time to do that and he replied, through his office colleague, that the Luthier 20's are similar in tension with their Cristallo Superior and Sugar Superior sets (and not the their normal counterparts as someone could expect). I always felt the Luthier 20s were a little harder than the EJ45 but since there are no specific numbers from Luthier I could not be sure.
I tried the Cristallo and they were nice but no 20's there. So that leaves me with the new squeakless superior sugar. We will see.
At least we now have the average tension of the luthier 20s (unfortunately not in specific numbers per string) but close enough since you can check the numbers of the Aquila Cristallo and Sugar at their site.
Posts: 14799
Joined: Dec. 14 2004
From: Washington DC
RE: Aquila most durable set? (in reply to AndresK)
Last time I bought a whole bunch of Luthiers, and it’s funny that the pandemic slowed things down so much I haven’t gone through them yet. I have squirreled them into various guitar cases, equipment bags, Glove box in the car, and gifted a couple sets to my guitar player friends to hang on to for posterity
Well, it seems that this thread is coming to an end as I have tried many Aquilas in search for a nice nylon string that could replace the Luthier 20s warmth and punch. (until now: Sugar normal, Alabastro normal, Alabastro Superior, Cristallo Superior, Rubino which is normal tension, Granato which is extra hard tension for flamenco guitar, and the Extra Sugar that is for flamenco too)
It was, at least, a very interesting journey.
The initial post about Aquila's durability. Now, even the Rubinos that were supposed to be fragile according to strings by mail warning, are very durable. I have put them on and off many times and they are still playable without losing any of the freshness in their sound (the red basses do not get old for some reason), and the trebles that have nylgut do not get dull in any way. So in terms of durability they are very durable. But someone should check for sharp edges first before mounting any Aquila just to be sure, and also has to have patience to learn how to distinguish the strings as they do not carry any kind of distinction between them (quite easy for the experienced but not for beginners).
Aquila in general has bright strings that make the notes sound crystal clear in a long distance. That is not always as good as it sounds. They are very unforgiving if you do not press the left hand enough. You must have appreciated the nice buzzing that a normal nylon string does on a flamenco guitar when you are hitting too hard and it hits the frets (as Vicente Amigo does in powerful picado runs, and of course monster/master Paco). Well with the Sugars for example you cannot do that. The note is always clear, boosting some frequencies I am not used to hearing when playing and if I hit even harder trying to get that nice fretting sound it gets a different kind of annoying buzz.
My classical guitar students' economy guitars sound way better with Aquila Alabastro or Cristallo as they do need boost in all frequencies if possible. With normal nylon like EJ45, they just sound dead, very nicely tuned and intonated as good as possible, but again, dead. So Sugars or Rubinos or Alchemias (that are more like carbon)make them come alive, without the annoyingly thin carbon.
JasonM if you are reading this I have some information about the search for Luthier alternative. Have you tried Knobloch? Luciano Ghosn who has very good taste for sound as someone can hear from his videos, and was using Luthier for a long time, says he likes very much his Knobloch Actives SN double silver, low tension. Strings by mail has it like this: Knobloch Actives 200ADN Nylon LT Classical Guitar Strings, Full Set. The only problem... the price.
Since I had the Granato on the guitar thought that it would be helpful to make another comparison vid.
Guitar: Vassilis Lazarides flamenco blanca
0’00” Recuerdos de la Alhambra (F. Tárrega) 2’23” Verano Porteño (A.Piazzolla) 3’24” Lagrima (F. Tárrega) 4’21” Adelita (F. Tárrega) 5’10” Prelude No.1 (H. Villa-Lobos) 6’42” Etude No.11 (H. Vila-Lobos) 8’04” Asturias (Leyenda) (Isaac Albéniz) 11’16” Vals No.3 (Agustín Barrios Mangoré) 12’57” Bronce Gitano (Sabicas) 15’22” Tango falseta (Jerónimo Maya)
What cannot be heard on the video:
The Granato is a powerful set of strings with massive volume and unsurpassed clarity. Quite harder than the EJ45 and obviously not as warm sounding. The overall playability is easier than expected from an extra hard set of strings and that is something that also the Rubino have, due to the thinness of the strings that is the result of the addition of metal powder to achieve the desired tension without making the string thicker thus harder to fret. The tension is almost equal to each string with not much differentiation when going from one string to another, (equally hard though to my taste).
The thicknesses of the strings feels weird in general. Very thin 4th (that started to peel off in a week!), very thick 6th. I was expecting a more powerful Rubino as the Granato is supposed to be Rubino in extra hard tension. But the Granato seem too metallic for my taste.
RE: Aquila most durable set? (in reply to AndresK)
quote:
JasonM if you are reading this I have some information about the search for Luthier alternative. Have you tried Knobloch? Luciano Ghosn who has very good taste for sound as someone can hear from his videos, and was using Luthier for a long time, says he likes very much his Knobloch Actives SN double silver, low tension. Strings by mail has it like this: Knobloch Actives 200ADN Nylon LT Classical Guitar Strings, Full Set. The only problem... the price.
Sorry I missed this. I did see Luciano was using the Knoblochs, he is sponsoring them too, not sure if that is an influence or not. He said he was using low tension because his scale length was long and he also prefers medium to low tension in general . I definitely don’t, so I ordered the Actives in Medium High (400ADN). Havnt tried them yet but I’m hoping I don’t like them because they are indeed pricey lol! I will try them next and let you know my impressions. Also was it you or someone else said that players in Spain switched to Oasis when the Luthier supply ran out? Never thought to even consider Oasis maybe because I’ve never heard anyone else use them
It was me saying about Oasis, as I was conveying the words of the guy that has the Lordofthestrings shop in europe, that I buy strings from many times. I asked him about Luthier alternatives and he told me that many professional players buying Luthier strings over the years are now switching to Oasis due to the lack of Luthiers on the market.
I really have not yet tried them even though that was almost a year ago! The same goes for me too I, I never heard anyone use them. They are very economic though, so I might include one of their regency sets that carry normal nylon, next time I order strings.
In the meantime I have some opened, used sets of Aquila (that also cost me some good money) sitting around, stringing again and again on my guitar, as I cannot leave the EJ45 more than 2 days on it since I tried the Rubino. Although I have not found what exactly I was looking for in Aquila it is hard to forget the clarity (sadly not the warmth) of the Rubino. I have never heard something like that. The basses are not so strong as I wished but the Granato which is extra is not good for more than one reasons.
RE: Aquila most durable set? (in reply to AndresK)
I asked 3 professional tocaores about strings. One plays a Rafa Bernal, another a Conde negra, the other a Conde blanca. All use Savarez Alliance high tension. I tried them on my guitar and it improved.
Jerónimo Perez gave me a set of Knoblock to try. After 2 days, I took them off my guitar and binned them.
RE: Aquila most durable set? (in reply to AndresK)
LordOfTheStrings! Great name! I will have to try out the Rubinos trebles ! I didn’t care much for the bass strings that came with the Alabaster either. But the Rubinos sound pretty interesting.
A lot of foro members here like Savarez Alliance. I’ve never tried them but I do not like fluorocarbon strings. They sound good for stuff like picado but rasgueado and such does not sound right to me with these strings from what I remember.
RE: Aquila most durable set? (in reply to Morante)
Hello. Thanks for the input. Was the Knobloch you tried carbon or nylon set? I really do not like carbon for various reasons. On the other hand Daniel Casares also plays hard tension carbon, D Addario's to be more specific, and he sounds very flamenco to me with amazing sound.
Jeronimo Maya plays normal tension D Addario(edit: nylon. EJ45), but I think that is because he finds them easily in Madrid all around. He said he liked La Bella black trebles for blancas.
This matter surely has a lot to do with personal taste.
RE: Aquila most durable set? (in reply to AndresK)
quote:
This matter surely has a lot to do with personal taste.
Sí. Personal taste and the guitar. These were carbon. Jero gets them for free so puts them on all his new guitars. On my guitar they were rubbish: on another guitar they could be good
If you buy only trebles then it might be interesting to try the sugar too as they are closer to nylon in terms of thickness and feel, just make sure they are the squeakless version.
I do not like fluorocarbon either for more than one reasons although some players get some super amazing sound out of them.
Hi, I have used since September 2020 the Aquila SUGAR Strings on my Mundo Flamenco 3F and on my Asturias and, generally speaking, I'm really satisfied with these strings. Only stringing your guitar could be a problem as someone has already mentioned! When I put on the E-first on my Mundo Flamenco, it broke straight in the middle a thing that had never happened to me with a new string. Afterwards when stringing my guitars I was very careful and did not have any issues anymore. The SUGAR EXTRA sound great on my Flamenco guitar, especially the bass strings, but the playability could be better as the strings are a bit too thick to my taste; on the other hand, on my classical ASTURIAS the SUGAR medium and high tension are easy to play. Here I like especially the sustain of the trebles. If you are interested, here you are two links from my youtubechannel:
Great playing and comparisons. But I am confused about your conclusion. I think you are saying Sugar is louder and clearer but maybe not the best string for Flamenco? In the videos the EJ45 doesn't sound bad but it does sound more muddled to me. Which strings are you going forward with? I just put on some new EJ25B and like them, I think they are better than EJ45. The G string does suck and has bad intonation so I replaced it with a Dogal Diamante which is working nicely. I really like the EJ25 basses when new but that sound doesn't last long. The tension on the Sugar strings seem much higher which would be a negative for me.
_____________________________
Ah well, there was a fantastic passion there, in my case anyway. I discovered flamenco very early on. It grips you in a way that you can't get away - Paco Pena
RE: Aquila most durable set? (in reply to Cervantes)
Hello. You are very kind, thank you.
I now have the Cantiga new Cristal by Savarez in medium tension, because I had the need to get that full bodied nylon sound from my trebles, which is the reason this guitar really impressed me in the first place. This way it inspires more when I play, and it sounds great, full strong but flexible basses and round, nylon, full bodied, natural sound clear trebles.
D 'Addario are always great too. Great balance on the basses and very warm trebles. To my guitar not so full bodied as the Savarez New Cristal trebles but very well intonated and quite sharp when played accordingly. EJ25C that I tried on my guitar where not so great as they felt a bit harder than the Ej45, which is natural as they have the tension of the EJ45 on the basses and the tension of the EJ46 on the trebles. But, even though the tension was higher the "body" of the trebles was not as that of the new cristal.
Now having tested various "nylons" I have a more clear picture of what each one gives to the sound. Knobloch SN and QZ are an example. I have posted some comparison of them on Jason's post about Knobloch. The SN closer to the "original" have more penetrating sound with better articulation, on the other hand QZ which are more like the new cristal Savarez or the Luthier nylon trebles, have a more refined, rounder tone. A great alternative to the Knoboch SN or the D'addario EJ45 (which is rounder than the Knobloch SN) would be the La Bella 427. But be careful, the 427 is lighter in tension than the EJ25B you like.
Aquila.. I really do not see me going back there anytime soon.. Very good to experiment with if you are looking for something entirely new to the sound you normally get from your guitar. That is why I suggest Aquila to students that have dull sounding economic guitars that maybe they get them bored. If you put Sugar there it will really bring that thing to life. But on a good guitar to start with, you might get annoyed not getting what you originally liked about its sound. And Aquila can make a guitar sound very different, and this might not always be a good thing.
Aquila's thing is to make a difference with innovative new materials (and redish colors) and in most of their sets I got the feeling they try to make a breakthrough similar to Savarez with alliance. They also try to recreate the gut sound but with gory-less means like Nylgut that they invented, and Mimmo (the owner) said that gut sound is closer to fluorocarbon. But I never really liked fluorocarbon strings, so not the way I would like to go.
Their basses is something else too to consider. Normal tension Nylgut Aquila basses (that most of their sets have on silver plated or red varnished like their sugar sets) are very weak sounding to my ears in comparison to other companies normal tension basses. To get some power you will need their superior sets (hard tension) that are too hard for me.
Let me know if you need more info on something specific on Aquila sets and I will be happy to help.
Posts: 503
Joined: Jun. 14 2014
From: Encinitas, CA USA
RE: Aquila most durable set? (in reply to AndresK)
Thanks for in depth insight. I agree with you on Aquila, I have tried some of their strings and they are different but not necessarily better or usable. I have tried Savarez new cristal in the past but don't remember if I liked them. I may need to re-visit them and may have some in my string collection. Another string you might want to try is Dogal Diamante. Can I ask what your recording setup is?, the sound is very good.
_____________________________
Ah well, there was a fantastic passion there, in my case anyway. I discovered flamenco very early on. It grips you in a way that you can't get away - Paco Pena
RE: Aquila most durable set? (in reply to Cervantes)
If you try new Cristal try the cantiga and not the corum. Cantiga basses are more flexible and easier for legados than the corum basses, thus for me, more suitable for flamenco. If you suffer from tubby g strings you can try the creation sets from Savarez where they have new Cristal 1st and 2nd string and alliance fluorocarbon 3rd string to avoid the dullness. I have not tried this specific set myself as I do not get a tubby g sound from my blanca.
I want to try the diamante at some point as Adam del Monte also praises them. Thank you for the suggestion.
I just use an old zoom h2 portable recorder on my balcony for almost all my recordings 😆. Not so professional but my 6 year old son is in the house so recording in a quiet indoor room is not an option. I add some reverb afterwards only on cover recordings and never on comparisons where you can hear just the raw sound of the strings.
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