Having reviewed the Gut & Silk 900 and Alabastro before (I was rather surprised to see my own review recommended on the side, in fact, ha ha), I was especially interested to hear the other sets. I listened first through computer speakers, then with headphones and lastly through my surround sound system. I was most surprised by the Rubino. They had a warm and nuanced tone with good sustain, tonally closer to gut strings. They would work best for early music, in my opinion. It would have been great to have seen the Gut & Silk set reviewed here too, but maybe next time. 🎸
Hi Josh, I'll look forward to checking out your review! Yeah, the Rubino's are a really cool string. I enjoyed them the most by far out of all the sets. It's no surprise that I also love early music. Aquila only sent me the four sets I reviewed, so Gut & Silk will have to wait until later. :) Thanks for the nice comment!
Within the Aquila series I prefer the Cristalo. To choose between D'Adarrio and Aquila I would have to try them myself. Based on this video I don't hear anything convincing that I like latter are more than the former.
Yeah, I was a bit worried that some nuances would be more challenging to hear over a recording. Up close I think you'd be able to hear a slight difference in both the third and first strings especially. Still worth trying out!
I did try out Aquila Cristallo after I saw that Bradford Werner was playing with them. The intonation became very weird very quickly, so I don't use them any more.
Enjoyed this video. I have many sets of Aquila Sugar stings snd like them a lot, But I tend to experiment and have found that what works on one guitar may not work on another. So it is complicated, but what else do I have to do?
Thank you! Your comment is so right on: the instrument makes a big difference! And the folks at Aquila will tell you this too. They are really trying to be curators of strings so if you reach out to them they can give you great suggestions based on your instrument and what kind of sound you want.
Oh wow! The Sugars especially stand out in how bright they are to my ear. And it is a different kind of brightness than your typical carbons. The Alabastro are quite warm for the kind of string they are as well. Thanks for your comment.
Aquila is italian for eagle, and the company is in fact Italian, so his pronunciation is totally correct. Great strings, by the way. Been using them for a few years now.
Very nice, Dave. I’m currently using Alabastro, but now I want to try Rubino and others, and compare myself. Cheers!
Absolutely! They're all worth a try. And there are several other sets I still haven't tried.
Very well done, this is! Tell us, please, how would you characterize the tensions of these different strings? Particularly the Rubino and the Sugar?
Hi Dave, thank you. I enjoy Aquila Alabastro strings. Nice playing on Sor’s Opus 31 no.4😊
Thanks, Drew! I really enjoyed trying out the Aquila strings. They are quite unique!
Very interesting Dave, that was very informative. I'll have to try all of them, eventually.
Thanks, Thane!
Having reviewed the Gut & Silk 900 and Alabastro before (I was rather surprised to see my own review recommended on the side, in fact, ha ha), I was especially interested to hear the other sets. I listened first through computer speakers, then with headphones and lastly through my surround sound system. I was most surprised by the Rubino. They had a warm and nuanced tone with good sustain, tonally closer to gut strings. They would work best for early music, in my opinion. It would have been great to have seen the Gut & Silk set reviewed here too, but maybe next time. 🎸
Hi Josh, I'll look forward to checking out your review! Yeah, the Rubino's are a really cool string. I enjoyed them the most by far out of all the sets. It's no surprise that I also love early music. Aquila only sent me the four sets I reviewed, so Gut & Silk will have to wait until later. :) Thanks for the nice comment!
Through headphones at the computer I preferred the Rubino. The bass strings sounded richer with depth, to my ears.
Alabasgtro is undervalued in Japan. It should be popular!
They're a very cool string! Not my favorite out of the sets for my guitar, but still really interesting.
I will try...
Within the Aquila series I prefer the Cristalo. To choose between D'Adarrio and Aquila I would have to try them myself. Based on this video I don't hear anything convincing that I like latter are more than the former.
Yeah, I was a bit worried that some nuances would be more challenging to hear over a recording. Up close I think you'd be able to hear a slight difference in both the third and first strings especially. Still worth trying out!
I did try out Aquila Cristallo after I saw that Bradford Werner was playing with them. The intonation became very weird very quickly, so I don't use them any more.
Enjoyed this video. I have many sets of Aquila Sugar stings snd like them a lot, But I tend to experiment and have found that what works on one guitar may not work on another. So it is complicated, but what else do I have to do?
Thank you! Your comment is so right on: the instrument makes a big difference! And the folks at Aquila will tell you this too. They are really trying to be curators of strings so if you reach out to them they can give you great suggestions based on your instrument and what kind of sound you want.
I tried the sugar strings earlier this year but found them to bright (almost brittle sounding) for my taste.
I agree on the Sugars. However, I have a feeling they would sound fantastic on a darker sounding guitar, like my Paul Sheridan.
Ambra set sounds incredible. However, these strings wear out quickly.
I haven't tried those yet! Definitely will look forward to playing more of Aquila's strings in the future.
Listening on my television the Rubino sounded the clearest and had the best overall sound balance, not too bright. Shame about the colour!
I really liked the Rubinos a lot. If you can get past the color and a couple other quirks, they are a fantastic sounding string.
They all sound virtually the same to me.
Oh wow! The Sugars especially stand out in how bright they are to my ear. And it is a different kind of brightness than your typical carbons. The Alabastro are quite warm for the kind of string they are as well. Thanks for your comment.
Sorry, A-keel-ah not awk-you-la. (named after an eagle) However, I use their string exclusivly.
Aquila is italian for eagle, and the company is in fact Italian, so his pronunciation is totally correct. Great strings, by the way. Been using them for a few years now.
Thank you, Maurizio!