Aquila Rubino (nylgut+metal dust)
Vs Aquila
experimental Granato (Sugar+metal dust)
If you haven't been following the other threads then I can quickly say that I have been experimenting with these strings recently. Mimmo recently sent me a new version of the Granato strings (from March 2019 onwards). I have highly praised both sets and Mimmo for his creativity.
Update:
I have just spent a week at my in-laws and sent a good amount of time playing my mother-in-law's cedar-top classical with Knobloch CX carbon trebles. This guitar contrasts strongly with my spruce-top flamenco. I really enjoyed the change to a softer sound.
I had been playing the Granato (new version) for a few weeks and was impressed by the clarity these strings gave.
However, upon return, it was such a contrast from playing the classical with carbons strings that I thought I would put a new set of Aquila Rubino strings on my flamenco guitar (trebles only), and I can say that I have gone back to preferring these impressive strings.
I only had trebles available, but I will buy more Rubino basses as I think I also prefer these to the Granato basses which are designed with a shorter sustain.
Some of the points for why I really like Rubino strings:
- The tone: they have a good fundamental, but are not dull. They are focused, but not too bright.
- They are very stable, which is great for changing to alternative tunings often.
- They retain tension better than Granato strings when tuning down a tone. For me, the Granato 1st string did not have enough tension when I tuned it down to D.
- They bend very well, better than any other string I've tried. What I mean is that you have to bend the string relatively little to get a good change in pitch. You have to bend other polymer based strings more to get to the same change in pitch.