How long for new strings to settle?

jisa

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Hi all.

I bought my second ukulele, a baritone tuned to GCEA, so the slide into UAS is possibly starting (although I think I'm good for at least a while :p). New strings were put on it just before it was sent to me, so I know it's going to take some time for them to hold tuning. I'm wondering, though, generally how long this might be?

Thanks!
 
My method to break in strings is once they are put on, I'll start playing. I'll play a song, then tune them again. Play a song, then tune them again. I continue to play and re-tune the strings after each and every song. Once I'm ready to finish the session, I'll tune my uke up (sharp) a half or a full step before putting it away. The next time I pick up the uke I'll continue this procedure until it holds a tune. It usually only takes a few days or sessions.
 
My method to break in strings is once they are put on, I'll start playing. I'll play a song, then tune them again. Play a song, then tune them again. I continue to play and re-tune the strings after each and every song. Once I'm ready to finish the session, I'll tune my uke up (sharp) a half or a full step before putting it away. The next time I pick up the uke I'll continue this procedure until it holds a tune. It usually only takes a few days or sessions.

I do that too. A couple days to a week of retuning usually does it for me. There will still be small tuning adjustments for weeks.
 
I do that too. A couple days to a week of retuning usually does it for me. There will still be small tuning adjustments for weeks.

(Edited... because I gave wrong advice because I skimmed the initial post and said to tune up a whole step. I had skimmed the initial post and missed that this was the customer that bought a GCEA tuned Baritone. DO NOT DO THIS ON A GCEA BARITONE! AND... to humble me even more he bought it from me! So I should have KNOWN better! DOH! I feel like a big ol' dork forgetting that. The strings are super tight on these sets and he ended up popping his string... so I am sending him a couple new sets. DOH! And since this stuff stays out in the internet universe forever I need to correct it as to not be the cause of many popped strings.)

Yes. And you can tune it up sharp a little, don't go overboard. I initially said a full step, and I have had good luck with that on regular ukes, but use your judgement. And do not do it on a GCEA baritone. I don't want to make that general statement and people to be like "I popped a string because Mim gives crap advice." Judge the tightness of your strings, whenever you put it up for the night, tune it a little sharp and It will help expedite it. Just don't go overboard and take into account your uke and your string set. You can usually feel when it is way too light.
 
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Thanks all, especially you, Mim. :) (It's the baritone you sent me.)
 
It depends on how much I play. I generally practice around 2 hours a day so it doesn't take long. Stretching the strings out by pulling on them also helps.
 
If you have a tuner, tune up everyday. Soon you'll be able to hear an out of tune string and can correct it quickly. Changing heat, humidity and phase of the moon also effects tuning!

Enjoy!
 
I just re tune every time I take one out, always check it's in tune before playing it, it's routine. :)

Depends how long each session is, & what type of strings, but it'll take from a couple of days to 2 weeks sometimes, with the odd string needing to be re checked now & again.
 
When I put new strings on, I tune it sharp, strum a tune or partial tune, leave it sit out and everytime I walk by, tune sharp and strum a few chords, check tune and leave it sharp again. Do this for the first day, thereafter, tune sharp a little every time you think about it and strum a tune or a few chords retune as needed. As mentioned above, it takes a few days to a few weeks...
 
My Worth Browns took about 5 days to settle in nicely. Aquilas take a lot longer, they seem really stretchy, some have taken up to a couple of weeks.
Interesting though, my Kala, with closed tuners, stays in tune with Aquilas and a lo G. My Cocobolo, no matter what strings, with the Peghead tuners, goes out all the time, playing or not.
Still the Pegheads are fun to mess with...so I don't mind. It makes me really listen to it!
 
When you tune baritone up to GCEA it's quite taut, even with the strings designed for that. So if you tune it higher string breakage is much more likely. I wouldn't go more than a half step up, if that.
 
When you tune baritone up to GCEA it's quite taut, even with the strings designed for that. So if you tune it higher string breakage is much more likely. I wouldn't go more than a half step up, if that.

Sorry I scanned the initial post and OH SHOOOT! I THOUGHT THIS WAS A REGULAR UKE!

Hahaha!

I did not realize this was the GCEA Baritone... I SOLD HIM!

Andrew is TOTALLY RIGHT!

YES DONT DO IT!

Because... confession time. They just wrote me and said, "Mim I took your advice and the string popped" and it ALL CAME TOGETHER!
And I came back on here and was like "OH THAT BARITONE! How did I miss that?!"

I will edit my original post because I was just in regular ukulele mode and bad advice stays on the internets forever!

I am sending him a couple more string sets. Hahaha! DOH!
I need to make up for my bad advice!
Mim is not perfect, but she makes it right!
Biggest. Dork. Ever... sometimes ;)
 
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What is meant by "a step"? I tune my new strings a couple marks on the tuner, sharp to begin with...
 
I interpret a step as meaning a semitone.

Correction a step I interpret as a whole tone and a half step as a semitone.
 
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When I put on new strings, I tune them up. Play a little, retune and repeat a few times. I then tune it sharp, typically about a semitone maybe more if string tension is lower and leave it overnight. The next day, I retune (it will have gone flat) and play a little, retune as necessary and again tune sharp to leave overnight. After a few days the strings are more or less OK. It will take some time after that for the strings to properly settle and you need to check them every time you pick the uke up. Also changes in weather will affect tuning so always check and retune as necessary.
 
So what is the definition of "settled in"? Is there a quantified standard of tuning that indicates that the strings have finally settled in? What are the expectations for strings, I wonder?
 
When strings are still breaking in or "settling" they may need to be re-tuned as often as every song or several times in the course of an hour or half-hour. My definition of "settled in" is when I no longer have to tune them during the course of a playing session or it is still it tune from the last time I played it. When they are settled in I may not have to re-tune them for several playing sessions, days or weeks. Even then if they do need tuning, the strings are all off the same 3-4 ticks on my tuner which is more a reflection of the "barometer effect" of the neck waxing and waning with the humidity and not really a matter of the strings changing.
 
They never really "settle" (at least for me) in the same way that a steel-stringed instrument does. My ukes are always "just a tad off" when I take them out of the case. Sometimes the bass strings are flat and the trebles sharp. My favorite mandola, OTOH, sat completely neglected for a few months as I became acquainted with the ukes. I just played it the other day, and it was still spot on. At most, if it ever goes out of tune, it's just one string, which is easily heard and fixed. In all my years with mando-family instruments, it never occurred to me to want a clip-on tuner. A D'Addario micro-tuner came with the pre-owned baritone uke I bought, and I thought it was a curious novelty item. I quickly learned that it's very handy to have, and bought one for the other uke, as well.

bratsche
 
What is meant by "a step"? I tune my new strings a couple marks on the tuner, sharp to begin with...
I'd really wondered about that too and was trying to pick up the meaning from the contexts in which it was used. In the 'Ukulele Handbook' (p110) by Pretor-Pinney and Hodgkinson a (musical) step is defined as a whole tone and half a step as a semitone. In contrast to them I know less than nothing so I'll go with their definition.

To me the movement between each fret on a Ukulele feels like it should be called a step, but to do so would be musicically incorrect: whilst it might clearly be one physical step or advancement between adjacent frets it's half a musical step or a semi-tone between them.
 
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