Wide Nut slot

Ukecaster

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Picked up an older Flea #8453 in the Poi-ple color (dark purple top). Sounds great, much different than my concert Fluke, and seems like it will be a fun uke. Almost mint, however the E string nut slot seems too wide, as I noticed some plinky tone when changing chords.
I can finger that string at the 2nd fret, wiggle back and forth, and get that plinky overtone, as I see the string wiggling side to side in the nut slot. It came to me with the original black Hilo strings, and I just changed them to Martin M600, which may be thinner. I suppose I can jam a black piece of paper in the slot to firm things up a bit, and stop the wiggle. Any other better, quick fixes for that?
 
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Picked up an older Flea #8453 in the Poi-ple color (dark purple top). Sounds great, much different than my concert Fluke, and seems like it will be a fun uke. Almost mint, however the E string nut slot seems too wide, as I noticed some plinky tone when changing chords.
I can finger that string at the 2nd fret, wiggle back and forth, and get that plinky overtone, as I see the string wiggling side to side in the nut slot. It came to me with the original black Hilo strings, and I just changed them to Martin M600, which may be thinner. I suppose I can jam a black piece of paper in the slot to firm things up a bit, and stop the wiggle. Any other better, quick fixes for that?

The MFC instruments are NOT made just like other ukes, i.e. the plastic fretboard has a zero-fret and the nut slots are merely string-spacers, all molded into the fretboard. The wooden fretboard has a metal zero-fret and some other material that is more like a black micarta that acts also as string-spacers.

The best advice you are going to get is from contacting MFC (Magic Fluke Company) directly via:

The Magic Fluke Company
292 South Main Street
Sheffield, MA 01257
(413) 229-8536
sales@magicfluke.com

http://www.magicfluke.com/Contact-s/1844.htm

They are always VERY helpful and have been solving these problems themselves with better results than messing with CA glue and baking soda, which while it might work for an instrument with a bone or cheap plastic nut, I would NOT advise this on a Fluke or Flea.

CALL THEM, they will help/advise you.
 
Picked up an older Flea #8453 in the Poi-ple color (dark purple top). Sounds great, much different than my concert Fluke, and seems like it will be a fun uke. Almost mint, however the E string nut slot seems too wide, as I noticed some plinky tone when changing chords.
I can finger that string at the 2nd fret, wiggle back and forth, and get that plinky overtone, as I see the string wiggling side to side in the nut slot. It came to me with the original black Hilo strings, and I just changed them to Martin M600, which may be thinner. I suppose I can jam a black piece of paper in the slot to firm things up a bit, and stop the wiggle. Any other better, quick fixes for that?

I've had this same plinky thing happen before, but only on their plastic fretboards. I"m a big fan of Flea's and Flukes, but I now only buy them with the upgraded hardwood fretboard for this reason.
 
I am having this problem now after having changed my strings from the original Aquilas to Martin M600s. The string(s) slide a bit in the nut slot on my Flea. Any other suggestions besides going back to thicker strings? I prefer not to use a glue/paste to fill in the slots. Thanks.
 
I am having this problem now after having changed my strings from the original Aquilas to Martin M600s. The string(s) slide a bit in the nut slot on my Flea. Any other suggestions besides going back to thicker strings? I prefer not to use a glue/paste to fill in the slots. Thanks.

A piece of thin paper in the slot may help alleviate sliding.
 
They sent me some tiny plastic sleeves, which they suggested I slide over the strings, but that was for a divot in the zero fret on the E string. However, I also noticed extra width in the nut slots when I went to thinner Martin flouro strings.
 
Some ukes just work better with certain strings. It sounds like Flukes and Fleas prefer nylon. But it also sounds like the black paper works fine. The advantage there is you can easily use nylon if you decide to later. I was out of strings and strung my Kiwaya with a set of nylgut I had and to my surprise, not only did they sound great, they were comfortable to play. So it's possible your tastes will change.
 
Some ukes just work better with certain strings. It sounds like Flukes and Fleas prefer nylon. But it also sounds like the black paper works fine. The advantage there is you can easily use nylon if you decide to later. I was out of strings and strung my Kiwaya with a set of nylgut I had and to my surprise, not only did they sound great, they were comfortable to play. So it's possible your tastes will change.

Which strings 'work' is highly subjective to the player, their technique as well as the style of music they play.

Debating best strings is folly. I can only share what has worked for me.

On 6 different instruments from The Magic Fluke Company, I use fluorocarbon strings exclusively. I never had an issue with the fluoro strings slipping in the nut slots.

I found that of the over 2-dozens sets of different nylon string gauges (from 6 different brands of strings), as well as all variations of nylgut, just sound too dull for me, while also lacking in sustain and dynamic range (both of which I require for my playing style).

Sustain is a critical component of playing in fingerstyle and campanella, and I've found that properly tensioned fluorocarbon strings will deliver 2x-2.5x the time of sustain than all other string materials available for ukulele.

Dynamic range in that the SuperNylgut and NylTech strings have a limited spectrum of soft to loud, in that they have a limit to HOW LOUD they will get during flamenco style strumming. Lots of my own compositions vary WIDELY in dynamic range, i.e. from a whisper to a BANG, and flurocarbon strings, across the board can deliver MORE bang that these other strings

If you only ever strum-and-sing, or just plink out simple melodies, you will likely not notice these subtle differences to fluorocarbon strings. I am not putting down other playing styles as all are valid to the player him/herself.

For my fingerstyle, campanella, and flamenco inspired playing, I require brightness on the G and A strings to stand out since I carry melody lines on these strings, and with nylon, these string are typically buried by the boominess of ANY C string, whether nylon or wound.

ALSO:


I noticed that some folks wind their C and E strings from the string hole in the peg, 'out' to the end of the peg so that the string is parallel to the nut slot.

Doing so fails to apply proper angular tension at the fulcrum of the nut slot, which will better hold the string from slipping laterally.

On my own Fluke and Flea ukes, I always wind the strings from the string hole in the shaft, 'DOWN' the tuner peg and TOWARDS the headstock.

This applies the proper angular tension at the fulcrum of the nut slot to hold the string.

So, look how your strings are wound, and try it this way and see if it improves upon the problem.
 
I am having this problem now after having changed my strings from the original Aquilas to Martin M600s. The string(s) slide a bit in the nut slot on my Flea. Any other suggestions besides going back to thicker strings? I prefer not to use a glue/paste to fill in the slots. Thanks.

I would not 'fill' the nut slots on a Fluke or Flea with anything at all. See my post above about how you wind the strings on the post. Try that and see if it solves your issue.

I have Martin strings on 2 Flukes and a Flea, and do not have this issue.

Also it could be your technique in that you are fretting the string in a way that applies force from the SIDE instead of from the TOP, and as such you are pressing across the fretboard instead of DOWN onto the fretboard.

Doing this fretting in this way will be like you are 'bending' the notes and your intonation is likely to suffer as well.

Maybe take a look at your technique, and realize that your thumb should be behind the middle/centerline of the neck at all times when fretting notes or chords, and if not, your fretting fingers will be 'out of alignment'.
 
Sustain is a critical component of playing in fingerstyle and campanella, and I've found that properly tensioned fluorocarbon strings will deliver 2x-2.5x the time of sustain than all other string materials available for ukulele.

Dynamic range in that the SuperNylgut and NylTech strings have a limited spectrum of soft to loud, in that they have a limit to HOW LOUD they will get during flamenco style strumming. Lots of my own compositions vary WIDELY in dynamic range, i.e. from a whisper to a BANG, and flurocarbon strings, across the board can deliver MORE bang that these other strings

If you only ever strum-and-sing, or just plink out simple melodies, you will likely not notice these subtle differences to fluorocarbon strings. I am not putting down other playing styles as all are valid to the player him/herself.

There are a lot of people who play a lot better than I do (hundreds of thousands, I'm sure) and who use nylon strings. Perhaps not exclusively, but have been seen doing so in performance, as well as saying they do in interviews or on websites. I only know of a few of them, but they include:

John King--seen on YouTube somehow managing campanella on his Glyph with what appear to be Nylgut strings),
James Hill--who says he uses nylon strings in his FAQ,
Aldrine Guerrero--who has a set of nylon strings named for him and developed with Aquila,
Jake Shimabukuro--who used D'Addarrio classical guitar nylon strings and helped D'Addarrio develop and market the EJ65T nylon strings, as well,
And our own George Elmes who started with Aquila, changed to fluorocarbon, and is now back to Aquila (as far as I know).

None of them could be said to simply "strum-and-sing" or "plink out simple melodies" and undoubtedly all have noticed the subtle differences between the two kinds of strings and chosen nylon because they prefer them.

I wish I knew what strings Brittni Paiva, Victoria Vox, Julia Nunes, Amanda Palmer, and Taimane Gardner, et. al., use. It might be interesting to find out.

I'm sure there are many professional players who use fluorocarbon as well. As you say, strings are very personal. I'm glad that fluorocarbon work for your compositions.
 
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There are a lot of people who play a lot better than I do (hundreds of thousands, I'm sure) and who use nylon strings. ...

I'm sure there are many professional players who use fluorocarbon as well. As you say, strings are very personal. I'm glad that fluorocarbon work for your compositions.

I had/have no intent to malign the choices other folks make.

Maybe they are a lot less picky than I am.

I am VERY picky about strings. I have tried/tested over 100 different sets of strings for ukulele alone in the past 4 yrs, and did so looking for something VERY specific.

I found it, and what works for me, 99% of the time is fluorocarbon.

Like everything else in this world, YMMV. :)
 
I wouldn't try CA/baking soda on a stock Flea/Fluke. Since it has the zero fret, the nut slots are just guides for the strings. To stop any excess flop in the slots, I'd use the little plastic tubes which MFC can provide, or even a layer or 2 of black electrical tape in the slot will work.
 
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