Can I put Martin M600 strings on tenor?

Ukulammy

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It was suggested in another thread I put concert strings on my mom’s tenor to ease her finger fatigue with chords. I looked at the Martin M600 strings, but I’m concerned they might be too short for a tenor. Some of the reviews mentioned a tenor, but I’d rather hear this from you all. Strings.....so confusing!!!

Thank you!
 
Yes, I have the M600s on one of my tenors tuned down to Bb. The tension is on the low side so I think they could be tuned up to C as well. I had no problems with length.
 
I wanted to update. I don’t know what went wrong, but the strings were far too short for the tenor. I’ll put them on my soprano though.
 
I have started a similar thread with the opposite questions, as I have a set of Martin tenor strings but need fluorocarbons for a concert. Too bad we're not in the same town for a quick swap.
 
You could use Worth Strings. They come in double length so even soprano strings would have more than enough length. Southcoast strings all come in 30 inch length so will fit any instrument. They also have a great variety of strings in a variety of tensions and tunings, so they will have something that will work. http://southcoastukes.com/csets.htm
 
I wanted to update. I don’t know what went wrong, but the strings were far too short for the tenor. I’ll put them on my soprano though.

In 3 yrs of putting the M600 strings on tenor, I never had this problem.

On maybe 5-6 different ukes too, both slotted and tie bridges, both normal and slotted headstocks.

Maybe you misjudged and left more than 2-3" of slack when you tied them on the bridge?

if so, you may not have had enough to reach the tuners...

Maybe you can tie them on the bridge with as little extra tail as possible, and then try again?

If a slotted bridge and you knotted the ends of the strings, not much you can do. I always knot my strings as close to the ends of the string as possible leaving maybe on 1/4" of a tail, so as to not waste the length going to the tuners.

Otherwise, I'd contact the vendor and see if they can send you a new set. However if you tell them that you put them on tenor, they will likely balk at helping you.

I'd tell them they did not fit on your concert and that you think it is a bad batch of strings.
 
Thanks! I’ll look again. I didn’t tie them yet. I just layed them out next to the tenor (a Luna, regular headstock), and determined they’d be too short to tune. It’s probably me. At least I have a soprano I can put them on if I can’t figure out the tenor.
 
Thanks! I’ll look again. I didn’t tie them yet. I just layed them out next to the tenor (a Luna, regular headstock), and determined they’d be too short to tune. It’s probably me. At least I have a soprano I can put them on if I can’t figure out the tenor.

If you knot the bridge-ends of the strings, and do so with no more than 1/4" 'tail' at the end, you can then feed the strings into a small bead, and then into the hole of the bridge and over the top of the saddle. This method will use less string compared to if you tied them on the tie-bridge the normal way.

If there is enough length to get the other end of the string into the tuner's hole, and then a single wrap around the post, with the wrap on TOP of the tail that pokes out of the hole, with the next wrap going BELOW the tail poling out of the tuner, you will have enough string to get 3-4 wraps around the post, since it will stretch when tuning.

By having the first wrap ABOVE the tail, and all the rest BELOW the tail, as you tighten the string, the wraps will pinch the tail, very tight actually and the string should not slip out of the hole...

Otherwise if you have MORE string length, you can put the string thru the tuner hole, and then around the tuner 1/2-way and into the tuner hole again, and pull snug from both opposing ends on the post, and then keep tension on the string portion that goes to the bridge, and make sure that it winds UNDER and towards the wood of the headstock, and all should hold fine.

However, if the strings are too short for any of this, then I think you got a bum set that was cut too short at the factory, and I would either contact the vendor, or contact Martin as this is NOT the norm, based on my own experience...

Please report back what happens. :)
 
Thanks! These are for my mom’s tenor, so it’ll be a few days before I have access to her Uke again.
 
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