String Changing Tips?

Joyful Uke

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As I struggled with a string change the other day, I remembered why I get lazy about changing strings. Sometimes, it's more of a battle than it should be.

I do OK with a tie bridge, but it takes me way too long to finally win the battle with a slotted bridge. I can make the figure-8 knot easily, but somehow have trouble convincing the knot to stay in the slot. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. Any tips for making that easier?

I haven't yet tried a string through bridge change, but need to give that a try one of these days. From my good buddy Google, it looks like beads will be the way to go with that. Any recommendations? Where do you buy the beads?

Any other ideas for making any string change easier? (Aside from getting someone else to do it? LOL.) I suspect it would be easier if I wasn't just trying to balance the ukulele on my lap, for example. What do you all do to make this an easier task?
 
For a slotted bridge, in re-entrant tuning, and on the G and A strings, I do like a simple overhand knot, but wrap the tail thru the loop 4 times instead of once, before cinching it down, for the E string, I wrap the tail thru the loop 3 times, and the C string just once.

This is all with fluorocarbon strings, which are thinner than others, and never had a knot slip out of the slot on a slotted bridge.

I also do the exact same thing with a tie-bridge, but feed the string into a small bead, and then into the hole from the butt-end and over the saddle.

Also if you get a string winder thingy like this (below, $5 on Amazon), and use it for geared tuners, it makes string changes pretty quick and does NOT require batteries.

61oyZnir0BL._SL1500_.jpg


https://www.amazon.com/Ursmile-Plastic-Acoustic-Guitar-Remover/dp/B013OFJVPW
 
A few tricks -
- Use blue painters tape to temporarily hold the stings in the slots on a slotted bridge. Or use a capo to hold them against the fretboard.
- Run the strings through the holes in the tuner shafts twice. Keeps slick fluorocarbon strings from creeping.
- On a through bridge, remember to put the string through the body before you tie the knot :). Turn the uke neck down and shake it so the strings fall toward the sound hole.
- Roll up a towel to put under the neck so you can set the uke on a table to work on it.
- I like this string winder the best because it has ball bearings and is easy to use https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01M9FB6IJ/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1. It's a little more expensive but worth it in the long run.
- Change strings a lot and it will soon become second nature.
 
A few tricks -
- Use blue painters tape to temporarily hold the stings in the slots on a slotted bridge. Or use a capo to hold them against the fretboard.
- Run the strings through the holes in the tuner shafts twice. Keeps slick fluorocarbon strings from creeping.
- On a through bridge, remember to put the string through the body before you tie the knot :). Turn the uke neck down and shake it so the strings fall toward the sound hole.
- Roll up a towel to put under the neck so you can set the uke on a table to work on it.
- I like this string winder the best because it has ball bearings and is easy to use https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01M9FB6IJ/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1. It's a little more expensive but worth it in the long run.
- Change strings a lot and it will soon become second nature.

Good tips. After changing several sets, I can now wrap the string around the tuning post the correct way without trying it several times.
 
I do OK with a tie bridge, but it takes me way too long to finally win the battle with a slotted bridge. I can make the figure-8 knot easily, but somehow have trouble convincing the knot to stay in the slot. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.

Yes, I find that to be a challenge sometimes. The knot must be big, but not too big. Before you start pulling on the string, make sure the knot is pushed right into the slot, not just sitting at the entry point. Once it's in there, use the tip given here about the tape or capo. I prefer to cut off the excess when I'm sure the knot is tied well, but before I put the string into the slot. I don't want to be using cutters that close to the pretty wood. : )

I like the look of that $15.00 winder. The ball bearings are a good idea. By the way, don't use a winder with friction pegs. :)

I have a cheap winder with a cutter on the opposite end - convenient.
 
ashley%20stopper%20knot.jpg

Ditto the string winder and passing the string through the tuner twice.
 
Some really good suggestions here. Makes me almost want to go ahead and change the strings again so I can try the suggestions. Almost. :)
 
Needle nose pliers help me a lot by getting the knot exactly where I want it.
 
That winder is sweet!
 
The blue painter tape is a good tip. Thanks.
As for using beads, I go to crafts stores like Micheal's and get a strand of beads. Costs about $2-3 for a strand. Many choices of color and sizes. At least 3-4mm, anything smaller can break.

IMG_0616.jpg
 
Some good tips in this thread that I'll have to try. Here's my winder and essential string changing tools...
winder.jpg
 
As I struggled with a string change the other day, I remembered why I get lazy about changing strings. Sometimes, it's more of a battle than it should be.

I do OK with a tie bridge, but it takes me way too long to finally win the battle with a slotted bridge. I can make the figure-8 knot easily, but somehow have trouble convincing the knot to stay in the slot. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. Any tips for making that easier?

I haven't yet tried a string through bridge change, but need to give that a try one of these days. From my good buddy Google, it looks like beads will be the way to go with that. Any recommendations? Where do you buy the beads?

Any other ideas for making any string change easier? (Aside from getting someone else to do it? LOL.) I suspect it would be easier if I wasn't just trying to balance the ukulele on my lap, for example. What do you all do to make this an easier task?

I work on a table and put some place mats under the head to stop it rocking.

I have tie rather than slotted bridges (that’s just how its worked out, no other reason) and have taken to putting a simple knot in the end of the last string (g or a) to stop it slipping out from under its captivating loop.

At the tuner end I was never certain how much slack to leave before starting the winding process. Now I pull the string up tight, wind it arraigned the post four times and add a good finger’s width to that before cutting it to length. I put all the strings through their post’s eye twice and the thin g and a strings are,within the eye, looped over and under themselves too (think like the first part of tying a shoe lace). I pull the loops tight to leave just a fraction over a fingers width of string coming out of the eye and tighten the string such that the line is without any slack on it as it winds (is pulled onto) onto the post. Edit. The first wrap of string goes above the eye and the rest below.

Hope that that helps.
 
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As for using beads, I go to crafts stores like Micheal's and get a strand of beads. Costs about $2-3 for a strand. Many choices of color and sizes. At least 3-4mm, anything smaller can break.

View attachment 108060

Is there any difference between the craft store beads and the beads sold specifically for use in stringing instruments, aside from cost? Any advantage to the more costly option?
 
On some used ukes I've gotten, when I eventually go to install new strings, I unwind the tuners, and discover that the previous user has used some kind of knot on each string post. For me, it's a real PIA to get them off with that knot, and I often need to resort to a little jewelers screwdriver to catch inside the knot, to loosen it. I hate doing that, as one slip, and you've got a scratch on the headstock :mad:

When I install new strings, I just run the string through the tuner post hole, and start winding, with the first loop on top, and all the rest of the loops below. When done, the excess string is sandwiched tightly between the loops around the tuner post. Is going through the post hole twice any better, before you start winding?
 
On some used ukes I've gotten, when I eventually go to install new strings, I unwind the tuners, and discover that the previous user has used some kind of knot on each string post. For me, it's a real PIA to get them off with that knot, and I often need to resort to a little jewelers screwdriver to catch inside the knot, to loosen it. I hate doing that, as one slip, and you've got a scratch on the headstock :mad:

When I install new strings, I just run the string through the tuner post hole, and start winding, with the first loop on top, and all the rest of the loops below. When done, the excess string is sandwiched tightly between the loops around the tuner post. Is going through the post hole twice any better, before you start winding?

I agree about knotting strings at the tuners. I put the string through the tuner hole twice. With slotted headstocks, I do this too, but I wind the string over the tail for some extra grip.
 
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As for using beads, I go to crafts stores like Micheal's and get a strand of beads. Costs about $2-3 for a strand. Many choices of color and sizes. At least 3-4mm, anything smaller can break...

Same here where I got mine. They also sell a flat, sort of elliptical bead, and I use those too.
 
Is there any difference between the craft store beads and the beads sold specifically for use in stringing instruments, aside from cost? Any advantage to the more costly option?

The 'Bridge Beads' or 'String Ties' beads have a convoluted way of winding the string thru no less than 6-8 different holes.

I find these 'dedicated' beads more useful for thicker wound strings like the 5th & 6th strings of a classical guitar, for it you try to tie those in a knot like we are discussing here, you will likely break the wound over-wrap, which weakens that string, and when you got under tension and tuned up to pitch, 9 times out of 10 the string will simply snap where you tied the knot.

However the 'Bridge Beads' and 'String Ties' will give you 8 beads for ~$25, but Michaels or other craft stores have similar beads with 4 or 6 or 8 holes which will let you wind the string thru the hole at an arc that will not break the over-wrap of the wound string.

HOWEVER, using these dedicate beads you have to trap the tail of the string under the primary loop thru the bead, otherwise over time it will in fact slip out.
 
Aaron, from Hawaii Music Supply has a video tutorial here, and in this one he demonstrates a great way not only how to install the strings, but ALSO, how to wrap them on the tuner pegs without using a knot, nor going thru the tuner hole twice.

I never had a string slip in the tuner hole using this method.

This method is where he describes using the 'over, under' wrap on the tuner peg.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LwNDkh43oqc
 
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