Help! Risa solid ukulele string stuck/jammed...

darlindaday

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Hello and merry christmas everyone! :)

A couple of days ago I was tuning my Risa solid tenor ukulele and to my annoyance the A string snapped. But that's not the problem. I can't get the string off the ukulele! It's stuck at the top (where the holes and knots are at the top of the ukulele at the very top of the fretboard) I can't thread it through the top, it seems to be stuck :( I've tried everything to thread it through and get it 'unstuck' and out but it won't budge.

It's really getting on my nerves now, and I have no idea how to pull the string through the hole and out the back of the ukulele. I read that something similar happened to someone on 'the ukulele hunt' with the same Risa uke, and they bashed a pin through the hole, but I don't want to risk damaging my Risa, I love it too much, and it's far too expensive to replace! I'm missing playing and have had to go back to my cheap Makala Dolphin for now :(

Any ideas on how to sort this out?

(And I apologise, it's kind of tricky to explain exactly what the situation is here, as this ukulele is kind of unusual) :p

Thanks everyone, and again, merry christmas. x
 
Aloha and Merry Christmas to you too,
Try to find a stiff wire the same diameter as the hole and push it through. maybe a used guitar string.....it should do the job...I suggest a straight cut wire than a pointed pin..
or you could try and use a long nose pliers and clamp the string and push it through... tape the are around so if it slips, it wont nick the finish...
Yeah the holes are quite small..
 
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The strings go onto the Risa in a very simple way.
You just tie a knot and thread the rest of the string through that hole in the top.

I'm not quite sure how you got it stuck. It's usually a simple matter of pushing the string so the knot comes out the way it went in.
By 'bashing' a pin through, it just means putting the pin through the hole so the string comes out.

It would be helpful if you can post a picture.
It's a little bit hard to tell how you have the string stuck in the hole from just these descriptions.

But be at ease, it seems like a very minor problem. If you just figure out how, that string should come out really easily.
 
The string is "stuck" because the knot has had tension on it all this time. I've had success with the following:

1. using a pair of needle-nose pliers, grasp the string about 1/8 inch from the Risa hole and press it directly into the hole. The stiffness of the string will sometimes do the trick.

no luck?

2. cut the string off flush with the hole (so no string now shows). Press the obstruction out of the hole using a small nail (snip the point off first), a paper clip, a small allen wrench, etc. Any stiff object that just fits the Risa string hole should work.

When I restring mine, I leave enough tail to grasp to pull this knot out.

Good luck! :)
 
I own a RISA solid soprano. Love it!

Mine has the friction tuners, and while I don;t at all mind friction tuners in general (two other of my ukes also have them), they take a lot of work to turn on the RISA. Ouch! Most key, though, on mine--and this is my only real knock--is that turning the tuner does NOT always change the pitch of the string. It sticks, if you will, at the metal saddle rod. I must pull the string each time to get it to go, or else there's a whale of a tension on the string. Hard to explain, but a chronic issue with these. The snapping "A" string is well documented on UU, and I have snapped one myself. So, although I don't know how to get the knot out of the hole, I wanted to make you aware of the snapping A string syndrome on these, and I commisurate with you.

Other end of the spectrum, as you might be tempted to make the knot smaller so it wont get stuck again, but remember, the knot will have to be big, or else eventually it will work its way through the neck completely (as happens sometimes to those with through-body ukes). Then, it'd be a neck repair (or tying a giant knot!). I do not like the way the strings are on the head of the RISA. Some ukes have through body design on the saddle end, but there a large knot doesn't interfere with playing--it's inside the body. Or, as ukeeku.com once told me, people can use the round circles cut from the end of old guitar strings (the little metal donuts) to tie the nylon uke string to so it will not eat through the body. Well, if we did that excellent idea on the RISA, there'd be no stuck string, but we'd be fingering over the donuts at the head end, if you get my drift. It wouldn't be flat anymore.

I'd use a fine wire, and perhaps a quick spray of silicone or WD40 first on the knot end to free it up. I'm certain you can get it out--it;s just how to handle the next install that will predict the future for issues. Please do post when you get it out, how you did it, and how you restrung it. CK1

Cheers@!
 
The safest and easiest way to remove the string remnant is to push a steel rod through the hole (front to back obviously). You can use a drill bit. Best would be a numbered bit, not fractions, metric, or SAE, but numbered. Ask you hardware store. These come in hundreds of sizes and you can find one that is a size or two smaller than the front of the hole in the neck. Using the tail end, not the drilling end, it will be easy to push the knot out the back. I would mount it in a pin vise, readily available and cheap at any hobby shop. The drill bit will not bend like a wire will, causing you to slip and damage the finish. The pin vise will give you an excellent grip on the tool with one hand. If you support the neck appropriately (soft but solid) you can even gently tap it with a tack hammer, if necessary, without any harm to the uke. In different applications, I've done the same kind of thing hundreds of times on much more delicate pieces.
Keep the tools. They are handy.
Let us know how it works out.
 
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Hello, I'm so sorry it has taken me so long to reply! But thank you for all your very helpful answers :)

I attempted many things to try and get the string out of the hole but nothing worked. So I ended up taking it to my local music shop where luckily there is a very experienced, helpful guy who seems to know what he's doing. He took my ukulele away and managed to get the string out, but even he said that it was an extremely hard job and that even though the ukulele is very beautiful it is a pretty bad design. We were concerned that we would have the same problem with the other four strings and as I would need to take them out anyway we gave taking them out a go too to find we had the exact same problem with all of them as the A-String. What a nuisance!

The man has suggested a way of stoping this happening in the future by placing a hard, good quality piece of wood with four holes drilled in it over the place where the holes are and the strings come through at the front to try and stop this problem. Not really sure how to explain it but it sounds like it will work. We've decided on a white piece of maple as it will go well with the ukulele and compliment it nicely. He's going to do this this weekend and I'm hoping it will all work out well. Sorry, finding this hard to describe and explain, but I will definitely be posting a photo when it is complete to show you.

Thanks again everyone, I'll be back to post pictures when it's been done and will let you know whether it has worked out or not.
 
Re- removing a jammed string.....

Got in touch with Risa about the string removal problem, reply as follows-


It is very simple to get the string out, if you know how. Instead of pushing the string from the fretboard side through the hole, you just need to pull the string until the knot falls off.

Hope it works for you......
 
Very late but finally a photo as promised! Hopefully this explains things better :) Have had no problem with my ukulele since this has been done to it :D

ukulele2.jpg
 
Not the best photo to show the alterations sorry, I will try and get a close up now.
 
Better close-up photo, hopefully this explains everything a lot better :) Thank you for all your help guys, you've all been so so helpful! And thank you for your patience with my awfully slow replies, which I am very sorry about :( I love the ukulele underground! :D


ukulele3.jpg
 
I had this problem this morning I had previously replaced just the A string with worth clear, but then tried browns again and snapped another 2 whilst still tuning, here you can see the stress on the clear where it rubs against the sharp bar on the stick image.jpg so to combat this I've done 2 things. In case it snaps again I'm leaving the sting a little longer so it's easier to pull back out, this is a little too long but I'll trim it more when it's settled in image.jpg also I've wound the string on the opposite way to the others to lessen the angle image.jpg then on the bar in the groove where the A string rests I've added a little silicon lube(from a shaver oil) and put I slim strip of silicon baking sheet type material used for baking cookies on the groove to stop the string rubbing on the sharp groove. It looks ok but it's not that noticeable and if it works I'm happy image.jpg the worth clear took me about 2 hours this morning to get out and eventually it took a good strong push with a opened out paper clip, I was worried I may make the hole too big but the new knot I tied 3 times to hopefully keep it slipping into the hole and getting stuck again. I hope this post is useful to someone. Previous posts helped me so I'm paying back ��
 

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At Dixie Ukuleles we have had the same thing happen. We take a wire drill bit, half the size of the hole and run it in and out with a portable drill. it chews up the string knot without widening the hole. Once the knot is destroyed it comes out easily. It just takes a couple of minutes.
 
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