Recording King RU-998 issues

[woodpilenorwegian]

I recently purchased a barely used Recording King RU-998 resonator concert uke with a defective tuner. After swapping out the original tuners for Grover Champions and restringing with GHS H-10s, it's sound is a disappointment. It's no louder than a Fluke Uke. Is there a trick to setting these up, or are they generally considered to be dogs?

 

[merlin666]

Do these use steel strings?

 

[woodpilenorwegian]

I don't think so.

 

[Stellii]

So a lot of these more common metal ukes use the same body (my personal speculation, not a fact) but the companies that are more known for making ukuleles seem to put wood blocks bridges over the cover plate bridge holes (gold tone etc) so that could be a reason for the quality because the hole brides I believe are more inline with the steel string resonator guitars etc and the nylon doesn’t work as well. This is my speculation for clarity I am not a luthier just really into metal reso ukes.

Strings play a huge role in how your reso will sound because the Strings push on the saddle and creates tension on the cone which is producing the amplification effect. It’s contested on what the proper route in terms of picking strings you may have to experiment. Typically you want a decent amount of tension on the cone. It will be a process of finding the right strings for your specific instrument. For my gold tone I’ve been recently using Aquila ‘new nylgut’ strings and been loving the sound on my uke.

Following that same path of importance is making sure the saddle is in the correct position —I see a snapped string in the photo you gotta make sure that didn’t get off center and lines up properly and also that cone in the inside didn’t get damaged or dented that will completely ruin the sound and amplification. Also when changing your strings taking that part off and getting the dust buildup cleaned up in nooks and cracks can help but if there’s serious sound stuff I would look into what I said.

I never tried a recording king but it could just be poor uke design or some messing with the cone. Hope this leads you to a solution or answer

 

[ksiegel]

I've tried 3 Recording King resonators... hoping that the sound of the first one was just happenstance... but no, none sounded better than it's predecessor.

I've tried two Beltona that I thought were either fiberglass or some kind of resin, and they were fine, but you are asking about a metal resonator uke...


The only metal reso ukes I've played that were worth a damn were Nationals.

 

[mikelz777]

I recently bought an Aiersi concert metal-body resonator. I confess that the sole driving factor for my purchase was cost. I didn't need another uke and if it cost too much, I wasn't going to get it which ruled out almost everything I was looking at. I ended up getting one new for just over $200. At that price my expectations for sound weren't high but it sounded even better than I thought it would and I'm very pleased with it. It's also noticeably louder than my wood-bodied ukes. From what little I know about resonators I know that the combination of the strings translating sound/vibrations through the saddle/biscuit to the resonator cone is what's going to make the sound so their inter-connection is important. As I do with all my new ukes which always seem to come with Aquila strings, I changed them out for fluorocarbons. I was happy with the sound and volume of the uke as it came so I didn't want to mess too much with what was already working and I didn't know how delicate the whole strings/saddle/biscuit/resonator cone thing was so I carefully changed only one string at a time so to keep as much of the original tension on the saddle/biscuit as possible. To my ear, the fluorocarbons sounded even better and were just as loud. (And were more comfortable to play which is why I reject nylon and nylgut strings.) Hopefully a string change will bring you the sound and volume you are looking for. Maybe give fluorocarbons a try. If that doesn't work maybe it's something with the mechanics of the saddle/biscuit/resonator cone connection or interaction and I'm sorry to say that I don't know what to tell you about tinkering with that.

 

[oldjazznut]

Info for comparison. - - I have a brass body concert Gold Tone. They have one main visible difference with other Chinese resos, the hand rest / saddle cover is a separate piece, screwed to the cover plate. Makes it easier to make adjustments to the biscuit and saddle position.

There are 4 notched holes for string anchor, but GT doesn't use them. They use a rosewood block over the holes, attached with two screws, with those small holes just in front of the string holes. Heads are hidden under the dot trim. There are washers and nuts on the the underside. Nationals are similar, with a more decorative shaped block and three screws.

Strings tie around the block. This doesn't affect the sound, the block is separate from the saddle. A reso has no need of an actual bridge, since the vibration is going to the cone, not the body. The body just gives resistance to the air movement under the cone. Without a body, the cone would be floppy.

I still have the original nylgut strings, which sound fine. It's loud, I'd say at least a third more than a normal uke. I liken the tone to an electric guitar through a small amp.

If I were to blame the poor sound of a reso uke on anything, it would be the cone / biscuit / saddle design and fit. Gold Tone's cone is about as thick as copy paper, stamped with concentric and curved ridges to stiffen it, identical to a National cone. The rock maple saddle is a tight fit and glued into the biscuit, which has a smooth bottom to contact the cone 100%.

National cone. GT saddle and biscuit, they come unfitted. I've bought spares from Gold Tone.

.......

 

[mikelz777]

How do the internals of a reso work? Is the cone attached to the body in some manner or does it somehow float? Is the biscuit attached or fastened to the cone or does it just rest on top of the cone and is held in place by the strings? Does a cone ever wear out and need to be replaced and if so, what are the signs and signals to let you know? What tinkering or adjustments can the average Joe make to a biscuit/cone to try and alter or improve the sound?

 

[Stellii]

How do the internals of a reso work? Is the cone attached to the body in some manner or does it somehow float? Is the biscuit attached or fastened to the cone or does it just rest on top of the cone and is held in place by the strings? Does a cone ever wear out and need to be replaced and if so, what are the signs and signals to let you know? What tinkering or adjustments can the average Joe make to a biscuit/cone to try and alter or improve the sound?

there’s a well with a bottom so it’s just sits in the bottom. I believe the saddle can be fixed (glue, screw etc) or held by tension probably depends on maker. If you do not dent the cone then you won’t need to replace unless you just want a fresher dust free cone. I recommend dusting and using can air on your resonator with the cover plate off every time u change strings the dust can dampen the sound and reduce the quality. Just having the cone/saddle sitting properly (saddle sitting parallel to the bridge) is all you need. Also as stated above experiment with different tensions of strings and materials. Once I started using these strings my instrument had a dramatic improvement imo

 

[Captain Simian]

I had a Recording King in copper and I liked it a lot. It was loud but not as bright as I would have liked. On reflection it may have been the strings, they were Worth heavys. Anyway, don’t give up on it just yet.