How long do new stings take to settle?

rayan

Ukulele Underground Staff
UU+
Joined
Nov 25, 2007
Messages
2,391
Reaction score
56
Location
Kauai HI
Sorry guys, my uke noobness is showing.

How long do new strings usually take to settle in? My KPK that I got yesterday is still slipping a little.

Is this the strings or the tuners?

On my guitars it usually takes about a day for steel strings to settle, nylon strings must take a little longer I'm assuming?
 
ive seen people say anywhere from a few days, to a week or two :)eek:) but it probably has a lot to do with how well you stretch the strings.
you can actually get string settling confined to just a day or two. if you have ever strung a classical string guitar then you probably already have an idea of what you should do, nukedoc shows a similar technique for string stretching in a video where you simply hook your finger under a string, tune it up about a half step, or a whole, but not much more out of risk of strings breaking, and pull up on the string slowly for a few inches, or until its pretty tight on your finger, rinse repeat ;)

l2_f7.jpg

DSC_2361.jpg


these guys are doing some pretty tame stretching, nylon can be pulled up a bit higher

that ought to take out a lot of the slack in the strings, just take it slow so you dont snap a string in the process. also remember to always tune UP to youre note, as opposed to down. with a steel string acoustic its a lot less of an issue, but with nylon it basically ensures you will get a flat string after a few minutes of playing if you tune down to pitch as opposed to up to pitch. if you miss your mark, always tune down a little and retune up


anyways, you can always expect slippage on new strings, but itll go away with more playing time!
 
Last edited:
Not sure if it's the type of material the strings are made of or the brand.
The Worth Brn flurocarbons seem to settle in the quickest. 2-3 days of playing. The Aquila nylguts I tried for ~1 year took at least a week of constantly retuning while playing. Maybe another week before they really settled in. I don't prestretch. Just endure the retuning process.

Personal preference is the tone of the Worths. Also nice that they seem to last a long time. Nice not having to restring and retune often.
 
well if MGM used some aquilas on there without doing the manual string pull like nuke did in his video than those will take quite a long time. When i installed my aquilas i was doing that technique for a good 10-20 mins. And i was ready to play in a matter of a day without it going outta tune badly.
 
Shouldn't take long. Prolly 2 days tops. Just give tune it a little higher and give it a little slack and it should be ready to play by the next day. Well it could be your tuners also. If it's possible, try tightening your tuners.
 
Sorry guys, my uke noobness is showing.

How long do new strings usually take to settle in? My KPK that I got yesterday is still slipping a little.

Is this the strings or the tuners?

On my guitars it usually takes about a day for steel strings to settle, nylon strings must take a little longer I'm assuming?

You're right they take longer. For me about a day of constant stretching and playing. If you have the kind that you knot at the end, it helps to stretch them a bit after you initially put them on to get all the slack out of the knot. From then, I just play and retune until it settles down a bit.
 
I don't know if mine were pre-stretched or what but my Aquilas that came stock on my Kanile'a need barely any tuning at all after the first day. Even then it was like a 1/8 to 1/4 turn on the tuners.
 
Thanks guys. I think they're starting to settle, only the G is really being a pain now.
 
Top Bottom