going out of tune a lot?

i was just checking out some of the comments left on the site that i sometimes use to tune my uke at. people keep complaining about their ukes going out of tune so quickly. and to make it worse, they blame it on their uke hahaha.

ok so here's my little tip of the day... nylon has a tendency to stretch.

so if you just put some new strings on, it may take a while for your strings to settle in.

if you had to loosen your strings for some reason like changing the 9v battery on your active pickup, it make take some settling in.

if you have a new uke that wasnt tuned correctly and had the strings pre-stretched, you might need to get them to settle in.

my quick remedy to this...
1. tune your uke 3-4 steps higher than normal. the strings are wrapped around your tuning posts and may need a little more tension to tighten them around the posts. also, this extra tension gives a little stretch to the strings so chances are after about an hour, the tuning will be pretty close to what you are looking for.
2. keep doing this until it seems like the strings stop stretching out and they start to hold their tune. then tune down. when you get there, go over each string a few times over. when tuning down from string already stretched out, they have at tendency to tighten up, raising the tone. stay on top of this till they seem to be holding their tune. for the next few days you will still need to check the tuning everytime you play your uke. but it will not be 5 or 6 notes off, and you just saved yourself about 1-2 weeks of stretching time if you just kept trying to tune it regularly right off the bat.
3. if you are installing new strings, as you are winding them onto the tuners by turning the tuning keys, put a good amount of tension on the strings so they wrap tightly around the tuning posts. safety issue: do not do this with wet hands. the thinner strings can slice you. ive done this while fishing. it feels like a papercut.

so yeah, anyway, im sure most of you already know all this, but if one person benefits from this then im satisfied.

hm, i found that by putting on new nylon strings, i played that same night for a good hour or two, even if it was just plucking random chords. Then when it would be back out of tune, i'd retune it again, then repeat.

it was like training a dog hahah

Since this is talking about strings I am wondering what strings should I get for my Kala Tenor because my 3rd string broke and I don't have any extra. Hahah It broke because my little cousin was playing around with it and next thing you know it broke so if you got any clues could you please tell me or suggestions???

Fatboicorp said:

Since this is talking about strings I am wondering what strings should I get for my Kala Tenor because my 3rd string broke and I don't have any extra. Hahah It broke because my little cousin was playing around with it and next thing you know it broke so if you got any clues could you please tell me or suggestions???

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if you dont want to just go and buy a whole new set, or just in the meantime while you are waiting for one to ship in, you can go to a guitarshop and just ask them for a single nylon G string for a classical guitar. that should work. you can even bring in your uke and make sure you are getting something close to the right size.

Ok I might just buy a new set but i don't know how to put it on. What kind of strings are you using??

right now im using aquila nylgut strings. theyre about 8 bucks a set. get em on ebay.

but for half that you can get a set of the d'addario pro arte strings from musiciansfriend dot com. i checked the diameters and these are basically a set of the strings that aldrine uses and favors. just go to the site and search for "d'addario ukulele". but then i dont know how much shipping is going to be.

how to put them on? just look at the other strings. its not hard to figure out. but make sure you pull enough through the tuning post to begin with so you dont wrap it around a hundred times. shoot for 5-10 wraps. once you figure one out... the others are a snap.

This was super useful! I changed out my strings (they were the same that were on the uke at the store) because they were dead. I put the new strings on and played for a while but it kept going like a quarter step out of tune really quickly. Now I know why!

Ok thanks i'll try looking for that at a guitar store first hopefully they have it. but thanks again i'll inform you if I need help or trouble putting on my strings. thanks.