Tuning the Uke + books for beginners

Hi there

I got a uke yesterday and have had trouble tuning it. It's Mahalo U320C, and the tuners seem quite in-exact (compared to my banjo). Also, do nylon strings stretch..? the tuning only keeps for 20 min or so...

Secondly, could someone recommned a good book to get started with..?

thanks!
marc

Hi Marc,

The friction tuners can take a bit of getting used to, but as long as they're adjusted to the right tension with the screw, they usually do the job.

I don't know about books, but there are some great video lessons here.

As for the nylon strings, yes the stretch like mad for a couple of weeks and even then don't hold tuning quite as solidly as steel strings. Again, it's just soething you get used to. It is possible to speed up the settling in process by gently stretching the strings - or some people tune like a tone or so above standard for a while to help the settling.

The stock strings that come on budget ukes are usually a bit cr@ppy. You might want to get a set of Aquilas (try ebay). They work very well on Mahalos and Makalas.

Welcome to UU, mate.

thanks man. Does changing the strings let it keep in tune for longer or sound better..? Or both..?

ta
marc

Mostly sounds better. The stretch thing happens with all strings. They all take a while to settle.

Oh yeah, the strings will stretch for a bit. In tune at the start of the song and a couple of songs later, they stretched again and out of tune. Get a clip on tuner, that helps a lot. There are some that are no too expensive.

I know with my (geared tuner) Mahalo it is a bit tricky to tune, but yeah, a clip on tuner will do wonders for a fairly low price.
I second the Aquila suggestion. Buddhuu is right, the stock strings are pretty bad, but when I put Aquilas on my Mahalo, it made it a lot more playable and the sound was way better.

Best of luck and happy uke-ing!

My suggestion is tune+play your uke with stock strings for 2 weeks


Then get aquila's or D'Addarios (the concert package from UU store)

You will be blown away by the improvement in sound
I have a Mahalo U30 btw

brickerenator said:

My suggestion is tune+play your uke with stock strings for 2 weeks
Then get aquila's or D'Addarios (the concert package from UU store)
You will be blown away by the improvement in sound

Click to expand...

I like this idea. Decision made - thanks for the help.