Change your strings in about 10 min!

UkuleleHill

UkuleleHill

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I tried this on one of my ukuleles and ironed out the kinks and found the right knot. So I tried it again tonight and did it in 10 min!

What you do is get 4 tiny beads as small as you can find and your C string will still fit through. Then you put a bead on each string and on the A and G string tie a
The Double Overhand Stopper Knot and on the C and E string tie an overhand knot.

String the strings through the brdge and tuner as normal and tighten as normal. Cut off excess and you will end up with the bridge looking something like this:

IMAG0044.jpg


IMAG0041.jpg


IMAG0045.jpg
 
Last edited:
neat idea!

personally think this is too much work and knots might be too much for my chubby fingers lol. i think this is just as tedious as the regular way, if not more.

might be good though, if you have extra sets of strings and want to set em up beforehand. this way, the next time you can swap out quickly.
 
It's certainly a neat job, UkuleleHill. Looks very tidy, and I'm sure plenty of people will find it a practical solution.

Personally, though, I'm quite fond of the traditional tie-bar arrangement... And I'd lose tiny things like beads! :D
 
I'm with Buddhuu too, traditionalist. Now if I can ever afford one of the K models that has bridge pins....that's what I want!
 
I thought it was pretty darned neat and clean when I first saw it done. I think Ian (ichadwick) does that on some of his ukes, I seem to remember a Cedar top Pono and a cigar box uke from his review page employed that technique... the Pono had cool blue beads. It looked cool and gave it a little bit of a customized look.

I haven't had much complaints about the more traditional ways of stringing, but I would consider it if it was convienent... meaning, if I happen to have some beads available to me when I need to string up my uke... It seems like a good chance to add some bling and it looks like it might save the bridge from getting those indents in the wood from the strings.
 
A friend of mine just re-stung her classical guitar, the strings she got came with little beads to do just this sort of thing.
 
jinny said:
It seems like a good chance to add some bling and it looks like it might save the bridge from getting those indents in the wood from the strings.
Click to expand...

That was one of the things I liked about it :) But is is MUCH faster to switch out strings like this... But I don't have anything against the traditional way at all!
 
Do the beads damage the bridge at all? I feel like with all that tension, the beads could start to dig in to the bridge.
 
Nope, I have not noticed that at all with either of the ukuleles I have done this too.
 
Wow, this is really interesting! I had a similar idea myself. I,ve only got a low-end uke at the mo and its got to the point now were I think a string change is required. I kinda didn't know how best to do it, my uke bridge is different from that shown though.

Mine has a grove along the bottom of it, into which the knotted strings are placed, with the rest of the string going up through a small slit and over the saddle etc. I don't know if thats the best way to describe it but I was worried my knots would be utterly crap and undo?

Well anyway, for some strange reason I always keep the little rings that you get on the end of guitar strings. Don't ask me why, it just seemed a waste to throw them out? Guess I thought I could make a cool bit of jewellery with them, or customise a strap or something?

Well anyway, I was gonna do it on this uke, but though it is cheap, I don't really wanna damage it. I've taken this on holiday and everything, kinda wanna keep doing that for as long as possible!? Will using metal hoops damage the bridge, it's quite soft wood isn't it? But then I guess I'm faced with the same problem of tying knots? Why don't they make them pre-knotted?
 
rock_and_roll_camera said:
Wow, this is really interesting! I had a similar idea myself. I,ve only got a low-end uke at the mo and its got to the point now were I think a string change is required. I kinda didn't know how best to do it, my uke bridge is different from that shown though.

Mine has a grove along the bottom of it, into which the knotted strings are placed, with the rest of the string going up through a small slit and over the saddle etc. I don't know if thats the best way to describe it but I was worried my knots would be utterly crap and undo?

Well anyway, for some strange reason I always keep the little rings that you get on the end of guitar strings. Don't ask me why, it just seemed a waste to throw them out? Guess I thought I could make a cool bit of jewellery with them, or customise a strap or something?

Well anyway, I was gonna do it on this uke, but though it is cheap, I don't really wanna damage it. I've taken this on holiday and everything, kinda wanna keep doing that for as long as possible!? Will using metal hoops damage the bridge, it's quite soft wood isn't it? But then I guess I'm faced with the same problem of tying knots? Why don't they make them pre-knotted?
Click to expand...

With the kin of bridge you are talking about, I would suggest knots... My applause has that kind of bridge and it works great with even one knot, so you should have no problems with that. Also you will be able to tell while tightening whether the knot will hold. If you are worried about the knot not being right, you can do the double knot I showed and that should work :)
 
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