How much do Aquilas stretch? at least an inch!

byzkarl · Aug 19, 2010

My tenor has Aquila strings on it, and the A string had a few little notches in it that I could feel with my fingers. At first these notches were even with the first fret, or even a little toward the second. Now they are well behind the nut.

That means that my A string has stretched at least 2 inches from the time I put it on the ukulele.

That's pretty stretchy. I do like the sound, though.

cletus · Aug 19, 2010

Pretty amazing, now I wonder how they last so long.

Ingrate · Aug 19, 2010

..and the smaller the gauge of the string, the more it stretches.

SailingUke · Aug 19, 2010

I know they stretch, but would have never guessed 2 inches. I have had to loosen them after a day and remove the excess wraps on the tuning posts.
I wonder if some of what you perceived as stretch was slippage at the bridge and/or the knots getting smaller/tighter.

Graymalkin · Aug 19, 2010

SailingUke said:
I have had to loosen them after a day and remove the excess wraps on the tuning posts...

I've read that three, as always, is the magic number - but does the amount a string goes round the tuning post actually matter (at least once the string has stretched itself)?

SailingUke · Aug 20, 2010

Graymalkin said:
I've read that three, as always, is the magic number - but does the amount a string goes round the tuning post actually matter (at least once the string has stretched itself)?

After my strings stretched I had over wraps. Three wraps are plenty, the string needs to be on the post. If you have over wraps they move and tuning is unstable.
I now put one wrap on new Aquilas, a day later after stretching I have three.

TCK · Aug 20, 2010

New too it all, but I have been surprised at how much stretching my Aquila's have done on my tenor (and how the tension has changed as they settled in). I hated the things day one...but stuck it out. Funny, I just checked and they are all at about three wraps now, and were at one when I started. I used the old YouTube infomercial to string and they said to leave 2 frets of slack- seems just about right.
Strange, I restrung 3 of them the same day and I am finding the C string is the one giving me the most grief. The A came right on line in about 2 days (with 2 hours of practice a day...usually on each uke)

Graymalkin · Aug 20, 2010

SailingUke said:
After my strings stretched I had over wraps. Three wraps are plenty, the string needs to be on the post. If you have over wraps they move and tuning is unstable...

Right, I see what you mean - the string was wrapping around itself rather than the post. That makes sense as a bad thing.

I was asking as my soprano, for instance, has (at a guess) between five and eight 'wraps' on each post - but, being thin Worths, they're not looping over themselves and are filling up the post quite nicely.

trptuke · Aug 20, 2010

When I first put them on my uke, I couldn't believe how much I was constantly re-tuning and how far they stretched. I was pretty sure they were defective. But they really did sound great. Now they're stable and they still sound great.

luvdat · Aug 20, 2010

SailingUke said:
After my strings stretched I had over wraps. Three wraps are plenty, the string needs to be on the post. If you have over wraps they move and tuning is unstable.
I now put one wrap on new Aquilas, a day later after stretching I have three.

Glad to see an advocate of minimal initial wraps. For me I start with 3...the main thing: not starting out with a lot of wraps thinking it makes things "better."

byzkarl · Aug 20, 2010

TCK said:
New too it all, but I have been surprised at how much stretching my Aquila's have done on my tenor (and how the tension has changed as they settled in). I hated the things day one...but stuck it out.

I love/hate the Aquilas. I lowve the sound, but I hate the stretchiness, and the fact that they get little divots and marks in them that my fingers can feel. I'm new to the uke too, but I did my tour of strings (Pro Arte, Worth), and came back to the Aquilas.

bazmaz · Aug 20, 2010

when i string with any uke strings leave hardly any slack at the peg when putting on. By the time I have the strings properly settled and stretched, i will find about 2-3 windings on the post.

As a guitar player this seemed odd to me, as with steel strings, I leave an inch or two - all to do with how that nylon/nylgut stretches like crazy!

mm stan · Aug 20, 2010

I myself try to keep it at a max of three wounds around the post...any more and it is more difficult tuning my uke.

Ukuleleblues · Aug 20, 2010

Nylon stretches even more.

SimonAlojipan · Aug 20, 2010

That's pretty interesting. Is it the same on Soprano strings?

Ukulele Friend · Aug 20, 2010

just be sure you don't clip the ends of the strings too early on these Aquilas. they're notorious for taking a substantial amount of time to settle and if you clip the excess strings at the tuners too early you'll be kicking yourself if one comes loose (and slides) when you're tuning up the uke the next time around. that being said, you'll never get that string to reach the tuner again since it was still stretching when it was being tuned up.

great strings but be cautious with these,
shawn

http://ukulelefriend.com

How much do Aquilas stretch? at least an inch!

byzkarl

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