Ball end nylon strings

clayton56

Well-known member
Joined
Jun 16, 2009
Messages
573
Reaction score
40
just a little hint, something we learned stringing eyeglass frames which use nylon line.

A knot is big and unsightly, so we would melt the end with a match and a ball forms on the end of the string. Try not to light the string, just melt it, and you usually get a nearly perfect ball.

Since taking up uke I have tried this with strings, and it works here, too. Fat strings that are hard to knot are easy to melt into a ball end. For fat strings you can just thread it through the bridge and the ball holds it.

For skinnier strings the ball may be too small, so these you still have to tie. But a ball on the end keeps the tie from pulling through like a knot, only without extra string sticking out.
 
You can also go to a crafts store and buy a bag of small beads, which come in a gazzillion shapes and sizes for less than $5. You tie them onto the end of the string. There are hundreds in each bag.
 
Another alternative is to use glass beads, available at any craft supply store.

Oops. Edit time. I just saw the post above me with the same comment. I have some notes on using glass beads on uke strings on my Web site. They can enhance the tone a bit, too.
 
This causes me to be curious as to why only steel strings come with ball ends from the factory, and nylon strings are always tied, when ball ends would make life easier..
Is it due to tradition, or to save costs?
 
When melting nylon strings to form a ball....

Don't hold the flame under the string, hold the string under the flame. Much easier to control the melting process, much less likely to burn yourself. Bring the string up under the flame and control the melting by varying the proximity....
 
I'm so glad I saw this. I, too, am an optician- and thought I'd be genius to treat the ends of the strings the same way we do some semi-rimless frames!
 
Wow, cool tip! :D:shaka:
 
Good idea I'm, going to do it.


This is Michael Kohan in Los Angeles, Beverly West near the Beverly Center
9 tenor cutaway ukes, 5 acoustic bass ukes, 11 solid body bass ukes, 9 mini electric bass guitars (Total: 34)

• Donate to The Ukulele Kids Club, they provide ukuleles to children in hospital music therapy programs. www.theukc.org
• Member The CC Strummers: YouTube: www.youtube.com/user/CCStrummers/video, Facebook: www.facebook.com/TheCCStrummers
 
I always do this to the tag end when I’m tying stopper knots. It makes a nice tidy finish and adds security to the knot. I’m not sure, however, that I would have thought to trust the melted ball to hold a string in a bridge on its own without a stopper knot... but if you say it works.
 
Ernie Ball makes a ball end string for ukulele.
 
Ernie Ball makes a ball end string for ukulele.

I have a set on a concert uke. It has taken a while for me to warm to them but they are sounding pretty nice now...warm and mellow. They feel nice under the fingers as well.
They’re really just strings with tied stopper knots slipped through plastic “beads”. They are really long, too, possibly long enough for two sopranos if strung carefully.
 
I have a set on a concert uke. It has taken a while for me to warm to them but they are sounding pretty nice now...warm and mellow. They feel nice under the fingers as well.
They’re really just strings with tied stopper knots slipped through plastic “beads”. They are really long, too, possibly long enough for two sopranos if strung carefully.

Which of your concerts do you have them on? I have been thinking about trying them myself.
 
I have had both plastic and glass beads break on me on my tenors. (I think they had flaws.) Never had it happen with the metal beads I bought at Walmart for $1.24.
 
Which of your concerts do you have them on? I have been thinking about trying them myself.

I put a set on my Kiwaya KTC-1..... not that it needed to be warmer or more mellow in tone, but I wanted to try them and the KTC-1 needed new strings.
It took a few days for them to settle in, but I kinda like them now.
 
just a little hint, something we learned stringing eyeglass frames which use nylon line.

A knot is big and unsightly, so we would melt the end with a match and a ball forms on the end of the string. Try not to light the string, just melt it, and you usually get a nearly perfect ball.

Clever! I can imagine a bit of trial and error to get that blob the right size, and that could use up some string.
 
Here they are... the local Guitar Center has them.

F1103847-9B57-40D0-88B8-21081E3FF2D3.jpg

4547D3FC-0E61-4049-B1B2-FF36BF70CC59.jpg

B88130CD-6681-427F-8F75-494CD04EE467.jpg
 

Attachments

  • 40CD84DF-9A5C-4036-9FDD-C75FE8D84EE5.jpg
    40CD84DF-9A5C-4036-9FDD-C75FE8D84EE5.jpg
    19.7 KB · Views: 4
Last edited:
Top Bottom