Problem with my Mainland uke

byjimini

byjimini

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Hi everyone,

My Mainland sop has been playing up recently, in that it's not sounding as nice as it once did, and keeps going out of tune, struggling to hold it. I put it down to temperature changes (as I'd tightened the tuners) and just stuck with it, however today I decided to change the strings (Aquilas) after deciding the problem must lie with them - plus it could do with a good clean anyway!

Took the strings off, and the nut fell off. I'm certainly not stressing out about it, but I'm just wondering a few things;

  • Is the nut in a Mainland just free-standing or are they glued? Just so I know for when putting it back in.
  • If it isn't supposed to be free-standing, is there any chance it's moved fractionally and therefore been messing with the strings, hence the change in sound?

Like I say, it's no biggie, I was just surprised to have it fall out. Just I like to know the in's and out's of a 'problem'. :)
 
I would think Mike at Mainland Ukes would be able to help you right away with a phone call. I don't own one of his ukes (yet) but he seems like a hands on helpful type of guy here at UU.
http://www.mainlandukuleles.com/index.html
 
Yeah he's also on this forum; my dad says a bit of glue will do it, I just don't want to glue it down and then find it's best advised not to.

It's ok for now, I'll just play my Honeybee until I find out either way. :)
 
It won't hurt a thing to put a little glue on it. Use a little dab of Titebond or super glue, just enough to hold it in place. Don't use epoxy.
 
Super Glue to the rescue...a dab and it dries very fast....Good luck!!! Happy Strummings pretty soon...MM Stan
 
When I restrung my Bushman for the first time. First time to restring any instrument my nut was not glued on either. I assumed that is the way it is supposed to be? Is it? Are nuts often not glued on?
 
The nut should be glued in place, but not with too much glue, just a drop or two. This is so you can remove/replace it later.
IMHO
 
my mainland nut is not glued, but dont see how this can affect the tuning - mine stays in tune very very well.

How old were strings? Are they friction tuners?
 
Before you do anything talk to the source. Call Mike and ask. If anyone would know about that instrument it would be him.
 
Well I do believe it was the strings - I put a few dabs of wood glue on the nut and slotted it back in, slapped the new strings on then jammed like it was 1964 all over again to get them settled. A few hours later and it's already sounding better.

The originals were the Aquila's that were on the Uke when I bought it from Mike. To be fair the uke had travelled around a lot; it was only when the nut fell off when I was swapping the strings that I wondered if it was supposed to be like that or not.
 
The nut need not be glued down, but usually is put on w/a dab of titebond. But as others have said, call, email, PM Mike "Hoosierhiver" here on UU, to rest your fears. The nut is meant to be stable, but is expected that it might be changed for various reason over the life of the instrument.

Mainland's phone #: 812-988-6760
Mainland's email: mike@mainlandukes.com
 
We intentionally do not glue in the nut. Sometimes people want to change to a lowG and that sometimes does better if you groove out the slot a little wider for the wound string. By not gluing the nut, you can change it easily if you switch back to another tuning or even if you want to mess around with the action if you want.
If you want to glue in the nut for whatever reason do not use superglue or something super strong in case you want to remove it some day. A small dab of elmers or rubber cement is enough to hold it in place, on some ukes the does slide around a little if it's not glued.
 
hoosierhiver said:
We intentionally do not glue in the nut. Sometimes people want to change to a lowG and that sometimes does better if you groove out the slot a little wider for the wound string. By not gluing the nut, you can change it easily if you switch back to another tuning or even if you want to mess around with the action if you want.
If you want to glue in the nut for whatever reason do not use superglue or something super strong in case you want to remove it some day. A small dab of elmers or rubber cement is enough to hold it in place, on some ukes the does slide around a little if it's not glued.
Click to expand...

Great info! Thank you.
 
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