String and tuner questions

hello,

I am having problems with my children's soprano Kala Ukes. The C string doesn't sound good, and they don't stay in tune very well. They have geared tuners, but not sealed tuners like my Kala tenor and baritone have. Those instruments stay in tune much better.

Should I replace the tuners on the two sopranos? Any recommendations? The C string doesn't sound good on the tenor either. All of our ukes have Aquila Nylgut now. I'm happy with the High G baritone and the DGBE baritone, but what other strings might sound better on the smaller ukes?

I'm not averse to drilling in order to install different tuners, so that is not a concern. Or, should I just buy them better ukes, or try different strings first? Would different strings perhaps not wander out of tune?



Thanks for any help!

Tom

Open or closed geared tuners shouldn't matter. I've never had Grovers or Gotohs slip. I imagine they could if they are very cheap though. I find with any size uke that the C string is often the one that can be a problem, not quite having the response of the other strings. On sopranos I prefer either the Fremont Blacklines or Martin fluorocarbons. They seem to have the correct tension that many other brands lack.

Check your tuners for loose screws. There should be a screw on the end of the end opposite the button that might come loose.
Also check if the nut slot is too tight for the string. If the string binds up in the nut slot, you can get different tension on the string above and below the nut while tuning. The string will slip eventually while playing and go out of tune.
Either way...the tuners won't affect the sound the C string makes

Thanks for the good input. i will check all those things.

Thanks again,

Tom

I did find some loose screws on the tuners, and just re strung my son's Kala Soprano with Martin's yesterday. A much nicer tone! I'll be getting a few more sets for our other soprano Ukes also.

Thanks again!

Tom

the tuner on my makala dolphin had a loose screw so I filled the hole with a toothpick (I didn't have any wooden matches), and I also put some powergrab in the hole (actually I powergrabbed the whole tuner to the uke).