I changed my ukulele's strings! :D Normal to go out of tune THIS quick?

Youkalaylee

Youkalaylee

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Put on a new set of Worth Clear on my concert. The first time I followed the vague instructions in the dummies book and the string came undone when I started to wind it up, I was ready to cry at that point cause I though I'd ruined my uke now until I could get it to a music shop. But then I followed a youtube video from the Hawaiian music store and hey presto, changed all 4 strings!

So I tuned the g string, then c, then e, then a. Then tried to strum. Out of tune. So tuned g, then c, then e, then a... Then went back to g again, then c, then e, then a...

I know to expect it to fall out of tune very quickly but this seems ridiculous! By the time I've tuned a, g is out of tune again. Normal I guess?

But wooooo, go me! Lol :)
 
Yup, quite normal. Just keep tuning it, play it hard, tune it, play it hard, etc. and eventually, they will start staying in tune. The first couple of days are always the worst.

Dan
 
Youkalaylee said:
That's cool then, thanks.

Surprised how easy it was in the end :).
Click to expand...

I pull on the strings upward a few times from the sound hole to the fifth fret, then tune. do that a few times. also if you have a tie on bridge, that slips until it is good and tight.
but it is normal. best of luck
 
The beauty of Worths, too, is that once they settle they pretty much stay in tune.
I changed my strings last Wednesday. They finally settled down yesterday (Monday). I, like Ukeeku, do the string stretching. But be careful doing it.
 
Everybody is right on the money!! Also... I assume your uke in question is the Big Island? Are the tuners gear or friction? If friction, they might be loose and you would need to tighten then.
 
Instead of manually stretching I prefer tuning them up one (half) step at first (for the first hour or how long I feel like retuning constantly) - they come down to the right tone pretty soon anyway. Before putting the uke away I tune it approximately right, maybe slightly sharp to avoid overstretching. And the rest is just retuning whenever necessary for the next few days.
Manually stretching always bears a risk of stretching unevenly.
 
Ken Middleton suggests you don't stretch your strings. It takes a long time for me to get the strings in tune, but they finally get there and stay in tune. I've grown to like my friction tuners very much!
 
hibiscus said:
Ken Middleton suggests you don't stretch your strings. It takes a long time for me to get the strings in tune, but they finally get there and stay in tune. I've grown to like my friction tuners very much!
Click to expand...

I've stretched my strings for years but respect Ken's opinion enough that I've started just doing the tuning sharp thing that Louis describes above. I never had a problem (that I know of) with the old method but I do a lot of string testing and after seeing a post where Ken recommended against stretching them I got to thinking about a handful of times that I've tried some new brand of strings that I found didn't intonate well and I figured that just maybe the reason was because they'd gotten stretched unevenly.

So, for the last six months or so I've switched to just tuning up a half-step to a whole step high (depending on whether they are medium or heavy strings for the uke) and waiting for them to settle back down. The first few times that only takes a few minutes. Then, I'll just keep the uke close by my desk and take a break to tune it high for the rest of the day while I'm working. I tune high one more time before going to bed and usually by the next day they're holding tune at least through a few songs.

John
 
I do not pull my strings either....I tune each string, then bend each string up then down from the G to A and retune 3-4 times....
do that every time you pick up the uke for a couple days and the strings will strech out and be stable....also make sure you get 3
wounds or less on your post wraps.. I also go through the post hole a second time so there is no chance for slippage....good luck
do not trim the strings until the strings break in....and you are satisfied with them...if you don't think they are perfect for the uke
you can take them off and reuse them on another uke....
 
I've been tuning them slightly sharp before each playing session, then retuning it before putting it back in its case. Already in 24hrs after a couple hours playing between yesterday and today, its staying in tune long enough to play through what I'm learning a few times. I can practice now for a good half an hour before my fingers get too sore, and even then its not a pain I feel unless I touch something. Was so frustrating when I first started and couldn't play for long.

Anyway, does anyone know where I could get string cutters from to neaten it up with?
 
It'a amazing, but scissors work too. Whooda thunk? :rolleyes:
 
When I swapped my strings round, I would tune one string, move to the next, then go back to the one I just tuned, and it would already be out of tune!
 
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