Okay, so what on earth am I doing wrong?

Kokopelli

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Hey all,

I am nearly 100% certain this issue has GOT to be me, but I'm going to ask anyway.

I have a nice tenor uke (Chantus) which has a rather long scale. I broke a string, so I decided to change them all. I had bought some D'add strings, and got some Titaniums and also some of their Nyltech ones.

First set, final tuning, I broke the G. Couldn't tune it that far up. Okay. Fine. Put a new G, it worked. Got to A. Broke it. New A. Broke it. Opened a pack of Nyltechs, which I noticed had a smaller-gauge A, and have gotten it in tune with trepidation.

I cannot for the life of me remember the stock strings. Does this sound like it's me, or could it be a function of strings too high a gauge for their length? Any thoughts?

Maybe I ought to downtune a half step. Hmmmmm.

Koko
 
I've noticed that the nyltechs have a higher capacity for stretching as compared to the T2's. that may be why the titaniums broke with the longer scale and the nyltechs survived.

Just a guess. I'm assuming that you never tuned the strings past the note that was intended?
 
I had a set of t-2;s that kept breaking as I got them up to pitch. they were defective. sent them back and never had problems with the replacements.maybe it's defective strings, wrong size and/ or mixed up order and you are stretching them beyond their limits, rough nut slots? I actually like the t-2, so I'd send them back and give them another try.
 
And you're sure you aren't trying to tune up an octave? Hey, it happens. Don't ask me how I know. :eek:
 
Did you remove all the old strings and then restring ? If so what Jim Hanks suggested might be right on. In the future remove and replace one string at a time. Assuming the ukulele was properly tuned to begin with the old strings will serve as an indication of the correct pitch. Of course it could just be a case of defective strings as others have stated.
 
says creadent

Thanks for the tips.

Yes, I am using tenor strings, but good thought. That's why I mentioned the long scale: this tenor is 18", and it seems like a lot of tenors are 17".

Actually, the comment on uptuning one octave is interesting, because I first tried to tune down an octave because I was having some kind of mental issue. It was in getting to the correct octave that I started breaking strings. They'd break about a half step flat, which made me look up the scale length.

The Nyltech on the first string isn't quite to A yet, but almost. It was there once but stretched and now I'm gunshy.

I didn't even think about sending them back and already trashed them. My bad.

It also appears the maker used Worths initially, they might work better at that scale length. Any of you have an 18"-scale tenor with a favorite brand?

I may just leave the T2s on the bottom 3 and the Nyltech on the top for now. Looks weird but sounds actually OK.

Thanks again.

PS: what a forum noob. See where it says "says creadent" up at the top? I guess I typed the Captcha in the wrong spot.
 
I can't believe the inch difference in scale length can be the problem. You can tune a string a lot higher than 'standard' withoyt it snapping.
Best to have another uke to compare to whe tuning up to be sure you're not doing anything silly. Otherwise...
Sharp endge on nut or bridge?
Not tieing off correctly?
 
Yeah, hmm.

I guess I can't understand how tying them off incorrectly would make them break; slip off the peg, sure.

As far as I can tell, when I bring my uke-CSI skills to bear, the strings are breaking maybe an inch above the saddle. Nowhere near the nut or the bridge, nor near any tie-offs.

I keep coming back to scale length because 1" is hugely different when you compare a delta-1" off a 17" scale to the less-than-an-inch separating many short versus long guitar scales, where we're often talking about 3/4". 3/4" out of a 24-25" scale is enough to make the strings slack enough to be too slack to play well, necessitating changing the gauge to bring the tension back to normal. When a 3% change in length makes that much difference in steel strings, I guess I don't see why I should dismiss double that change (nearly 6%) in ukulele strings.

I'm not going to discount that there's something sharp somewhere that has damaged a string. But I will also say this: I'm a little weirded out because the tension on those strings has gotten quite high without their getting to tune. And I've been using a tuner that does give octave numbers, and I played a few recordings of ukulele tuning (via YouTube) to ensure I was in the right octave.

It's demons. I think it has to be demons.

K
 
... I ask in case you're doing something weird like using a reentrant set and just assuming they're ordered heavy to light.

Then your lightest string would be the C but you'd be putting in the G position - and it's all go to pot...



Not implying noobishness - just covering all bases!
:)
 
No no no, imply noobishness to your heart's content. :)

Re-entrant tuning. Third string the heaviest. First and fourth similar.

Looks like for some brands and styles within brands, sometimes first and fourth are the same gauge, other times the first is slightly thinner. Those T2 tenors had the same gauge, and I could get to G with them but not to A.
 
Yeah 1st and fourh are sometime the same - they're only a tone apart after all.


It's really odd... You should be able to tune way higher than the required note before it snaps.

ponder....
 
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