Why my Kala is buzzing... just FYI

The things you use to tune, so I guess I could say "the tuners" on my Kala Solid Mahogany Slot Head Tenor are loose for lack of a better word and its not something you can tighten. You can wiggle two of them and if you shake the ukulele and listen you can hear them. I discovered this because I was getting random buzzing on my ukulele and it took me a bit to figure out what was causing it because it would do it one minute and not the next - because I would adjust them to tune it, this can stop or start it. Just the top bit you twist can wiggle a bit like it's loose. This does NOT effect it staying in tune at all.

Anyway, shop I got it from is going to see if they can order a new set of tuners under warranty from Kala so they can replace them for me because they should not be doing that (which they confirmed when I brought it in to have them see it for themselves).

So if you have a Kala and it's buzzing, hopefully you find this thread and it helps you. It took me about a week to figure out what it was and I was glad I didn't replace my strings because it was not my strings or humidity or anything else. Its a really lovely ukulele I am glad we figured out what it was and it can be fixed!

Glad you found the issue. I do think the store should just give you a replacement Uke, instead of fixing this one.

If you get a new instrument from a company like kala and it's not 100% correct, then whoever sold it should provide a replacement.

Olarte said:

Glad you found the issue. I do think the store should just give you a replacement Uke, instead of fixing this one.

If you get a new instrument from a company like kala and it's not 100% correct, then whoever sold it should provide a replacement.

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If they can replace the tuners I will be fine with it, there is nothing wrong with the instrument, just the tuners! Now if there was an issue with the instrument itself like the neck or the wood or cracking etc yeah I would ask for a new one but its just a peice of hardware that can easily be replaced.

When my Honda has a recall they don't give me a new car, they just replace the part and thats a far more expensive item!

Glad you figured out the problem and I hope it is resolved soon with no further trouble.

Hmmm, it's not unusual for tuner shafts to rattle when there are no strings on a tuner, but once you put a string on and tighten it up that goes away. Sounds like there is maybe something internal to the tuners that isn't right. I'm just curious, are they open-geared tuners or sealed?

John

OldePhart said:

Hmmm, it's not unusual for tuner shafts to rattle when there are no strings on a tuner, but once you put a string on and tighten it up that goes away. Sounds like there is maybe something internal to the tuners that isn't right. I'm just curious, are they open-geared tuners or sealed?

John

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I can see the little gears.

Open-geared, then. Kind of strange, not much to rattle on those. Oooh, wait, this is a slot-head, isn't it? Yeah, I can see where the worm gear could be loose and rattle on those.

In any case, new tuners should fix you up.

John

OldePhart said:

Open-geared, then. Kind of strange, not much to rattle on those. Oooh, wait, this is a slot-head, isn't it? Yeah, I can see where the worm gear could be loose and rattle on those.

In any case, new tuners should fix you up.

John

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Its not the gears, its the actual knob you turn.. the owner of the shop said they shouldn't move that much.