Bruko not holding a tuning

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I got a Bruko no. 6 in October and haven't had much time to play it. Tonight I took it out and tried to tune it, but as soon as I would get a string tuned, the tuning peg just seemed to slide and loosen the string two or three notes lower than it should have been.

I know that the uke wasn't like this when I got it. Any suggestions on what I can do to fix it? The original strings are on it. Would it make a difference to change the strings or is the problem with the uke itself?

Thanks for any advice!
Maria
 
I got a Bruko no. 6 in October and haven't had much time to play it. Tonight I took it out and tried to tune it, but as soon as I would get a string tuned, the tuning peg just seemed to slide and loosen the string two or three notes lower than it should have been.

I know that the uke wasn't like this when I got it. Any suggestions on what I can do to fix it? The original strings are on it. Would it make a difference to change the strings or is the problem with the uke itself?

Thanks for any advice!
Maria

You can tighten the little screw on the back of the tuning peg with a small phillips head screwdriver. Don't be afraid of this, as this is totally normal for a uke with friction tuners, as they need adjustment from time to time.

This is especially prevalent in the winter time when you are heating your house, because the heating reduces the ambient humidity, and that causes the wood to shrink slightly due to lack of moisture in the wood.

What probably happened is that the wood in the headstock shrunk a little (due to the above mentioned environmental change), and thus the tension of the screw in the tuner is no longer adequate at it's current setting in order to grip the wood and hold the peg from turning.

Try a 1/4 turn at a time of the screw head, see if it holds, and then try another 1/4 turn until it no longer slips. Much tighter than that and it will become difficult to turn the peg smoothly. It is better to make small incremental changes to the screw tension as opposed to cranking it down crazy tight.

If your ukulele instead has geared tuners (like a guitar) then it is probably a different issue. Most Bruko #6's that I've seen have friction tuners though.

As far as the strings go, that is possibly a different issue, especially if the uke has sat unplayed since new, or since newer strings were installed. I will kindly refer you to my recent post on this very topic here:

http://forum.ukuleleunderground.com...in-a-new-set-of-strings&p=1651184#post1651184

Please report back and indicate if either of the above suggestions has worked for you, and if not, we can go from there.
 
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Booli is right! My Bruko has the same issue occasionally, it's just the uke settling in. Don't worry, this is easy to fix! :)

Also, make sure to hold the tuning peg in place when turning the screw. Otherwise it just moves with the screw.
 
Booli is right! My Bruko has the same issue occasionally, it's just the uke settling in. Don't worry, this is easy to fix! :)

Also, make sure to hold the tuning peg in place when turning the screw. Otherwise it just moves with the screw.

Yes, as g'est has said, hold the tuner BUTTON (the thing you would actually turn to adjust the tuning in a normal way), and THEN use the screwdriver to tighten 1/4 turn and then let go and see if it holds when you tune it. If not, rinse and repeat until it holds. :)
 
I have three Brukos and I had to tighten the tuners on all of them. Be careful not to over tighten as you need to able to be able to make small adjustments when tuning. Once you have the tuners properly adjusted and the strings are settled in, they should hold tune very well.

The original strings are fine. Some people don't like them but I have no problem with them. They are a fluorocarbon string and I recently changed the strings on the soprano for living water (also fluorocarbon) and have noticed little difference so you're OK to leave the originals on. I think they may be higher than average tension as I've tuned my tenor down to dGBE and they don't feel unduly floppy and ring out well.
 
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