Through the bridge restringing – knot or beads?

just for clarification: are we talking about tie-bar bridges? I made my previous comment assuming we were talking about bridges with pins. However, my comment still remains unchanged: all you need is a knot, but use a bead if that makes you happy, or use some other thing like a button or a washer. I personally use knots only because it is simpler and, I must admit, I rather like the little tails that stick out beneath (or is it above since it is further from the nut?) the bridge.
 
I use small metal beads purchased from Walmart. About $2.00 for about 20 beads. They have flat ends with round bodies and work great for my ukuleles with pin bridges as well as through-the-body.

On the through-the-bridge/body, the beads also make it easier to retrieve the string ends at the sound hole.
For the pin bridge, my A-string had worn the hole in the bridge a bit and was pulling through no matter how big I made the knot. The smallest sizes metal bead worked perfectly. So, I used them on all of the strings.
 
I assume you mean the stringing method where the string goes vertically through a hole in the bridge and instead of being secured with bridge pins, and is tied inside of the body of the instrument.

I will share my experience restringing my sister's Kmise uke which has this type of bridge. One of her strings broke and she was unable to feed it back through the soundhole to remove it. It turned out that all 4 strings were tied together under the bridge in one big overhand knot at the factory and needed to be removed as a unit.

The holes through the bridge are large enough that I would have to tie a massive stopper knot in each individual string to keep from pulling it through the bridge when brought to tension, so with great trepidation I went by the factory template and tied all 4 string ends together in a humongous figure 8 knot and restrung the uke.

I am not a luthier, engineer, or have credentials to be considered an expert.

Initially this method seemed just one of those production shortcuts that high volume manufacturers use to cut costs. On further reflection i seems to me that this method would distribute the string tension under the bridge over a larger area than individual knots and have the added benefit of preventing strings popping through the bridge from a slightly undersize stopper knot as happened on my banjo uke several times.

I have never seen this method recommended. The only downside I've seen so far is that it's not possible to remove and replace an individual string without disturbing the other strings. I'm hoping more experienced members will chime in. On a gut level it just seems so wrong.
 
Last edited:
My Cocobolo Ukulele has through the body stringing, and I wouldn't have it any other way. It seems to be the most reliable method of bridging.
It came with nice thick Aquila strings, and i changed them to thinner Worth strings.
I don't know where to get ball ends, or how to use them, so I tied a short piece of the old C string into the ends of the A and G strings, so they wouldn't pull through, and it worked just fine.
 
When I restrung my 8-string with string-through bridge, it already had beads, but if it didn't I would have used them. I dropped one and couldn't find it, so I tied 2 together. I just tied the knot around the bead. Next time I change strings, I'll have to get more beads probably from Michael's. My Islander and Kanilea with pin bridges also use small beads, just a little more security. Get beads with a hole just big enough for the C string or G string, if you use low G.
 
just for clarification: are we talking about tie-bar bridges? I made my previous comment assuming we were talking about bridges with pins. However, my comment still remains unchanged: all you need is a knot, but use a bead if that makes you happy, or use some other thing like a button or a washer. I personally use knots only because it is simpler and, I must admit, I rather like the little tails that stick out beneath (or is it above since it is further from the nut?) the bridge.

Neither. We are talking about string-through bridges. They are a different beast altogether.
 
Also, is something flatter/disc shaped, rather than round a better option for sitting flat up against the inside soundboard of the body of the uke?

I’ve been using popsicle sticks. Cut them into 4 pieces sized to be a bit too small for them to touch each other
by checking them on top of the bridge. Used dremel to cut. Then drilled (Dremel) smallest hole to fit string through and knotted it.

Took a few tries to make without cracking but at $.88 per hundred I still have enough left for several future lives.

After several string changes I haven’t had one crack with use. It’s only theoretical but I like the wood to wood connection spread on largest surface possible.

If you have the cutting and drilling down to no losses you can use the dry end of a popsicle stick and get a free ice cream with your purchase of a ukulele accessory! This may be the best deal ever!
 
If you have the cutting and drilling down to no losses you can use the dry end of a popsicle stick and get a free ice cream with your purchase of a ukulele accessory! This may be the best deal ever!

I like your thinking!
 
I’ve been using popsicle sticks. Cut them into 4 pieces sized to be a bit too small for them to touch each other
by checking them on top of the bridge. Used dremel to cut. Then drilled (Dremel) smallest hole to fit string through and knotted it.

Took a few tries to make without cracking but at $.88 per hundred I still have enough left for several future lives.

After several string changes I haven’t had one crack with use. It’s only theoretical but I like the wood to wood connection spread on largest surface possible.

If you have the cutting and drilling down to no losses you can use the dry end of a popsicle stick and get a free ice cream with your purchase of a ukulele accessory! This may be the best deal ever!

I envisioned a similar solution when someone in another thread suggested converting a tie bridge to a string through bridge... but my idea was to use an old piece of piano key ivory, as I have quite a pile of that stuff.
 
But as to beads, I like the glass beads as they are highly polished and are thus less likely to have sharp burrs in the edges of the holes which can slice through a string pretty quickly. Also, the wooden beads I've tried have not been hard enough.. the G and A strings eventually cut through them. I've taken to using 8mm glass beads in tie bridges.

On my pin bridge Kanilea Islander, I use the ferrules from discarded guitar strings. The ones they use on Elixirs, in particular, are nicely machined and have no burrs.
 
On my pin bridge Kanilea Islander, I use the ferrules from discarded guitar strings. The ones they use on Elixirs, in particular, are nicely machined and have no burrs.

Isn't that what they come strung with? (Not necessarily the ones used on Elixirs, just that type of ferrule.)

Yeah, I think so, I'll have to ask my guitar player friends to save their string ends.

Was looking for beads on the web and thought these were interesting!
http://www.michaels.com/john-bead-superduo-two-hole-czech-glass-beads/M10549064.html?dwvar_M10549064_color=Lava&dwvar_M10549064_size=24%20g#start=11
 
My Cocobolo Ukulele has through the body stringing, and I wouldn't have it any other way. It seems to be the most reliable method of bridging.
It came with nice thick Aquila strings, and i changed them to thinner Worth strings.
I don't know where to get ball ends, or how to use them, so I tied a short piece of the old C string into the ends of the A and G strings, so they wouldn't pull through, and it worked just fine.

Read this with interest as I've just acquired my first through-body strung uke. I'm also a harper and we use small segments of thicker strings to brace knots inside the harp soundbox - the only thing that can be tricky is preventing the segment sliding out of the knot before the string gets up to tension: strings can be very slippery! I might go for beads on my uke just because they seem an easier option (on a harp you can see what you're doing & reach inside much more easily).
 
Looks like 4 mm beads are what people here are generally using. They seem to come with different hole sizes, though. Any suggestions on that?
 
String-through bridge image :D I recently converted this one from a traditional tie bridge.

Is this a special bridge or what? All the ukes I have seem to have ties on them. I'm guessing I'm confused here. I just restrung one of mine and copied the old knot that was on it. thanks
IMG_20180718_121354762.jpg
 
Last edited:
Thanks. So just a little knot on a bead. Learning to match the knot was kind of fun. Actually I had a harder time getting the string to thread the headstock properly so it ran flat

I tie a figure 8 knot as a stopper and that suffices for the C string. The other, thinner strings, I tie the figure 8 and then thread the free end through the bead once more so the knot won't pull through the bead.
 
I tie a figure 8 knot as a stopper and that suffices for the C string. The other, thinner strings, I tie the figure 8 and then thread the free end through the bead once more so the knot won't pull through the bead.

Thanks. Maybe I'll try that next time. I kind of like the way the twisted knots look. I think I can see that long term the knots may wear on the wooden holes because they're so tight
 
Top Bottom