Uke’n Play Ukulele falling out of tune every 5 seconds.

Citrine

Member
Joined
Sep 23, 2018
Messages
9
Reaction score
0
So I tuned my G string, then went to tune my C string. I unintentionally strummed my G string again in the process of this, and it sounded out of tune, even though I had literally just tuned it! This is ridiculous. At one point I was strumming my G string to make sure that I had tuned it correctly, and it fell out of tune right then and there.

It’s a cheapo, so of course stuff like this was bound to happen, but unfortunately my family is only willing to buy me a better one if I get good at uke.

But is there any chance of me doing some kind of fix to improve this? I doubt I can fully fix it, but I think there’s a likely a good shot of making it better.
 
Last edited:
Yes, the cheap strings that come with cheap ukuleles take a while to bed in. At first, tune them, tune them again and repeat about five or six times. They should then be pkayable for a minute or two. Tune them again, play for a few minutes, tune them again. Repeat whenever you have a spare few minutes, and after a few days they should be pretty stable.

You could try replacing the strings, but I reckon most cheap strings are ok once bedded in, so it's a shame to waste money on new strings if you can avoid it.
 
To add, New strings have a stretch phase. It can take days up to weeks for strings to stop stretching. This is one of the natures of the beast. You will notice the stretching to start to slow down as play time goes by.
 
It’s either the strings still stretching or the tuners could be slipping or the string itself could be slipping off the tuning peg. When you say it “fell out of tune”, is it sudden, like going from G immediately down to F# or F? If so, that would point to one of the latter.

Where do you live? If you’re in the US, I would recommend looking at https://www.mimsukes.com
You’ll have a much better chance at “getting good with uke” if you have a well setup uke to start with. It doesn’t have to be that expensive either. Mim can hook you up for about $100 or less.
 
Does your ukulele have friction pegs or geared pegs. I had a ukulele with friction pegs that I had to adjust with a screwdriver to keep it from slipping out of tune. Even open geared tuners may need to be adjusted. Take a look at your pegs.
 
jimavery, I’ll certainly try that repetitive tuning trick.

bsfloyd, you’ve got a point there, too. I’ll try to give the uke some more time.

Jim Hanks, it’s pretty much how you described it falling out of tune. I’ll look into the possible problems you described.

Thank you for the link, I do live in the US. But unfortunately I don’t think my family really wants to buy me a better, pricier instrument, even if it’ll help me more with getting good at uke. See, they’ve learned a lesson from the days where I played a different instrument, so unless I seriously show that I’ll dedicate myself to the uke, better instrument ain’t happening.

Lacole, it has geared pegs. How do I adjust them?
 
If it has geared tuners, then it is more likely to be the string itself slipping through the tuning peg. If there is an adjustment screw you can try tightening slightly, but I’m guessing there isn’t one. Try this. Tune the string to pitch and mark it with a Sharpie just where the string meets the post. Then get it to “fall out of tune” and see where the dot is. Most likely it will be back towards the nut a little. This means the end of the string pulled through the hole. If this is what’s happening, you’ll need to reinstall the string and loop the end of the string through the hole twice. I hope that makes sense.
 
Jim Hanks, thank you. But just so you know, I’m pretty certain it does have an adjustment screw.
 
Update: The issue was that the strings were still stretching. No longer having this issue. Thank you all for the assistance.
 
So how's your playing going? Won your family over yet?
 
Top Bottom