New Ukulele doesn't sound quite right when tuned

Quartz

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Hello! So I'm rather new to the community and after doing a ton of research on what would be a good instrument for my price range ($50) I bought a Kwise 23" Concert Sized Ukulele. I tune it before practicing and roughly every 30 minutes or so. Frets seem to be flush with the neck and the build quality is overall pleasant. Now to get on with my issue, using a standard tuning GCEA with the following (roughly) frequencies:

G 390
C 260
E 329
A 440

It seemed that this was the normal way to tune a Ukulele, though this is my first time picking up an instrument since I found an old dumpster electric guitar when I was 13. When I strum the Ukulele, using the padded part of my thumb going down, it doesn't make the "traditional" tuned Ukulele sound, it sounds like one of my strings is off tune.

My roommate, who plays guitar, says it sounds about right and that I'm being too harsh on my own sound. Has anyone else faced this problem and could help me figure out? Or is this a common newbie problem and it's just either the strings needing time to stretch or my ear just being completely off? Thanks for any future advice and I hope you managed to make it through the wall of text.

Also if this is in the wrong thread, though it seemed to be the right one, please let me know, thank you.

PS: If the site allows it I'm also all for posting an mp3 of my Ukulele, I just didn't want to record it if it cannot be shared.
 
Hello! So I'm rather new to the community and after doing a ton of research on what would be a good instrument for my price range ($50) I bought a Kwise 23" Concert Sized Ukulele. I tune it before practicing and roughly every 30 minutes or so. Frets seem to be flush with the neck and the build quality is overall pleasant. Now to get on with my issue, using a standard tuning GCEA with the following (roughly) frequencies:

G 390
C 260
E 329
A 440

It seemed that this was the normal way to tune a Ukulele, though this is my first time picking up an instrument since I found an old dumpster electric guitar when I was 13. When I strum the Ukulele, using the padded part of my thumb going down, it doesn't make the "traditional" tuned Ukulele sound, it sounds like one of my strings is off tune.

If the tuner is reliable (can be double checked with an iPhone based tuner), then that would be the open sound of your uke (which does have to be traditional).. "traditional" uke sound could be old style hawaiian ukes or vintage martin.. not sure what you want. If you are pressing frets and the sound seems off, that could a few other things than the sound of the uke.

My roommate, who plays guitar, says it sounds about right and that I'm being too harsh on my own sound. Has anyone else faced this problem and could help me figure out? Or is this a common newbie problem and it's just either the strings needing time to stretch or my ear just being completely off? Thanks for any future advice and I hope you managed to make it through the wall of text.

Also if this is in the wrong thread, though it seemed to be the right one, please let me know, thank you.

PS: If the site allows it I'm also all for posting an mp3 of my Ukulele, I just didn't want to record it if it cannot be shared.

Upload to soundcloud and link here..
You need to specify
1. Open strings (no frets pressed) what is the sound.
2. When you play the C major scale do all notes show up correctly on the tuner.

That said a change of strings can do magic to factory direct ukes.. I had a makala where D note on 3rd string sounded off.. I landed up getting a better uke but I later realized that fixing the frets, saddle and nut with new strings fixed the D note..

Also, ukes can be producing the right note but sound very very different, if you have a sound in mind, you will need to do a bit more experimentation trying different ukes. Example: Martin ukes specially the vintage ones have a jangle to their sound which my tinguitar khaya soprano does not have, it has a more sweet sound than a jangly sound.
 
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I have times when I find it doesn't sound quite in tune. I do an open tuning first and then fine tune at the 2nd or third fret.

It may be your intonation is a bit off so when you fret a chord it'll be off tune.

Tuning while fretting the string puts it in tune for chord shapes. How often does a person play an all strings open chord? Tune to the chord positions you mostly play in. I usually play in 2nd and 3rd position chord shapes, so I tune using those shapes.
 
Hi and welcome to the forum! There might be several different issues at play here, you'd have to explain more precisely or post a sound sample.

- One thing is that the tuning you indicated is reentrant, not linear like on a guitar. This may be confusing or sound "wrong" to beginners. Reentrant tuning (high G) is common on ukes, but linear tuning (low G) is often used as well.

- Connected to this is the fact that reentrant tuning can not be achieved with a G string that is meant for linear tuning, and vice versa. If your uke came strung with a low G string (often a metal-wound string), then you cannot tune that up to the reentrant pitch. Tension would be much too high that it might actually damage your instrument.

- Inexpensive instruments in the price range you mention may have severe intonation issues. Some of them may be corrected with some specific setup work (lowering the action, compensating the saddle) or trying better strings, but not all. If you are picky, you'd have to invest in a better instrument sooner or later (and buy it from a dealer who is known to perform a uke-specific setup).

Hope this helps, let us know what you find out...!
 
Hi Quartz! This may seem obvious but first I would try putting my left ring finger on the third fret of the A string, the one closest to the ground when you play. Try strumming down with your thumb to see if that sound is more acceptable.

I also would check the tuner again to see if the strings are going out of tune which probably means that the strings are stretching (normal)or if you have a friction tuner, the tuner needs to be tightened because the tuner is slipping.

Welcome!
 
Thanks to everyone for responding! I'm gonna try to address everyone's questions, but if I missed them please just let me know and I'll hop to it.
First of all here is the soundcloud recording I was asked to do (ignore the bad gmail picture from like 6 years ago please) https://soundcloud.com/ryan-rogers-663624529/ukulele-tuning-problems

Right now I can't buy new strings or get them exchanged out, though I'll save up to see what I can do and maybe buy a higher quality instrument. The reason why I chose the one I did was because I didn't think I'd have so much fun with it! Though now that I am having so much fun, I might check out something closer to the $200. So I do want to point out that while it might not sound great, it is helping toughen up my fingers and teach me finger placement and helping my (really really) terrible strumming.

Though I say it in the recording I'm using Ukulele Tuner, though I've also used Tuner & Metronome, and one other tuning app that I can't remember the name of. I do have an android so using iphone apps isn't something I can do.

I hope I helped with answering y'alls questions to help better understand the problem. Sorry I'm not much help, I can diagnose a server issue, but figuring out an instrument is very new for me.

Edit: Another reason for the Kwise, it was recommended as an entry level instrument by quite a few online reviewers, including smaller channels that couldn't have gotten a sponsorship or anything like that. I'm taking recommendations, I hear Luna is good for a quality instrument.
 
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Are you saying you change the tuner to those frequencies? The tuner should always be set for either chromatic (C) or ukulele (U) and 440. New strings are going to stretch for a few hours or more.

If you now know that you're going to continue to play uke, I suggest saving a little longer and buy something in the $250-$300 range, Ohana, Pono, Kala. I learned that lesson in the first year I played uke going through 16 $150-$200 models until I landed on a Kala KAATP-CTG-CE tenor solid cedar top and acacia koa body cutaway with electronics for $370 (about $250 without cutaway and preamp/pickup), one of my best playing and sounding ukes that I think rivals some $1000 brands.


8 tenor cutaway ukes, 5 acoustic bass ukes, 10 solid body bass ukes, 7 mini electric bass guitars

• Donate to The Ukulele Kids Club, they provide ukuleles to children's hospital music therapy programs. www.theukc.org
• Member The CC Strummers www.youtube.com/user/CCStrummers/video
 
Hey Quartz, your recording is very helpful. From a quick listen, at least two of the strings are way out of tune, probably the first and third string. The G string is almost half a step too high, while the E is almost half a step too low. No wonder that sounds weird, and not just to your ears!

This isn't the uke's fault, but rather the tuner's, or how you use it. Use a tuner or an app that shows you a green light or a line lining up in the middle when the correct note is reached. This video shows you how it should sound:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7xKTKjwGCVg
 
After reading Mike's post, I think I understand what the problem is: Mike is right, don't change the frequency of the tuner! Set the pitch standard to 440 Hz and leave it there for all strings. This is the standard pitch to wich all other notes relate. This should fix the problem I diagnosed above.
 
Alright, there you go! From what I can tell from a quick listen, this is what it is supposed to sound like. Again, it's not the tuner itself (I would think), but the fact that you changed the frequency for each string. Don't worry about the frequency, tuning is actually a lot less complicated then you thought: you don't need to change the frequency of the tuner for each string. Just turn the tuner on and play each string. Setting the tuner to the standard pitch of 440 Hz is just a means to calibre your instrument to sound in tune with all other instruments.
 
If you like to set the frequency of the tuner, you can, you just need to find the right frequencies to use.
The current standard for the industry is to use a mathematical system called "Equal Temperament" to calculate the frequencies. The mathematics work off a seed number for the note of A, the standard is to use A=440Hz for the seed. Luckily, you don't have to do the maths, you can just look up this system and find a table of frequencies to use. The ones to look for are labelled: G4 C4 E4 A4. The number is an octave, and comes from using a piano keyboard to label the notes. Look up "The Physics of Music" on the Michigan Technical University site.

Beginners should just stick to the standard frequencies, but for more advanced players, you can find recipes where the A note reference is changed for every string to make an electronic tuner effectively tune to a different set of frequencies which are calculated using a non-standard mathematical system or just by trial and error and ears. It is easier just to get a tuner which can set the frequency and just find the right frequency. You can have some fun on a snowed in Sunday looking up the different temperaments and working out the frequencies and tuning the uke to see how they sound. I know there are on-line apps which do it for you, but if you want to have a learning experience you need to turn off the app and do some work yourself.

Wow, for me, entirely too much information.


8 tenor cutaway ukes, 5 acoustic bass ukes, 10 solid body bass ukes, 7 mini electric bass guitars

• Donate to The Ukulele Kids Club, they provide ukuleles to children's hospital music therapy programs. www.theukc.org
• Member The CC Strummers www.youtube.com/user/CCStrummers/video
 
Wow, for me, entirely too much information.


8 tenor cutaway ukes, 5 acoustic bass ukes, 10 solid body bass ukes, 7 mini electric bass guitars

• Donate to The Ukulele Kids Club, they provide ukuleles to children's hospital music therapy programs. www.theukc.org
• Member The CC Strummers www.youtube.com/user/CCStrummers/video

Hahahahaha! And I thought I was getting super-technical just drilling a side port hole in my Eddy Finn PNUT yesterday!
 
Intonation and basic tuner sanity check

Hello! So I'm rather new to the community and after doing a ton of research on what would be a good instrument for my price range ($50) I bought a Kwise 23" Concert Sized Ukulele. I tune it before practicing and roughly every 30 minutes or so. Frets seem to be flush with the neck and the build quality is overall pleasant. Now to get on with my issue, using a standard tuning GCEA with the following (roughly) frequencies:

G 390
C 260
E 329
A 440

It seemed that this was the normal way to tune a Ukulele, though this is my first time picking up an instrument since I found an old dumpster electric guitar when I was 13. When I strum the Ukulele, using the padded part of my thumb going down, it doesn't make the "traditional" tuned Ukulele sound, it sounds like one of my strings is off tune.

My roommate, who plays guitar, says it sounds about right and that I'm being too harsh on my own sound. Has anyone else faced this problem and could help me figure out? Or is this a common newbie problem and it's just either the strings needing time to stretch or my ear just being completely off? Thanks for any future advice and I hope you managed to make it through the wall of text.

Also if this is in the wrong thread, though it seemed to be the right one, please let me know, thank you.

PS: If the site allows it I'm also all for posting an mp3 of my Ukulele, I just didn't want to record it if it cannot be shared.

First off double check your tuner by tuning by ear. Use the tuner for the A string. Tune the E string by playing an A on it. Tune the C string by playing a E on it. Tune the G string by comparing it to the G on the E string. Now see if it's in tune according to your tuner. If it's not in tune then either your intonation is off or your tuner sucks. You could also be a bit tone deaf. :(

If your think your intonation is off try somebody else's tuner. Tune to the open strings and then check notes at various frets to see if the are out of tune.

Note, no ukulele has perfect intonation but if yours is really off take it to a luthier and see if it can be improved. Ask what they charge to do this because it might be cheaper to just get a new/better ukulele. If you do end up buying a new ukulele get one that's been setup by a professional so it won't have these kind of issues.

-- Gary
 
I'm with KohanMike on saving up for the best you can afford IF you want to stay with this. No point in spending a ton of money if this is a habit you'll drop.
I agree with him that those cedar Kala's sound great and it's my favorite, but everyone's taste is different. Go try a bunch out in a shop if you can. If you don't have access, work with someone online who won't give you grief if you try to return, like Mim.
 
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