Slot Bridge Woes

I love my Kamaka soprano uke but, my oh my, that slot bridge is not my friend when it comes time to change strings. Every few months, or half year, the time to change strings on this classic Kamaka rolls around. I tie the necessary knots, slot them into the gap in the bridge, tighten and tune. Then I wait, wondering which string will pop off first this time.

Last time it was the C string. About a week after the string change, the cheeky string blew right off the bridge and, amazingly, even freed itself from the tuning peg and traveled across our living room to land in the lap of my innocent unsuspecting partner as she sat on the couch reading a book.

This time round, a few days after stringing up a new set of Worth clears, while playing a new tune I had composed, the G string sprang out of the slot, startlingly me but at least staying attached at the tuner this time.

If I knot the string too ambitiously it will not fit into the slot to begin with. But is seems that over time the knot in the slot must stretch to the point where it is too small to stay lodged.

Oh, how I love the Kamaka soprano and, oh, how I hate the slot bridge!

Today I even started to ponder swapping the Kamaka soprano for its bigger sister the tenor which sports a tie bridge rather than a slot bridge.

Sigh...what’s a girl to do?

Tried using beads?

John Colter.

Hi, fretie!

Try bigger one and see what happens.

I agree, get your beads out.

(Failing that, you could, maybe, make it a string through bridge.)

fretie said:

...
If I knot the string too ambitiously it will not fit into the slot to begin with. But is seems that over time the knot in the slot must stretch to the point where it is too small to stay lodged.
Sigh...what’s a girl to do?

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I would try the larger and more ambitious knot as shown in zztush's diagram, and see if it will hold. If those knots fail, then I would go to beads.

ukantor said:

Tried using beads?

John Colter.

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I have tried beads but the smallest bead to fit the string thickness is too big to fit the slot in the bridge.

Wow, I'm surprised you have issues with the C string! I've only had issues with my A string. Generally, a double knot solves it. One recommendation I saw was a Figure 8 knot and then an overhand (granny) over top it, but I'm sure there are a lot of knot options. I saw a youtube video posted recently, but can't recall who did it, maybe Ken Timms.

The bead does not have to fit the slot in the bridge. You don't want it to disappear into the bridge. Suitable small beads can be had from handicraft stores.

John Colter.

ukantor said:

The bead does not have to fit the slot in the bridge. You don't want it to disappear into the bridge. Suitable small beads can be had from handicraft stores.

John Colter.

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I have a vial of various size beads...maybe I’ll have to experiment some more with them.

Do you have any photos showing how the beads sit against the slot bridge?

Why do you need to change strings so often? I'm going on to 4 years of frequent playing with nylguts and they are still in pretty good shape.

merlin666 said:

Why do you need to change strings so often? I'm going on to 4 years of frequent playing with nylguts and they are still in pretty good shape.

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I play with wild enthusiasm, daily. Strings lose their beautiful tone after hours of energetic play, I find.

Here was that video someone shared on a similar thread for a big knot:

https://youtu.be/I-rBcbXqql0

I say it's time for that tie bridge tenor Fretie! You've had the Kamaka for a few years now, treat yourself to a new one.

fretie said:

I play with wild enthusiasm, daily. Strings lose their beautiful tone after hours of energetic play, I find.

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I can pretty much kill off my strings in a week or so of heavy playing. Carbon strings suffer roughness—as if sanded—where I pluck and strum—I can actually feel dings in carbon strings where they touch frets. Worse of all, they lose resonance and pitch accuracy up the neck and continue to degrade progressively with use.

I had a similar problem with the A string on my cheapy cheapy Uke. It wouldn't go flying but it kept going flat and I kept retuning and it still kept going flat. I asked a luthier friend of mine about it and he just tied a double knot at the bottom and it solved the problem. He said it's common especially with the thin string. So I too am a bit puzzled about the C string. You could always call kamaka and ask them. Or a reputable luthier though I think picking our brains has given you food for thought. To bead or knot to bead -- that is the question or knot

gochugogi said:

I can pretty much kill off my strings in a week or so of heavy playing. Carbon strings suffer roughness—as if sanded—where I pluck and strum—I can actually feel dings in carbon strings where they touch frets. Worse of all, they lose resonance and pitch accuracy up the neck and continue to degrade progressively with use.

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Exactly! My experience as well!

Patrick Madsen said:

I say it's time for that tie bridge tenor Fretie! You've had the Kamaka for a few years now, treat yourself to a new one.

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Hahaha...Patrick you are reading my mind!

I am moving steadily towards tenors as I play in more ensemble and orchestra settings. I do feel a Kamaka tenor, with the easy tie bridge, in my future!

Fretie, I don't want to unduly complicate things here, but sometimes what can happen is that, although your knot may be of sufficient bulk, the slots themselves may have become too spacious, or as some folks might say, the slots (or one or more of them) have "blown out" and will no longer exert good grabbing power on the knot. I may be way off base on that, but I have heard of it happening on occasion, especially if your uke was previously owned. I think what happened with a uke that I got "pre-owned" several years ago was that the previous owner had apparently had difficulty removing the "A" string (in that instance) from its bridge slot while changing strings on one or more occasions, perhaps because he had used a pretty ample knot and really jammed it in there; so, in forcing it back out of its slot, it looked like he had begun to actually wear away the inside area of the slot, so that it eventually became too "roomy" and as a result I had to be very careful (when installing a new "A" string) to get a good beefy knot. So far, I've had REALLY good luck getting a nice knot by using the following method, which is difficult to explain, but I'll try (and you might want to grab an old discarded string to practice this on...)---- Let's say you're doing a knot in the "A" string... okay, you'll start by just tying the end of the string in a "regular old knot" (it probably has a formal name, but I'd say it's just the kind of knot you'd naturally do if someone said, "Hey, could you please tie a knot at the end of this?"). Now, here's the key... as you're finishing up the knot, DON'T pull it totally tight just yet, but rather, leave a little "daylight" in it, just enough so that you can actually look through it. Now, act like you're going to tie a SECOND knot in the end of the string; but here's the catch---- instead of just doing a second knot like you normally would (which would result in having two small knots sitting side-by-side), what you'll want to do is this: immediately after you've looped the end of the string around itself to initiate the creation of the second knot, poke the end of the string through that little "daylight hole" that you left when you did the first knot, and THEN gently start pulling the second knot into place. With the G and A strings being so thin, you may want to again leave a little hole where the knots are now teaming up, so that you can go ahead and do a third knot with that same technique of poking the end of the string through the (now double) "daylight hole" before you pull it tight. Basically this technique gives you a nice big knot, rather than multiple side-by-side knots. I hope it will be of some help, or at least something interesting to "mess around with" !!

Can always send here again if needed.

Patrick Madsen said:

Can always send here again if needed.

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Thanks Patrick!