Which way do you wind your strings?

Melodious Thunk

Melodious Thunk

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I assumed that one would wind all four strings from the inside of the pegs. I noticed in the Martin uke book that some of the ukes were wound from the outside on the G and A strings and the inside on the C and E strings. The two vintage Martins that recently came through my hands were also strung like the latter. I would guess that this would keep the strings on the G and A strings straighter, but might be a little confusing when tuning. Am I right about the straight string pull? Both of the ukes that I had in hand had the older wooden violin style pegs. Would that make any difference as to how that strings should be attached? How do you attach your strings at the pegs?

All the best,

Ryan

Capture.JPG
 
I do them all from inside, like you. Whether that's the best, I don't know.
 
Thanks. I was just curious as it was the first time of seen strings wound that way.
 
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I agree with your assessment of the straight string pull. If the bottom two pegs were inside wound, they would go through the nut at a much greater angle.

All of my ukes are wound on the inside (and I have heard/read recommendations to do it this way). Again, going inside gives it a straighter string pull, which means they are farther apart than the Martin shown in your photo.
 
Back in the day strings were wound on the inside for strings 1 & 2 and the outside for 3 & 4.
Tuners then turn all the same direction when tuning. (tuning pegs, not geared ears).
 
SailingUke said:
Back in the day strings were wound on the inside for strings 1 & 2 and the outside for 3 & 4.
Tuners then turn all the same direction when tuning. (tuning pegs, not geared ears).
Click to expand...

I think I'm going to try that.
 
I contacted Martin about this many years ago. Here is their response.

Good morning,

Thank you for contacting Martin. Congratulations on your purchase of a
Uke. The G and A strings are wound to the outside because if you went
from the inside there would be a sharp angle from the nut. Stringing
from the outside makes it straighter.

Best regards,
 
Raygf said:
I contacted Martin about this many years ago. Here is their response.

Good morning,

Thank you for contacting Martin. Congratulations on your purchase of a
Uke. The G and A strings are wound to the outside because if you went
from the inside there would be a sharp angle from the nut. Stringing
from the outside makes it straighter.

Best regards,
Click to expand...

Good to hear from the source on this. I can't see it making too much of a difference with nylon strings (unless they are wound). But, I bet that the string angle would have affected gut strings.

I just checked out Martin's site and all of the uke photos that I saw have them string from the outside.
 
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I took my Martin S-O and Bruko #2 in to my local music shop for restringing when I had an arthritis flare-up in my right hand. The tech strung both the Martin way. The Bruko sounded just fine. But, recently the Bruko sounded off. Might try restringing it the other way.
 
actadh said:
I took my Martin S-O and Bruko #2 in to my local music shop for restringing when I had an arthritis flare-up in my right hand. The tech strung both the Martin way. The Bruko sounded just fine. But, recently the Bruko sounded off. Might try restringing it the other way.
Click to expand...

I really doubt that would change the sound of your uke. The reason they do it that way is so the strings don't bind up on the nut.
 
SailingUke said:
Back in the day strings were wound on the inside for strings 1 & 2 and the outside for 3 & 4.
Tuners then turn all the same direction when tuning. (tuning pegs, not geared ears).
Click to expand...

Same direction? I guess that depends on your definition. They all turn from the side into the centre, but they alternate between clockwise and counterclockwise. Having them all wind from the middle gives you two of the same and then two the other direction.

Has anyone tried all the same direction? e.g. 4,3 inside and 2,1 outside? Might be a little weird string path on the 2nd string - not sure it would clear the 1st peg.
 
When I bought it, the nut on my Martin style 2 was broken off on the a string. While it might of just been due to a weakness in the original wood, I thought that maybe it was because the string pulled to the outside instead of the inside . I've since wound the outside strings on that uke so that they pull to the inside.
 
It depends on the peghead design. Most of the time, all 4 strings on the inside of the post provides best alignment with nut. Sometimes, like in the picture you show, an outside wind will align better. I have 19 ukes and the only one that winds 2 inside 2-3 and 2 outside, 1-4 for perfect alignment is my Martin O.
 
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It appears to me that the tuners on Martins are positioned differently than other ukulele which causes the strings to be wound that way. I suppose if someone really cared they could measure and compare. I would be interested, but not enough to do the comparison. Besides, I don't have a Martin. But that's what it looks like to me during the five minutes I looked at various ukuleles
 
Rllink said:
It appears to me that the tuners on Martins are positioned differently than other ukulele which causes the strings to be wound that way. I suppose if someone really cared they could measure and compare. I would be interested, but not enough to do the comparison. Besides, I don't have a Martin. But that's what it looks like to me during the five minutes I looked at various ukuleles
Click to expand...

The top two pegs look more inboard than normal, which would give a straighter line to the 2nd & 3rd strings, but we're talking about the bottom ones here. Having the top ones more inboard would allow the bottom two pegs (1st and 4th strings) to be tighter too, but I'm not sure if they are. Martin has pretty wide string spacing on their current models, so the outside string winding would be more of a benefit there too. I was looking at a Martin and a Kamaka on Mim's site (she has good headstock photos) and the Kamaka has a reasonably straight run with the inside wind. The Martin on her site was rewound to inside and has sharp angles.
 
I have absolutely nothing to add to this thread, but I'd just like to say thanks for asking the question, and it's been enlightening and entertaining reading all the responses. Next time I see a Martin, I'll look at it in a new light!
 
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