'Clicking' sound on Outdoor Ukulele?

Booksniffer · Jul 5, 2019

Recently, I tried out a Carbon and a 'regular' Outdoor tenor.

I liked them both very much, but the sound of the regular actually more than that of the Carbon; also, the carbon made a weird 'clicking' sound when strumming.

So, I bought the regular one.
But... ever since I changed strings on it, that one is clicking as well!
Which makes me suspect that it has something to do with the strings, the knot (it's a polycarbonate slotted bridge), etc.

Has anyone had this happen, and found a way to fix it?

Jerryc41 · Jul 6, 2019

I haven't had this happen, but at what point do you hear the clicking, and where does it seem to originate - what part of the uke body? Or is it strictly from the strings?

hendulele · Jul 6, 2019

Is it at the nut? It's always possible there's a minor flaw which causes the strings to move over a notch when they stretch as you play. I had something similar happen to a Fluke I owned several years ago. It didn't occur with thicker strings (Aquilas) but did with thinner ones (Martins). You can get string sleeves (https://www.ebay.com/itm/131663133192) to slip over the string at the nut and prevent the click. They're cheap and you just snip off enough to cover the affected area. Just be sure to pick the narrowest sleeve possible. Otherwise you'll mess up the action.

Booksniffer · Jul 6, 2019

Well, the good news; now that the strings have started settling in, the clicking seems to have gone away!

Difficult to pinpoint; it didn't seem to come from the nut, more from somewhere along the neck (which is hollow).
Someone somewhere (Ukeeku I think?) mentioned it in a review as well.

It's probably not audible to anyone but the player - and it might be worth playing around with different strings, knots etc.

I had never heard of stringsleeves; interesting!
Especially since I tend to prefer thinner strings. Thank you for the tip!

kkimura · Jul 6, 2019

A touch of graphite under the strings at the nut may help if the clicks come back.

Jerryc41 · Jul 6, 2019

kkimura said:
A touch of graphite under the strings at the nut may help if the clicks come back.

Good idea. Rubbing a pencil point on the nut is often recommended when replacing strings.

Booksniffer · Jul 7, 2019

It's not the nut though... I have used the graphite trick in the past, but this sounds like it comes from a different spot.

I played another one yesterday that had the same thing; it seems to be the strings slapping against the fretboard somewhere (which was also the guess of the Outdoor people, in their reply to my email)
Changing strings seems to be helping, in this case (I suspect these do better with higher tension strings anyway)

kkimura · Jul 7, 2019

Sometimes when I'm strumming I'll hit the edge of the fret board with my fingernail producing a click. Easing up of strumming over the sound hole makes the click go away for me in that case.

Booksniffer · Jul 7, 2019

kkimura said:
Sometimes when I'm strumming I'll hit the edge of the fret board with my fingernail producing a click. Easing up of strumming over the sound hole makes the click go away for me in that case.

I have a few other ukuleles where I do sometimes hit the edge of the fretboard and that is sort of what it sounds like, although this sound is sharper; I have experimented with strumming over the soundhole (and at other places), but here it doesn't help.
Also, when I hit the fretboard I can feel it (unpleasantly) on my finger.

Also still puzzling that one of the tenors I played has it badly, and the other one now not at all (the soprano is a milder case); I can't even reproduce the sound on the 'good' tenor now.
They all come, literally, from the same mould, so there shouldn't be any differences in construction.

Nylguts seemed to make it worse, so I do suspect it has something to do with string tension

Rllink · Jul 7, 2019

Well, when all else fails, look to the strummer. It could have something to do with your technique. Sometimes that is the one variable that gets left out of the equation.

Booksniffer · Jul 7, 2019

Rllink said:
Well, when all else fails, look to the strummer. It could have something to do with your technique. Sometimes that is the one variable that gets left out of the equation.

Haha, yes, I suppose...

Although I still find it strange that I can't get rid of the noise on one tenor, and can't replicate it on the other one - like I said, they are *exactly* the same in every respect (apart from the colour), unlike the variation you can get in wooden ukuleles even if they are the same model.

I was hoping to find some other owners of Outdoor ukuleles, but apparently there aren't as many as I had assumed

Booksniffer · Jul 7, 2019

Ha, I've found where I read about the 'clicking' of the strings hitting the fretboard - right here on this forum...

It's post #24 here:
https://forum.ukuleleunderground.co...2-Tenor-Outdoor-Ukulele&p=1728999#post1728999

Posts #26 and #27 mention it as well, but they seem to feel it is their fingernails, and someone mentions it getting better over time.

Like i said, the tenor I decided to keep has no problem at all now - for the soprano, the jury is still out, but I can make an effort over the next few days to improve my strumming technique.

With fingerpicking or slower thumb strumming (like in the Ukulele Way stuff) there is no clicking at all

'Clicking' sound on Outdoor Ukulele?

Booksniffer

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hendulele

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