Changing strings and pinned bridge

Loska

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I feel pretty stupid but I'm terrified of changing the strings on my pinned bridge ukulele. :uhoh:

I'm afraid that I'll break the top or something as stupid. I have watched a few youtube tutorials but if there are good tips to share before I take a big breath and ruin my ukulele, I'd surely appreciate!
 
If you have a Kanilea or similar, use a pin puller tool. This is one of the easiest styles of bridge to change the strings on.
 
Rumor spreader (no personal experience)...

But consider wearing eye protection. I have read (likely on this forum) of pins shooting across the room or causing minor injury in a few cases.
 
Rumor spreader (no personal experience)...

But consider wearing eye protection. I have read (likely on this forum) of pins shooting across the room or causing minor injury in a few cases.

Is that for real? If you're really worried about that, you could just slack or cut the strings before pulling the pins.
 
There shouldn't be a problem. Once the strings are slack the "self-locking" effect is reduced significantly, the pins may well just pull out with your fingers. If you do find the need to lever or pry any stubborn pin, make sure any surface you're levering against is well padded, you don't want to be damaging the surface!
It's quite practical to tie a length of thin string to the head of the pin, a slip-knot will do, then simply pull the pin using this ;)

Good luck :music:
 
I highly recommend using a bead at the end of the string instead of just tying a knot. The Living Waters and Worth Brown A-strings kept pulling out of my Kanile'a tenors slotted-pins bridge no matter how big I made the knot. I tired every kind of knot I could find and made up a couple of others.

Then I remembered the suggestion I read in the UU Forum and tied a bead on the end of the string. Never had a problem again. High-g & A strings remain solidly in place. Tunr the slot in the pin itself so its facing the butt. Kanile'a has a good video about restringing a Kanile'a.

One caveat: Make sure you get beads with a small enough diameter to fit into the pin hole. I buy a bag of metal ones at Walmart for $1.50. I tie a knot under the bead, but you can tie one around it as long as it still fits through. You can fish it through the soundhole, but that rather defeats the purpose of the pins. And I've never had a pin fly out of its hole.
 
Not really sure what your issue is. The pin bridge is fairly easy for string changes but I would suggest, as others have above, that you use a specific tool for getting the pins out. Most string winders have a notch that you can use for the bridge pins. I use a simple Ernie Ball string winder. Cost me like 5€. Obviously, it will help with actually winding the strings as well.

There's a nifty little video on Kanile'as own Youtube channel that instructs how to change the strings: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dR33YEvFrFI
In the video, Joe Souza recommends you do a surgeon's knot for every string other than the C string for making sure they don't slip out. In reality, it's just a double overhand know but the point still stands. My A string just flew out when I only did a simple overhand knot. Of course, you can also use string beads like Kenn suggested above.

The video features Kanile'as platinum ukulele which has the slotted headstock, but my personal issue is with the regular headstock that I have on my Kanile'a. The holes for the strings on the Kanile'a tuners are so low that often there's not enough space between the hole and the bottom of the tuner post for wrapping enough string around the post, which results in the string starting to overlap around itself. It's really fiddly and drives me up the wall...
 
Thank you all for advice!

Yes I noticed too that the holes for the strings are very low in Kanile'a, and I'm a bit nervous how in the world I'm going to avoid the overlapping.

I have a string winder with a notch, so hopefully it'll be handy. And maybe I'll get some string beads just in case.
 
Rumor spreader (no personal experience)...

But consider wearing eye protection. I have read (likely on this forum) of pins shooting across the room or causing minor injury in a few cases.

I've heard this too for strings/pins that aren't properly seated. Shouldn't be a problem when removing strings since you loosen them before anything. As for tightening new strings, when the string knots are seated properly, the pull should be against the part of the bridge where the knot is resting, not against the pin itself.

Just make sure to loosen the strings before pulling the pins. You'll probably need a pin puller, which is usually part of a string winder if you have one. If you need to pry a stuck pin loose, you can lever the puller against the bridge. As someone else mentioned, use some padding so you're not making marks in the wood with the pin puller. If the strings are loose, there should be no tension when you're pulling the pins. If you're worried about pins flying out when you tighten new strings, just keep your finger or something over the pins while you tighten.
 
Yes I noticed too that the holes for the strings are very low in Kanile'a, and I'm a bit nervous how in the world I'm going to avoid the overlapping.

I put 3 wraps around my Ko'Aloha tuners. With Living Waters Low-G Fluorocarbons. Maybe 4 with the A string. Never had a problem with them holding properly. And there's still room for stretching.

Maybe Nylons could be only 2? The hole seems to lock the strings very well.

I think it's Okay to take the string onto the conical part as well. That's there to push the string up to wrap in tight coils.
 
All good advise above. Pins are nothing to be afraid of and your not going to hurt your ukulele, it isn't that fragile. Don't try to pound them in with something though. Saw a picture of a guitar where someone used a hammer. The trick is not how tight they go in, it is that you get them all the way in with the slots in the right direction and that they set themselves properly.

One more tip. Sometimes it they are stubborn about coming out, if you push the loose string down into the body of the ukulele it will allow the knot to slip down and it will help it to unlock a little easier.
 
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I did it! I changed the strings and the uke (and my mental health) is still in one peace. It was easy! The pinns were very easily removed just by fingers, so my fancy tool is left for my husband to use with his guitarres. No flying pins or broken tops. :cheers:
 
Congrats! One thing I hate to see people do is pay a shop to change strings for them. I learned how as soon as I wore out my 1st set.
The only time I paid someone else to do it, he didn't do it right.....
 
Congratulations on the string change :). I've learned more from my mistakes with my Kanilea than when all goes well. I've had a flying pin and strings in the past and have learned to do it right since then. I learned to tie stopper knots on the strings (Ashley is my favorite), but as mentioned in all the good advice above, using beads is a better, safe solution that I'm now using.

One thing I learned that wasn't mentioned here is that if you're using a stopper know, make sure it's large enough; not just because it might slip, but if it's too small - but large enough not to slip out - it's possible that it could chew up the hole a little. I did that with a Martin 600 A string. It wasn't a big deal and I just made sure that I didn't do it again, so no real damage other than to my uke ocd.
 
I did it! I changed the strings and the uke (and my mental health) is still in one peace. It was easy! The pinns were very easily removed just by fingers, so my fancy tool is left for my husband to use with his guitarres. No flying pins or broken tops. :cheers:

Brava! It gets easier the more times you do it.

One time I was changing strings on my 8-string and trimming off the long ends at the tuning pegs. When I was distracted, and I accidentally cut through both A-strings with the cutters as well as the end. My only defense is that the strings were clear. I had to wait two weeks before my re-ordered Living Waters set arrived to replace the A-strings.
 
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