Crushed bridge string hole when tensioning string; normal?

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Hi,

I restrung my concert-scale soprano uke with Martin M600 fluorocarbon strings.

While tensioning the A-string to pitch, I heard a wood cracking sound. I noticed the string has crushed the wood a bit between the top of the bridge and its hole. (Please see pictures.)

This ukulele came with Aquila Nygut strings; and I've restrung it before with Aquila New Nygut. I did not experience the wood cracking sound or any crushing issue.

The M600 A-string is thinner and denser than Nygut, so it required more tension. I think this may be why the wood got crushed.

As a precaution, I detuned the A-string; and sent an email to the uke's manufacturer for advice.

So, I'm wondering if this is normal?

crush2.jpg
crush1.jpg
 
not normal. :eek:

M600s on concert scale (tuned to gCEA I presume) should still not be close to "high tension".
 
Thanks for the replies.

The ukulele is a Kala KA-SSLNG.
On Kala's website, it doesn't say what wood the bridge is made of, but it looks like the fretboard wood, which is laurel.

I received an email back from Kala saying that the ukulele should work with any concert strings so Martin M600 should be fine.
Hmmm, I think I'll switch it back Aquila Nygut to be safe.
 
I don't think I'd call it normal, but I would also say that it's not unusual or totally unexpected. I've seen a handful of ukes that have a little crushing in the same spot. Consider that classical guitar bridges, which use a similar bridge design, are often designed with a strip of hard material inlaid along the edges of the tie bar as a preventive measure to help reinforce the fragile corners of the wood from being crushed by the strings. Unfortunately, that doesn't seem common on ukuleles - so sometimes, if you have a bridge that has an especially soft spot in the wood and/or you're using higher tension strings, you can get a little crushing.

Personally, I wouldn't worry about it unless it gets significantly worse (i.e. splinters fall off the tie bar, the string gets cut or broken on the sharp edge, etc).

You could always switch to tying a bead on that string instead of tying it around the bar.
 
I have a white label Kamaka that has a strip of light coloured wood, possibly maple, at the edge of the koa bridge. I assume this is a repair to address similar or more extensive damage and not the original design.
 
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