New ukulele's tuner doesnt work, nor does it respond to amp

[raspberrypi]

Hello there!

I have just received an Ortega RUCOAL-CE, brand new. This is my first experience with a non-purely acoustic ukulele.

Batteries for the tuner where included, I have inserted both of them as the + indication showed, and the tuner still doesnt respond in any way.

Additionally, connecting the ukulele to my amp didnt have any effect. The amp "buzzes"during connection but once plugged in there is no sound. I tested the sound adjustment on the ukulele to see if maybe i have it muted but it has no response on either end.

Short version, my new uke's tuner doesnt light up, and i cant get it to work with the amplifier. I still have some kind of guarantee so i m reluctant to start unscrewing the build in components, but I will if thats the only possible cause. Thank you in advance for any help!

[LorenFL]

Some tuners don't have an on/off switch, they operate by detecting vibration. I have one like that, and I hate it. It works fine if you give it a good hard strum to "wake it up". But, if you're trying to play quietly, you often don't strum loud enough to trigger it. Mine will come on in some kind of "power save" mode first. The screen is super dim and makes you think the batteries are dead. And if you keep strumming lightly, it will go between off and that mode. But, if you strum hard, it wakes up and goes to its full-color bright display. So, you might have one that's sound-activated.

Can't help with the amp problem.

[kohanmike]

It sure seems like the batteries are dead. Try an absolutely new set of batteries. That preamp automatically powers on when a cable is plugged into the output port, so don't leave the cable plugged in when you're not playing, it will kill the battery very quickly. When the tuner button is pushed to view the tuner screen, the output port is turned off, but the tuner stays on, which will also kill the battery if left on all the time.

---

This is Michael Kohan in Los Angeles, Beverly Grove near the Beverly Center
9 tenor cutaway ukes, 4 acoustic bass ukes, 12 solid body bass ukes, 14 mini electric bass guitars (Total: 39)

Donate to The Ukulele Kids Club, they provide ukuleles to children in hospital music therapy programs. www.theukc.org
Member The CC Strummers: www.youtube.com/user/CCStrummers/video, www.facebook.com/TheCCStrummers