Question about swapping strings

a green field

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Hi there,

This may be a silly question, but this seems like the group who would know the answer. I recently put some new strings on my baritone ukulele and don't like them at all. If I want to take them off and keep them intact to try with another ukulele someday, is that pointless? General question is if with the folks who swap strings often if you keep older strings that aren't yet worn out, or if they oxidize/deteriorate the same way steel strings do.
 
I typically keep Strings that aren’t worn out / damaged and reuse them. One of my Ukes is fitted with such Super Nylguts at the moment and is working very well.
 
If they're changing just for change and not because they're played out then I keep them in a box of nicely (but not necessarily accurately) labeled string packets. Sometimes the old strings are in the packaging from the new. I write down what they actually are on a slip of paper inside the pack. I should write what they are on the outside of the pack (foreshadowing!)

I can think of only two times that I've actually re-used strings from the stash:

1. Shortly after a string change that I wasn't happy with. I didn't like the low-D that came on a Baritone and swapped out all the strings for a new set. I didn't like the high strings on that set and swapped back the B and E strings from the old set. Took the long way around but ended up in a happy place

2. I broke a string at a workshop and had only an old set for replacements. I'd intended to pack a new set of strings, but I'd mistakenly grabbed old strings in the current set's packaging.


Uke strings are cheap enough that I don't think I'd re-use an old set given other options. I don't like strings waggling around the headstock so I trim them close to the posts, and it's a pain to reuse strings that have already been cut short.
 
I started out saving strings that I thought had re-use potential. It got way too confusing to be worth the trouble. Now, I just trash any string that's already been in use.
 
I've done it before, but only when I had a string set that was still in the "settling" period. They just weren't sounding good on that particular uke, so I swapped them out but kept them for later and another uke. Two thoughts:
1) Depending on the exact scale-length and tie method, you may not be able to use them on the same size uke. In the experience above the first uke was a concert, and I used them later on a soprano.
2) As a way to keep flexibility, for at least the first week after a string change, I leave the excess string coiled by the tuning posts. Once the strings are relatively settled, then I trim the excess right down to the posts.

Just food for thought, see what works for you.
 
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