Kanilea Islander GL6

Jools1050

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Hi all, I hope someone might be able to give me some help please. I've owned the above instrument for a while now and haven't really used it as I've been having touch fun with my ukulele and guitars.
So I've purchased some new strings, Aquila 96c that are designed specifically for the guilele and got busy fitting them last night.
When I took the bridge pins out I expected to be able to pull the strings out of their respective holes, I also expected to see "ball end" strings. However I could not pull the strings out because instead of ball-ends, the strings had been tied off with cheap and nasty plastic beads of various sizes. Quite a shock to see such cheap and nasty materials used on an instrument that was not a cheapo. The knots that had been tied in the strings to secure them to the beads were done in a very haphazard fashion too. I was kinda expecting some sort of uniformity to the knots but they looked as though done by a child! This is probably why they didn't hold tune when I purchased it.
Anyway, after fitting the strings I noticed that when I was turning the tuners, the strings were struggling to reach pitch, ADGCEA, i could turn the peg a full turn with no real change to the pitch of the string. I had to stretch the string by gently pulling them off the fret board and then take up the slack with the tuner, this helped and I finally got the bass strings to hold tune but the trebles were even harder. The trebles stretched so much that they started to form a second coil on the peg head ! I decided to take the trebles off and fit them once again in the hope that they had lost some of their elasticity and would bed in easier. This proved to be the case and after a struggle I got them tuned and holding tune all except for the high A. As I was turning the peg the string wouldn't tune in, it just stayed at a lower pitch until it snapped !!!!
I had a feeling it was about to snap and expected it to be at either to top or bottom but instead it snapped about 3 inches up from the bridge. So I don't know what to do, if I buy more strings will the same happen? Should I try another brand keeping in mind the limited choice when it comes to guilele strings?
Any advice is welcome thanks
 
If a string doesn’t change pitch when you tighten the peg, it might be that the string is caught at the nut. Try lubricating the groove in the nut with some graphite (pencil lead) or occasionally lift the string out of the groove as you tighten the peg.

Some brands of strings are thicker than others. You may need to use a tiny file or some emery cloth to widen the groove a bit. Don’t over-widen or you might create a buzz or rattle.
 
Yeah, for baritone scale, any normal tension classical set will work but for G or even F# tuning, not A. Aquila does have baritone A tuning strings designed for their Mini series, but I like G tuning for bari 6
 
When I had a GL6, I'd buy the strings for it straight from Kanile'a. They are still available in their shop, here. I imagine they work on the Islander model too (or is it dimensionally different from the Koa model?).
 
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