Tag - strings

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Ukulele Strings
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Ukulele Troubleshooting
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How to Restring your Ukulele?
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Ukulele Care

Ukulele Strings

One of the most important aspects of the ukulele is having the right strings. Good strings can make all the difference in sound, even making a cheap ukulele sound bright and awesome. Unless a ukulele comes with a quality string already on it, it is always wise to change the strings on a new instrument. Just remember as a beginner to follow certain guidelines on string makeup and tuning. It can be very easy to damage a ukulele with the wrong strings or by attempting to tune a string higher than it will go. Ukulele Sizes and Tunings Pocket or Sopranissimo With a length of 16 inches and scale of 11 inches these tiny ukuleles are often tuned DGBE. Similar to Baritone tuning just two octaves higher. Soprano The most well known ukulele size with a length of 21 inches and a scale of 13 inches. Most often tuned GCEA,[…]

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Ukulele Troubleshooting

Whether we have been playing ukulele for a few months or perhaps just started there is always a good chance that we will run into some basic problems. Sometimes the problems are minor and easy to fix, other times they might be major issues (which may mean a particular ukulele is not playable). When it comes to troubleshooting any instrument, or anything at all, the key is to always start with the basics and check off any potential problems. IT employees who fix computers will often say that folks always forget the simplest stuff first… like plugging in or turning a machine on in the first place! Below is a guide to some basic ukulele headaches and how to potentially fix them. Tuning This is the number one beginners issue; in fact, this may be one of the most serious issues for all instruments! If what you are playing is[…]

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How to Restring your Ukulele?

Want to change you ukulele Strings? That’s a good idea, because one of the most important parts of your stringed instrument… is the strings! =) Don’t skimp on good strings, the better they are the better your Uke will sound. Another important factor is how the strings are put on, you need to make sure they are put in the right place and in a clean manner. Haphazardly tying the string all around itself looks terrible in the long run. The first step is buying yourself some new strings, I have always preferred Aquila NylGut strings. If you have others you would like to try that is fine, but remember that the more you pay the better they likely will be. I often buy strings for all my instruments at one time from a site called JustStrings, they offer good prices and all the brands I could want. Do not[…]

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Ukulele Care

Before we dive into specific care of ukuleles, I have a little story. Four years ago I found an acoustic Silvertone guitar, these were the brand made by Sears back in the mid 20th century. This was back when major corporations cared about brands and made quality instruments. As young artists, Jimi Hendrix, Jerry Garcia, and Bob Dylan all played Silvertones. I had never played such a great guitar, it had perfect action and intonation and a beautiful sound. It sat around my living room often played near daily, and one very dry NJ winter a couple years back, it nearly exploded while hanging on my wall. Literally the top cracked so fiercely and quickly that in the middle of the night it sounded like 4th of July in January! It was beyond repairable, and even though I know better on how to take care of my instruments… I had[…]

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