Over your ukulele’s life, it will be necessary to change the strings. Strings break if
overtightened or strummed too heavily, but even if not broken, strings will sound dull and
less vibrant over time. A fresh set of strings will bring new life to an old uke.
1.
To change your ukulele strings, first loosen the current set by turning the tuning pegs
until each string is loose. When fully loosened, you will be able to safely cut the old
strings off using wire cutters. Do not cut the strings while they’re tight.
2.
With all the strings off, it’s a great time to clean your fretboard.
3.
When restringing, start with the G (thickest) string. Feed the string into the bridge,
starting from the sound hole side, feeding through towards the bottom of the uke. With
about 10-15 cms worth of string through, tie the straight by looping the fed portion back
over the unfed section to create a circle, then looping the string into that circle twice
(two loops) before pulling tight to knot it around the bridge.
4.
Using wire cutters, trim the excess from beneath the bridge.
5.
Next, guide the string up along the fret board and place it into the groove of the nut.
Pull it up passed the post/peghead for that string (the G will be the first post after the
nut).
6.
You will need wire cutters to trim the strings to size, but be sure to allow enough extra
room for the string to wrap around each post. A good rule of thumb is to cut it at the
next post’s length, or roughly 50 millimetres passed the pole.
7.
Using the tuning pegs, adjust the correct pole/peghead so that
the hole is at a 45° angle facing the centre top of the headstock.
Place the tip of the trimmed string into the pole, ensuring that the
string is entering from the centre of the headstock, not the outside.
8.
Allow the string to protrude a few millimetres from the other side of
the hole, then kink the string to stay in place. Now begin turning
the turning peg so that the pole turns counter-clockwise. Continue
so the string winds around the pole, and until the string becomes
tight enough to hear musical sounds when strummed.
9.
From here, follow the tuning instructions to tune the string to pitch.
Repeat these steps for each of the strings, ensuring that each is wound from the centre
of the headstock. The two thinnest, highest pitched strings (E and A) will turn clockwise,
not counter-clockwise.
RESTRINGING
