Tuning a Mahalo MK1 Soprano Ukulele

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  mskeggs on 15/12/2017 - 20:34

  Sounds like the strings are slipping around the tuning pegs. Can you wind them on so they overlap more?

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    sam buster on 15/12/2017 - 20:44

    I've just put it away in frustration as it's time to read stories now, but I'll have a look at that when I get a chance. I didn't notice any overlap at all.
    The C and E strings (standard tuning) seem to be the worst offenders.

    I would return it and try to trade up for a Makala if the shop wasn't 45km away. If it's really a piece of garbage or 'toy' quality then I would make that journey, but if it's something that will work out then I'll stick with it.

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      mskeggs on 15/12/2017 - 23:41

      Like you, I am a casual uke player at best, and I just went looking for mine to see what brand it is (it was certainly an OzBargain purchase) but the kids have taken it off somewhere.

      I wouldn’t be too worried that you have bought a dud. Even the $20 toy store ukes will be tuneable, the difference is a higher quality instrument will be made of a fine grain ply on the faces, and the cheapies will be a pressed wood similar to MDF.

      For kids, either will be fine, and I would have no hesitation with a toy if it has been manufactured with a tightly machined fret board (the Zappa’s $5 ones look like they have sharp edges and sloppy gluing). I can’t imagine any music store would sell anything that couldn’t be tuned.

      The strings will have a lot of slack and stretch to begin with as aeolian says below, but your comment saying they run out of tune instantly suggests it is the string not binding tightly over itself at the tuning peg.

      I would expect a brand new instrument to be out of tune after ten minutes, then tune it again, then twenty minutes, then tune it again and you should find the initial stretch in the strings is gone and they find their tightness and stay “in tune” within itself, albeit getting lower in time as the whole body of the instrument stretches and finds it’s shape.

      Tuning then requires pretty even tightening of each string something like a quarter turn to bring it back up to precise tone until it pretty much holds itself together and it will only need re-tuning in a session of play in response to your efforts.
      Just like a guitar.

      I like the ukelele, because the simple four string chords allow a kid or anybody to pick it up and play a song in ten minutes. There isn’t anything better than seeing a kid playing Vance Joy less than an hour after picking up a uke for immediate satisfaction in playing music.
      People who have only ever listened to music finding out they can play it too is a fantastic experience!

      When I was growing up, musical instruments were costly and not handed to a kid without a punishing regime of lessons from the local woman who slapped your knuckles if you made an error.
      The difference cheap instruments have made for my kids generation is immense - my kids have variously had a go of recorder, harmonica, ukelele, guitar, piano, trombone, saxophone, drums, tuba, clarinet and French horn.
      When I was kid, I couldn’t try an instrument without it being a major family financial decision. Mind you, my Yamaha acoustic guitar is still a beautiful instrument almost 30 years after I bought it second hand from a guy smoking pot in a flat in Hurstville (music was eye opening in many ways when I was 13).

      We have a very talented drummer in our house, and a couple of brass players that may end up being competent, but the chance they have to experiment with different instruments makes me jealous.

      I remember very clearly the years when I was a young teen and a couple of mates spent hour after hour of the time they had at their disposal becoming legitimately expert guitarists or keyboardists, and I very much want my own kids to have an instrument that they can pour the same energy into.

      I didn’t end up being very musical, I am a hack rhythm guitarist at best, but I sometimes wonder if I had found an instrument I was passionate about at that period of my life when afternoons and school holidays stretched on for long hours if I wouldn’t be a whole lot better.

      For all the media about how kids these days are hopeless, it proves to me that is nonsense when I see my 12yro spend an afternoon on YouTube at the piano learning a song. I wonder if I would have had an extra musical element to my life, with the same free and easy access to instruments and tutorials, and I am delighted when my kids get fired up about music.

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  aeolian on 15/12/2017 - 21:05

  I find that the cheapest ebay strings will tend to do this more (guitar), also if it hasn't been strung correctly the strings will slip a lot. If it was purchased from a store likely it's strung correctly. It's also normal for uke/guitar to go out of tune after tuning you have to do it twice and/or streching the strings a little but it sounds the problem is worse than the normal fine tuning process. A newly strung guitar will always need a little time for the strings to wear in, I haven't had to restring my uke but it's probably the same.

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    sam buster on 16/12/2017 - 19:50

    Thanks Aeolian. Yes, I'm sure better quality strings would make a big improvement - in sound at least.

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  mskeggs on 16/12/2017 - 00:21

  And I’ll post again to say if you are an accomplished musician, please disregard my comments, you already are way ahead of me, but handing kids instruments at a young age is great, just don’t expect Suzuki method results without Suzuki method dedication.
  I’m no “tiger mom” so I take a really relaxed approach to my kids education - try stuff, follow up what you like, decide if you are going to commit to something rather than committing first and having to live with a stage of discipline that is trying.
  My experience has shown “tiger mom” style forced discipline gets impressive results, but at the expense of enjoyment, and my family gets lasting (I hope) results from aligning motivation with desire.
  Frustratingly, that sometimes gets poor results.
  I am sure there is a big cohort of adults that are pleased their parent hounded them to play violin, who now are reasonably accomplished, but I am also sure there is a bigger cohort who are resentful about being unpleasantly forced to “be musical” for whom playing music triggers unhappy memories. My kids when they were little got a thrill out of just holding a guitar and play acting being a rock star. Great. How else do you develop an image of yourself as a talented player!

  I’m middle aged now, and my capacity to become a talented musician is gone, but I can still take pleasure from hacking away at a guitar. I have a bunch of friends who are more talented than I and we watched other friends play a Beatles cover night last week.
  Our enjoyment at seeing them absolutely nail it, and be able to chat about the bass line Paul always brought with a little “spice”or the purety of some of the 3 chord pop songs added immensely to my enjoyment, even though I am terrible!
  It happened I saw Paul at Qudos arena the day after with my 16yro, and we could talk about not just how great the music was, but have a conversation about the underlying “musicality”, for want of a better academic word , added to both our enjoyment, and my ability to have meaningful talk with a kid who is at the stage of life when parents are dumb.
  Music is just one bridge I am lucky enough to have to talk with my kids, but I am really grateful it offers a bridge to talk to her at a level more involved than “it sounds nice”.

  I guess what I am trying to say is that you just spent $40 bucks on a whim, but it can resonate through the rest of your life in unexpected ways, so I commend you on thinking about it and giving you encouragement you are doing stuff right!

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    sam buster on 16/12/2017 - 20:34

    Thanks, mskeggs.
    It wasn't bought entirely on a whim. We had been thinking about getting her a 'proper' instrument and had researched ukuleles already, but one wasn't on the Christmas present list until a recent out-of-town shopping trip failed to find the two "big" presesnts we'd planned; so we wandered into a music store.
    I had been expecting to pay about $100, but also expecting my child to be a little bit older, so was quite pleased to find Makala sopranos (a brand I knew to be decent for such young beginners) for $60 - almost half the price I'd been expecting to pay for a decent beginner ukelele. Unfortunately I didn't notice that the stack of boxes was of varied brands - Makala and Mahalo, and when we choose a plain-coloured uke rather than the one with Hawaiian motifs I didn't realise that it was a different brand. In my defence, my wife had taken over by this point.

    I agree your comments and advice. I didn't have a musical childhood, but learned acoustic guitar in my mid-20s. Due to learning as an adult, I never really progressed beyond beginner-level chord strummer with a few simple appregios and licks. I was probably a better player six months after starting than I am now, about 20 years later! I think having the right incentives and motivation when you are young is important, but also having people around you to learn / progress with. Since I started, everyone I met that was musical was far more accomplished than me and I never felt able to close that gulf. As an adult, it's a bit embarrassing to sit around a campfire, pick up a guitar after someone competent, and attempt to play error-prone renditions of Kumbaya and Old MacDonald!

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  sam buster on 16/12/2017 - 20:58

  A night of Youtube research suggests these ukeleles are a bit "love 'em or hate 'em" as the ultimate budget instrument.
  I've seen a few tips for tuning and it seems that I'm likely to have to retune every day. It looks as though it takes several tune-ups to get the strings to hold at all, so I guess I'm going to have to sneak off to do that everyday between now and Christmas Eve.

  Thanks for the replies.