Set up ?

I have a Kala uke. The A string on the first 5 frets sounds dead
G, C, E played open sound right response/sustain the A string is boink on the 1st to 5th. I talked to Kala several times and they said change the strings. Tried D'Addario J 53 black nylon. I don't know how to measure string height or frets. Any ideas? Thanks

I had the same problem with a Kala uke on a few frets on the A string. I found it helped if you stick on a nickel with blu tack onto your soundboard right near the saddle. Stick it on and try the frets, and keep moving the nickel until those frets sound better. Hopefully that helps!

Could be that the nut slot for the A has been channeled too deep, combined with a possibly too-low bridge.

Suggest loosening the A string; taking a small piece of light, padded-side (not the hook side) piece of velcro and place it in the nut slot, being sure the adhesive side is down and engaged. Then put the A string back in the slot and bring to tension g e n t l y. The idea is to keep the velcro in the nut slot. After the string is tensioned, check the clearance under the A string at the first and second frets (can you slide a credit card between the string and frets?). Bring to tune - is the string still dead?

If this works, it's a temporary fix. The real fix is to epoxy-fill the nut slot and re-file or replace the nut in entirety.

baking soda and ca glue is way easier than epoxy. and it smokes too!

If it is a newly purchased 'uke and you find it is a nut/bridge problem, can you take it back to the dealer or send it back to Kala or a replacement?

If your uke is out of warranty, take it to a reputable guitar repair shop or find an experienced guitar technician through a music store. The tech should be able to diagnose and make necessary adjustments. Expect to pay around $50, more or less.

This is a good reverse-endorsement to buy from one of the great uke sellers in the community like Hawaii Music Supply, MIM, or Uke Republic, or others like Antebellum Instruments if you're into vintage ones.

I had a Kala Travel tenor that I bought from Sam Ash a few years ago as my first. I knew nothing about ukes or set-ups and the action was too high -although it took a while to realize that. It wasn't exactly comfortable to play, which sucked as a beginner, and almost led to me quitting/ not putting in the time.

Also, it pissed me off that in theory, I'd have to spend extra money, after buying it from a retailer, to get it properly set up.

Some of the best "experience" I've ever gotten is to be able do handle my own set-ups and other minor adjustments. Never did much on guitars, but got into it with mandolins (very finicky instrument). The tools (files, pliers, cutters, etc.) have probably totaled less than $20 and they've been used on all my instruments. The number of good youtube videos and other online resources is amazing, and the rest is just taking the time to do it. Getting a very inexpensive instrument or two to be "Franken-uke/mando/etc." for experiments, learning and such can be quite satisfying.

Useless telling you what to fix without seeing what is wrong, having worked one time in the auto repair business you learn this quickly. Usually starting to fix anything without diagnosing the problem can make bigger problems.

The advice to find a competent luthier and in the future to buy from known sellers is spot on. Unless of course you are good with your hands and can learn things from watching others.

These videos helped me quite a bit.



Part 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MpuNNY1GUVY

There are many others.

Blueprinting Smiley!

~peace~

It is interesting in that yesterday my wife and I were road tripping and I stopped at a big music store that advertised their large selection of ukuleles. They also had a lot of guitars, and a lot of them were in a humidified room, especially built for that purpose. At one end was a shop, where people were working on guitars. So I was looking at one particular ukulele, and the sales person seemed very knowledgeable about the ukes. He demonstrated a couple of them. So I asked him if they set them up there, and he said, "you mean like a guitar setup?" I said that I guess so, adjusting the action etc. So then he said," well, they are ukuleles, and there isn't that much to adjust." Then he said, "these are pretty nice ukuleles and they aren't cheap toys, the actions are good on them." So then I said, "well, on the internet forum that I go to, it is like the most important thing there is." So he answered that they could have the "guys in back" take a look at it if I wanted.

So before anyone thinks this is an anti-setup post, it isn't. I certainly want my next one set up by a professional, but this isn't the first place I've been to that they look at me like I'm a little goofy when I ask about it.

The best thing is to have someone look at it. A professional will see the problem right away. Then you can decide if it's your problem or Kala's. Once that's done, you'll figure out what to do.

Rllink said:

It is interesting in that yesterday my wife and I were road tripping and I stopped at a big music store that advertised their large selection of ukuleles. They also had a lot of guitars, and a lot of them were in a humidified room, especially built for that purpose. At one end was a shop, where people were working on guitars. So I was looking at one particular ukulele, and the sales person seemed very knowledgeable about the ukes. He demonstrated a couple of them. So I asked him if they set them up there, and he said, "you mean like a guitar setup?" I said that I guess so, adjusting the action etc. So then he said," well, they are ukuleles, and there isn't that much to adjust." Then he said, "these are pretty nice ukuleles and they aren't cheap toys, the actions are good on them." So then I said, "well, on the internet forum that I go to, it is like the most important thing there is." So he answered that they could have the "guys in back" take a look at it if I wanted.

So before anyone thinks this is an anti-setup post, it isn't. I certainly want my next one set up by a professional, but this isn't the first place I've been to that they look at me like I'm a little goofy when I ask about it.

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The store's attitude may have been influenced by the profit factor. A decent set-up takes some time - not a lot, but probably in the $20-40 labor range. If the cost is rolled into an over-$500 guitar price, that may be store-acceptable. If the same cost goes into a less-than-$300 ukulele orice (often the big-box-store price), the store may see absorbing that cost as too steep.

There is no free lunch, and the cost for a decent set-up at the store is often accounted for in establishing the instrument's price. That's not only fair, but good business. The stores that do a decent set-up as part of the sale actually do two things: 1) the set-up, and 2) a quality inspection prior to delivery. Sellers who simply ship instruments to the customer without ever opening the box the instrument comes in are betting that the odds of a problem with the instrument (or the customer actually seeking some service) are less than the cost of inspecting the instrument prior to delivery to the customer.

No one ever really knows what the "return rate" or "dealer adjustment rate" is on instruments inspected/serviced by a dealer prior to customer delivery. For me, I'd rather have a dealer-inspected instrument than bet the instrument boxed on the other side of the planet (not knowing what kind of final quality inspection is factory-done) is fault-free and truly playable right out of the box.

and if anything a ukulele is probably much easier to set up than an acoustic guitar. Fewer strings, larger strings, less tension. But yeah, cost up front is the biggest factor. And most stores out there today made their bread and butter on the guitar "craze" that started back in the 1960's. And of course the whole issue of guitar snobbery, and the ukulele resurgence being part of the age of the internet, etc....

When I read Rllink's post it made me shudder. The music store I frequent has the luthier's station front and center, just at the entrance to the Humidor Room. The luthier is pleasant and knowledgeable about stringed intruments in general. Plop an instrument in front of him and he starts checking the set-up on it while you talk. He's not doing a set-up mind you, he's checking the instrument. Set-ups are done in the workshop backstage. The nominal labor rate is $60/HR but this is lowered when appropriate to maintain the customer base. Set-up charge is a flat $40. Other luthiers I visit with generally tell you up front if they don't have the tools to do the job. I would be very leery of trusting a luthier with a cavalier attitude.

I visited an independent guitar repair shop last year to have them look at a seam on my Kelii. While they were deep into the guitar repair business, they clearly knew their stuff about the ukulele as well. It's good to ask around--if they take you and your instrument seriously, use them.