Unusually difficult to barre first fret?

Hello! This is my first time on the UU forums, as I felt this would be the most appropriate place to post this. I apologise in advance if my inexperience/laymanship shows:

Simply put, I am finding it unusually difficult to barre the first fret on my uke, and it’s preventing me from getting clean sounds out of chords I’m learning, like Bb, Bbm and F#. Somehow the strings feel a lot stiffer on the first fret than anywhere else on the fretboard, and I need to apply significantly more pressure with the barre to have the notes ring out (I can barre the second fret onwards without a problem). The problem seems to be improving with practice but it doesn’t seem at all normal that I have to apply way more pressure specifically at the first fret, and I don’t want to risk straining my wrist in the process.

Is this the sort of issue caused by high action? Are there any other plausible explanations, and should I get my uke looked at by a professional luthier? Any help would be appreciated!

(I did check the action myself though I’m not sure how common this test is - when I press the strings down at the third fret, there is about 0.75-1mm of daylight between the crown of the first fret and the strings... remember reading somewhere that this is a bit much but I could be mistaken...)

This sounds like a case of the nut action being too high. I recommend taking it to a skilled music shop and have a setup done. You will be surprised how much easier the entire instrument will be to play!

+1 what they said. I've lived it, had it done and loved it when I had it done on all 3 of my ukes. It makes a world of difference.

Ditto on the advice given above: the nut height can have a very large impact on the action at the first fret.

You might also notice that notes go a little bit sharp when fretted at the first fret. This is because the high nut requires a string to be brought under additional tension just in order to fret the note, and this can be enough to negatively affect intonation.

Get your instrument set up by a luthier or instrument technician and these issues should go away.

I have a newly purchased Martin S1 on the way in transit and I already have plans to take it in for a pro setup.

Agree with the nut slots being too high. This is very common in lower-cost ukes, guitars, mandos and banjos.

Likely your intonation is quite sharp as well, and despite open strings being in tune, when you play, say an F Maj chord the fingers on the 4th and 2nd string have notes that are sharp (check with your tuner).

Doing a 'full' setup should fix the action, as well as help with intonation which also requires the saddle to be compensated FOR THE STRINGS you have on there. WARNING - changing strings to a different brand/gauge/tension MAY fuss up your intonation a bit.

The uke is not broken nor necessarily shoddily made, it just needs some TLC and fine tuning to get it to feel, sound, and play better and all of this is totally normal tweaking to have done on any instrument. Some need more tweaking than others and some don't need any at all.

The problem described by the OP is sadly not at all unusual. When I started playing I struggled in a similar way, through places like this forum I realised that my Uke needed work doing to it. A friend sorted out my first Uke and I have done all my others myself - it’s not difficult once you know how but does require some care and patience - likewise I have reduced saddle heights to improve playability.

Like others I recommend to the OP that he/she gets someone to help him/her sort out the nut (and then the saddle too), but it might be that an experienced person can perfectly adequately do the work rather than having to find a Luthier - worked for me, but YMMV.

Everyone has given good observations regarding slot depths in the nut. A high action make barr chords on the first fret very tough. What size of ukulele do you have. I find sopranos with a high action the hardest to barr at the first fret. It's pure physics, your finger is very close to the nut so the string length is short and will not "give" as easily.

Here is a simple test to check action height at the nut. Take a strip of paper fold it over so it is double thickness. Place this between the top of the first fret wire and bottom of the string. Push down on the string at the third fret. Gentley pull on the paper and if there is resistance the action height is ok. No resistance and the nut slot needs to be cut deeper to lower the string height.

Before you invest money in lowering the nut, see if you can play some other ukes to see if it is any easier on them. The first fret is always the hardest to barre, but a high nut makes it a whole lot harder still. You'll need to work out whether your issue is just lack of practice, a high nut, or a combination of the two.

And if it turns out that the Nut IS high, a set of nut files
is what I got, so no expense at shops, and I am able to
fettle any stringed instrument that comes my way!
With patience and a gentle touch, there is nothing to fear
and if you go too deep, nuts are cheap enough,or often
can be turned upside down to start again! Or built up again
as per many posts on here!

TopDog said:

And if it turns out that the Nut IS high, a set of nut files
is what I got, so no expense at shops, and I am able to
fettle any stringed instrument that comes my way!
With patience and a gentle touch, there is nothing to fear
and if you go too deep, nuts are cheap enough,or often
can be turned upside down to start again! Or built up again
as per many posts on here!

Click to expand...

I am interested if you can point out some net link from where to buy such file(s) at a reasonable cost versus having a single nut handled by a professional.
From what I understand the file should have an U instead V shape to make round base for a string instead something that might make string stick or even cuts it.

Jarmo_S said:

I am interested if you can point out some net link from where to buy such file(s) at a reasonable cost versus having a single nut handled by a professional.
From what I understand the file should have an U instead V shape to make round base for a string instead something that might make string stick or even cuts it.

Click to expand...

Both Stewmac and Luther's Mercantile has full sets of nut files, but the FULL set will set you back ~$100, but they are tools you can use over and over, as opposed to paying a guitar tech $50 to do a one-time setup.

https://www.stewmac.com/SiteSearch/?search=Nut Files&o=Lowest

or

https://www.lmii.com/search?ordering=&searchphrase=exact&searchword=nut+file&depth=quick

OTOH, on the cheap you can use a hacksaw blade to get the depth quickly, and then get a 'welding torch tip cleaner' set which has more than a dozen gauges of round files and use them to round out the nut slots after getting the height correctly set, via CB Gitty ($7) or Amazon:

https://www.cbgitty.com/tools-templates/cigar-box-guitar-nut-and-bridge-file/

or

https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=sr_st_...ip+cleaner&qid=1512573190&sort=price-asc-rank

Thank you Booli, the tinker in me is now tempted. The wary one is like too much bother ... just get it done by pay someone who at the moment knows better.
The links are not https also.

To OP, if you put a credit card between 1st fret and string, it should leave no gap. This test works of course only for the outer strings

Jarmo_S said:

Thank you Booli, the tinker in me is now tempted. The wary one is like too much bother ... just get it done by pay someone who at the moment knows better.
The links are not https also....

Click to expand...

Glad to help.

Myself I use the hacksaw/tip-cleaners because I'm a cheapskate, but doing so is quite fiddly and I'd expect it would be more accurate, as well as take less time with the 'proper' (but more expensive) tools.

I fixed the links and edited my above post, and now all are https://, I just copy/pasted from my bookmarks, and maybe some I had saved were not https://, sorry about that. Seems that the HTTPSEverywhere extension in Firefox does not always force https://, I dunno, but I am not happy with Mozilla with v57 (and holding out on v56 until I can give PaleMoon a test drive) but that's a tale for another time...

Sorry, I meant to add in my earlier post, I use welding
tip cleaner 'files' myself! But rather than a hacksaw,if
a good depth is needed, I use an old steel nail file to
remove the bulk of the nut,and finish with the 'files'!

TopDog said:

Sorry, I meant to add in my earlier post, I use welding
tip cleaner 'files' myself!

Click to expand...

This is what I use as well. Luthier tools can be expensive, but I'm sure well worth it.

I made an order from a local finnish netshop that sells all kinds of tools. Comes cheaper I think than from Amazon, also many Amazon tip cleaners are not sold to Finland for some odd reason.

From there, I got 6 for a total delivery price of 34€. They would not deliver for a smaller order, so now I will have them to last my lifetime if being careful of not bending or forcing too much.
https://webshop.industriacenter.fi/product/2751/suuttimen-puhdistussarja-esab

Sizes are from 0.5mm (0.0197 inch) to 3mm, so the smaller ones should work according to this thread: http://forum.ukuleleunderground.com/showthread.php?15343-String-Thickness