Setup Hurts to Play My 5-string Uke – Help Me Please

[Freya Vie]

Firstly, I bought this uke off Mim's and I believe my uke's setup would be good to go.

Now, I'm not sure if it's issues with uke/strings or it could be user's problem.

I'm not sure what kind of help I'm seeking here, but any tips or advice is greatly appreciated!

(Singapore barely have any luthiers/uke shops that I can go to, to get the issue rectified.)

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Uke details:
Ohana CK-35G-5 Concert.
Low G is a wound string. The rest are Aquila. (not sure which exact ones)
Nut width: 35mm

Below are the issues I'm facing in general:

1. It is difficult to press down both Low G and High G strings at the same time. The Low G does have some buzzing if I'm not careful. Most buzzing comes from the Low G. (High G would be the top string, followed by Low G)

2. It hurts to play the uke. It predominantly hurts my fingertips when I play even just 1 or 2 songs. Deep indentations would immediately appear in my finger tips caused by the High and Low G strings.

3. It takes more physical effort to play the uke.. especially when I play the chords E7 and D — to explain further, I need to press down both G strings harder, and it made me require more finger spacing, and the width of the fretboard is too small so I got to be careful not to press on the frets itself. (I'm usually comfortable with a concert neck.)

4. It also hurts to press down the C string.

5. I did not check the string height and things like that.. but I did notice both G strings and C string are not really leveled with the nut. I don't know about things like this nor have I Googled. But are they not supposed to be flushed with the nut?

6. I did the card test as demonstrated by Matt Stead in his Youtube video here. My card only stopped midway of the 1st fret.

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ps: I tried playing the uke again.. with much effort, I could play it better. But it still hurts the same.

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Thank you for reading my thread!

 

[Joe T]

Sorry to hear you're having problems. Realizing Mims reputation, it sounds like the action is too high for you and it needs to be lower.
If you own a capo, place it on the first fret and try playing your first position chords (make sure to try E7), and see if that makes it easier. If it does, you need a setup.
Also, if your hand, wrist and arm are in the correct position you'll find that it doesn't require near the finger pressure.
If you think there is a problem with the action, you might give Mims a call or email and explain the situation and see what is suggested.
Best of luck.

 

[Freya Vie]

Sorry to hear you're having problems. Realizing Mims reputation, it sounds like the action is too high for you and it needs to be lower.
If you own a capo, place it on the first fret and try playing your first position chords (make sure to try E7), and see if that makes it easier. If it does, you need a setup.
Also, if your hand, wrist and arm are in the correct position you'll find that it doesn't require near the finger pressure.
If you think there is a problem with the action, you might give Mims a call or email and explain the situation and see what is suggested.
Best of luck.

Oh thank you so much Joe, for your suggestion!

I'll try the capo on first fret and see if it's easier..

Hopefully I'll get this issue rectified, thank you!

 

[ukukeguy]

What Joe says is very good advice. Also I have seen professional musicians play with a capo permanently attached at the first fret, which puts the strings at the perfect height, in fact there is a lot to be said in favour of a zero fret just ahead of the nut! If you then tune down to normal string tuning, I.e. Gg c a e with the capo on does it reduce the string tension enough to tell if that is an issue?

I had a concert uke I never got on with because of the high action; it can start to affect your confidence in both your instrument and your own ability and also lead to you pressing down harder, which has led me to believe there was a problem with intonation, too. I know I am guilty of this, especially when I have previously been playing a steel string guitar.

 

[engravertom]

You might want to tune your Uke down a half step or more to lessen the tension.

You could also try removing the low G string and then play the Uke as a 4 string and see if the problem is the same. If the Uke is still hard to play then something is likely off.

 

[merlin666]

What other ukes do you have and can you play those without problems?

 

[Freya Vie]

What Joe says is very good advice. Also I have seen professional musicians play with a capo permanently attached at the first fret, which puts the strings at the perfect height, in fact there is a lot to be said in favour of a zero fret just ahead of the nut! If you then tune down to normal string tuning, I.e. Gg c a e with the capo on does it reduce the string tension enough to tell if that is an issue?

I had a concert uke I never got on with because of the high action; it can start to affect your confidence in both your instrument and your own ability and also lead to you pressing down harder, which has led me to believe there was a problem with intonation, too. I know I am guilty of this, especially when I have previously been playing a steel string guitar.

Thank you so much for sharing the video! I think indeed I was pressing abit too hard as I'm trying to make sure I press on both G strings at the same time.

I tried @Joe T idea to troubleshoot the problem. I put on a capo and alas, it was much easier to play the chords and press down on the C string.

And it's especially easier to play E7!

I tried playing again without the capo and paid more attention to both G strings. There are no more buzzing now.
I think I managed to fret properly.. considering it's my first time having a 5-string uke.

I've concluded that the C string's action needs to be lowered.

 

[Freya Vie]

You might want to tune your Uke down a half step or more to lessen the tension.

You could also try removing the low G string and then play the Uke as a 4 string and see if the problem is the same. If the Uke is still hard to play then something is likely off.

Thank you, Tom! Great idea!

I managed to pinpoint the pain. It wasn't the G strings.. I guess I'm just not used to fretting them. Especially when the low G is wounded. It has a lot more to do with the C string. Any chords involving fretting the C string, hurts.

 

[Freya Vie]

What other ukes do you have and can you play those without problems?

I do have multiple concerts, all 4-string with High G:
Ohana, Snail, Enya, Uma, Kai

and 3 tenors:
Romero Creations still with the Pepe Romero strings
Ohana with a wound Low G
Kai with a High G – believed to be Worth strings.

And 1 baritone:
Kala Curly Mango

And indeed, I can play them all without any problems at all. This 5-string uke would be a first!

 

[ukukeguy]

Great piece of detective work! I have resorted to taking off the nut altogether and sanding the base of the nut as all 4 strings seemed a little high at the nut and I don't have a set of nut files, but the ability to do a few basic tasks can be a lifesaver! There is another Singaporean ukulelist on UU, @joo who might be able to point you in the direction of someone a bit more local but I suspect she is just as likely to sort the problem out herself!

 

[Freya Vie]

Great piece of detective work! I have resorted to taking off the nut altogether and sanding the base of the nut as all 4 strings seemed a little high at the nut and I don't have a set of nut files, but the ability to do a few basic tasks can be a lifesaver! There is another Singaporean ukulelist on UU, @joo who might be able to point you in the direction of someone a bit more local but I suspect she is just as likely to sort the problem out herself!

Ahh.. thank you so much for the introduction! There's really not much Singaporean ukers who are active in socmed.