Action on concert uke?

buddhuu

Super Moderator (Retired)
Joined
Feb 17, 2009
Messages
3,611
Reaction score
53
Location
Herts, UK
Hi all,

I'd appreciate some advice. I have a new concert uke with high action - high enough to screw up the intonation a little.

Could someone suggest average/medium distances between top of fret and bottom of strings for 1st and 12th frets for a concert scale instrument, please?

Also, are these generally the same for all the strings?

I'm afraid my set-up and limited building experience is mainly on mandolins which have very different strings and tensions to ukes.

The standard trick (I think it's on Frank Ford's site somewhere) for checking action at the nut - the one where you fret the string at the 3rd fret then look at the gap between fret and string at the 1st fret - does that apply to uke too? (Can't see why it wouldn't).

Thanks for any info.
 
Yep on the Frank Ford question. Should be just enough room there to squeeze a business card in between the first fret and the bottom of the string. On the 12th fret I like to start with about .100" clearance. The larger string diameters will have a bigger arc when strummed so ideally these should be set the tiniest bit higher.
 
Thanks, Paul.

I'm grateful for the guidance, gentlemen. :music:
 
Yep on the Frank Ford question. Should be just enough room there to squeeze a business card in between the first fret and the bottom of the string. On the 12th fret I like to start with about .100" clearance. The larger string diameters will have a bigger arc when strummed so ideally these should be set the tiniest bit higher.

One more question, if I may.

.100 inches... I'm sorry, I really am not good with inches. Google tells me that is 2.54mm. Does that sound about right?

Thanks again.
 
If you can get it at 2.54 mm at the 12th fret that would be great, but action that low may cause buzzing,especially if you strum or play hard.
About 3.5 mm at the 12th seems comfortable enough for most people.
 
Thanks.

See - I do have problems with inches! I don't know where my conversion went wrong... :D
 
Top Bottom