I bought two new soprano ukuleles. Both had dead or dampened-sounding notes on mid-to-upper frets. Sadly I returned them both. But I still want a laminate! What to do?
The first one to arrive was the Martin 0XK, from Elderly. It's a wonderful instrument, with a kind of heavy neck, but excellent construction and sound quality. The intonation is spot-on; the tone is rich and interesting, though rather covered/muted/vintage sounding, it can be played with good volume. They strung it with Martin strings.
I was really happy with it until I noticed that certain frets were not ringing out with sustain, but dying out after a very short "plunk". For example, the 8th fret on the C string. The frets just above and below those ones usually had plenty of sustain. I looked to see if the string was unable to vibrate properly due to contacting the next fret, but it didn't seem to be the case. The Martin has high enough frets and they don't set the action super low.
I can't remember all the frets that were dampened-sounding, but it was only a few, maybe 4 or 5. Most of them were at the 8th or above. One might have been at the 6th. I switched it to Worth Brown strings and this sounded slightly better but didn't correct the dead notes. A few of them were particularly damp-sounding in stark contrast to the nearby frets which sounded wonderful.
Sadly I returned the Martin and awaited the Kiwaya. When it arrived, I was excited again by the attention to detail in the construction. I bought it from HMS and requested custom geared tuners, and had asked them to please pay attention to intonation during the setup process. I told them I didn't want the action particularly low, that my main concern was tonal quality and correct intonation.
I was disappointed very soon after I started playing it, unfortunately. To my eye, the frets were not fully crowned in a rounded way but seemed fairly flat and very low. It had more dead notes than the Martin, by far. I spoke to Joel at HMS on the phone, and he confirmed that he filed down the frets "a little".
Some of the dead notes (with little or no sustain) were at lower frets, like 3rd or 4th. Of course at higher frets too. There were around 10+ "plunk"-sounding notes that didn't ring out. Joel had strung it with Fremont Black strings and he said those should be the best choice. I switched to Worth Browns and it didn't correct. So I sent it back.
With the Kiwaya, due to the low action, I'm guessing it could have been caused by the strings not having enough room to vibrate. But I've been doing some reading on here about this issue. It seems that this issue could also often be caused by "dead spots" in the resonance of the body or neck.
I read about the "glitter test" and putting a nickel, gum or other devices on the uke to assist in diagnosing or resolving this. Could it be that the custom tuners I requested on the Kiwaya, changed the vibrational quality of its neck?
I want an all-laminate because I travel a lot through different climates and outdoors. I thought the Kiwaya was the holy grail and had high hopes. Maybe if I hadn't gotten the custom tuners, or if he hadn't lowered the frets, it would have played perfectly. Any thoughts?
It seems like when someone is doing setup, they may not have time to pluck every fret individually on every string, to find these dead notes. And if they did find one, and it was related to the body/neck resonance, they couldn't do anything about it anyway, right?
Maybe if I could sit down with 100 of these Martin 0XKs and try each one, I would find some with dead notes in different areas, and eventually find one with less or no dead notes. Or on the other hand, maybe they all have dead notes in the same or similar areas.
If I buy an even higher-end uke, say a solid body (not laminate), or a boutique custom laminate solid-top like Sprucehouse, will this sort of thing still be an issue? Do top-notch luthiers care enough to resolve this before a uke goes out the door?
Not sure what to do now. My $35 Diamond Head is playing like a dream with Worth Brown strings. I lowered the action, compensated the saddle and it intonates perfectly. No dead frets anywhere on the fretboard. No "plunk" sound, the notes all ring out with long sustain. WTF?!?!
But I want a fancier uke with better construction and more interesting tone. I care a lot about this sustain issue (as well as intonation issues) so the problem is when mail-ordering, I can't be sure that anyone is looking out for my goals and preferences. If I can't sit down and try each fret, checking for sustain and intonation, then I'll end up ordering by mail and sending back ukes, until I find one that meets my needs.
Please advise, uke experts!! Should I try another laminate like the Kala, Flea, etc. with possibility of having to send it back? Should I just go with solid wood and a high-end luthier because I seem to be high-maintenance in the quality I'm looking for? If I go with a custom top-of the-line solid body uke, even then, can I still be sure to avoid dead notes?
Thanks for reading this and any thoughts or help.
(Admins: Please keep this thread in Uke Talk if you can, because to me, the subject matter is kind of a combination between Uke Tech, Buying Guide, Uke Reviews and Luthier's Lounge, but really I just want advice on what to do next, and hoping plenty of people will see and respond. Unless you think I'll get better quality help on another section.)
The first one to arrive was the Martin 0XK, from Elderly. It's a wonderful instrument, with a kind of heavy neck, but excellent construction and sound quality. The intonation is spot-on; the tone is rich and interesting, though rather covered/muted/vintage sounding, it can be played with good volume. They strung it with Martin strings.
I was really happy with it until I noticed that certain frets were not ringing out with sustain, but dying out after a very short "plunk". For example, the 8th fret on the C string. The frets just above and below those ones usually had plenty of sustain. I looked to see if the string was unable to vibrate properly due to contacting the next fret, but it didn't seem to be the case. The Martin has high enough frets and they don't set the action super low.
I can't remember all the frets that were dampened-sounding, but it was only a few, maybe 4 or 5. Most of them were at the 8th or above. One might have been at the 6th. I switched it to Worth Brown strings and this sounded slightly better but didn't correct the dead notes. A few of them were particularly damp-sounding in stark contrast to the nearby frets which sounded wonderful.
Sadly I returned the Martin and awaited the Kiwaya. When it arrived, I was excited again by the attention to detail in the construction. I bought it from HMS and requested custom geared tuners, and had asked them to please pay attention to intonation during the setup process. I told them I didn't want the action particularly low, that my main concern was tonal quality and correct intonation.
I was disappointed very soon after I started playing it, unfortunately. To my eye, the frets were not fully crowned in a rounded way but seemed fairly flat and very low. It had more dead notes than the Martin, by far. I spoke to Joel at HMS on the phone, and he confirmed that he filed down the frets "a little".
Some of the dead notes (with little or no sustain) were at lower frets, like 3rd or 4th. Of course at higher frets too. There were around 10+ "plunk"-sounding notes that didn't ring out. Joel had strung it with Fremont Black strings and he said those should be the best choice. I switched to Worth Browns and it didn't correct. So I sent it back.
With the Kiwaya, due to the low action, I'm guessing it could have been caused by the strings not having enough room to vibrate. But I've been doing some reading on here about this issue. It seems that this issue could also often be caused by "dead spots" in the resonance of the body or neck.
I read about the "glitter test" and putting a nickel, gum or other devices on the uke to assist in diagnosing or resolving this. Could it be that the custom tuners I requested on the Kiwaya, changed the vibrational quality of its neck?
I want an all-laminate because I travel a lot through different climates and outdoors. I thought the Kiwaya was the holy grail and had high hopes. Maybe if I hadn't gotten the custom tuners, or if he hadn't lowered the frets, it would have played perfectly. Any thoughts?
It seems like when someone is doing setup, they may not have time to pluck every fret individually on every string, to find these dead notes. And if they did find one, and it was related to the body/neck resonance, they couldn't do anything about it anyway, right?
Maybe if I could sit down with 100 of these Martin 0XKs and try each one, I would find some with dead notes in different areas, and eventually find one with less or no dead notes. Or on the other hand, maybe they all have dead notes in the same or similar areas.
If I buy an even higher-end uke, say a solid body (not laminate), or a boutique custom laminate solid-top like Sprucehouse, will this sort of thing still be an issue? Do top-notch luthiers care enough to resolve this before a uke goes out the door?
Not sure what to do now. My $35 Diamond Head is playing like a dream with Worth Brown strings. I lowered the action, compensated the saddle and it intonates perfectly. No dead frets anywhere on the fretboard. No "plunk" sound, the notes all ring out with long sustain. WTF?!?!
But I want a fancier uke with better construction and more interesting tone. I care a lot about this sustain issue (as well as intonation issues) so the problem is when mail-ordering, I can't be sure that anyone is looking out for my goals and preferences. If I can't sit down and try each fret, checking for sustain and intonation, then I'll end up ordering by mail and sending back ukes, until I find one that meets my needs.
Please advise, uke experts!! Should I try another laminate like the Kala, Flea, etc. with possibility of having to send it back? Should I just go with solid wood and a high-end luthier because I seem to be high-maintenance in the quality I'm looking for? If I go with a custom top-of the-line solid body uke, even then, can I still be sure to avoid dead notes?
Thanks for reading this and any thoughts or help.
(Admins: Please keep this thread in Uke Talk if you can, because to me, the subject matter is kind of a combination between Uke Tech, Buying Guide, Uke Reviews and Luthier's Lounge, but really I just want advice on what to do next, and hoping plenty of people will see and respond. Unless you think I'll get better quality help on another section.)
