Altering Action

Witters

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Hi Folks,

What would be a rough ball park figure on how much it would cost to have your Uke’s action lowered.
I’m asking because as you all know, the majority buy without trying, mainly because they have to - they don’t live anywhere near where they sell Uke’s.

I know its not a major job (although I wouldn’t do it) so I guess any reasonable instrument shop would be able to get it done for you.
 
I lowered the action of my Mainland tenor quite easily.
  1. Loosen or remove the strings.
  2. Check the saddle - is it glued in or just held in by pressure? If it can be removed, take it out. If not, speak to a luthier.
  3. If it came out, put it on a piece of paper and draw lines along the top and bottom to see how tall it is now. Or measure it with a micrometer or caliper. That's just for comparison.
  4. Now rub the bottom gently back-and-forth on some medium-to-fine grit sandpaper a few times. Try to be even; swap ends between passes to be sure. Don't take off a lot, just a hair. Check it against your lines.
  5. Replace the saddle, tighten the strings and test.
  6. Is it low enough? Yes: then tune it and play.
  7. If not, repeat steps 4-6 until it is.
I also put a Tusq saddle in my Pono mango without much difficulty.

If the problem is at the nut, it's more difficult to fix, but check the saddle first. It's comparitively easy to remediate.
 
The saddle usually sits loose, doesn't it? That makes it very easy to experiment safely. Buy spare saddles and start sanding them down. (Search around on this forum to find plenty of advice.) Keep the original saddle unchanged, so you can always go back to it.
 
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