How to raise the action of just one string?

Lapyang

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I have an Uke that sounded great. Great action and string height. I just did not love the tubby sound of C string (fluorocarbon) sound. So I switched to Thomastik CF 27 steel C. The sound was much better. It gives the whole set a balanced sound. But it buzzed when picked at open string. It was too closed to the first fret. No such problem with a fatter Fluorocarbon C string.

Is there a way to raise just the C string a little bit? I don't want to shim the whole saddle, that would change the action of all other strings.

In violins, Luthier sometimes put a "thing" (I don't know what it is called) between the bridge and the string. I am thinking of putting it either at the nut or at the bridge. It may help solve my problem. Anyone know what it is called and where can I find one?

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Your issue is probably at the nut. The thinner string is too deep. There are several threads and videos on using baking soda and super glue to fill a slot. Try slipping a piece of paper under the buzzing string at the nut and see if the buzz disappears.
 
I'd first try just putting a piece of paper or 2 under the string, in the nut slot, then retune. That may tell you if that slot is too low, for that string. If so, you can then decide if you want to fix it permanently. I've never done it, but have seen talk of building up a nut slot with a mixture of super glue and baking soda. Once dried, the slot would need to be re-filed.

Here's another method, where the guy uses UV glue. Again, I have no experience with this, but he likes it better than super glue & baking soda. I don't think I'd do my post-repair testing with a fuzz box on the instrument; how the hell he can hear no more buzzing is beyond me. But, he's wearing a Vintage Guitar T-shirt, so he must know what he's doing, right? :D https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VaGLo13D9h4

Re that violin thing, I once had a buzz at the nut on a Flea ukulele, and Magic Fluke Co. sent me some of those tiny hard tubes which the string passes through, then the string-in-tube sits in the nut slot to raise the string action a bit. The thing is, the nut slot needs to be wide enough to hold the diameter of both the string and the hard tube. The Flea had a very wide slot and zero fret, so it worked for me, but might not in a normal width nut slot.
 
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I also recommend to try the paper between the string and nut test.
See if that makes the buzz go away.
Test for intonation issues.

If all is good, you might simply leave it like that.
If you want a more permanent solution, consider the baking soda/super glue fix. I do have nut slot files for adjusting the action of my ukes. I am not sure how necessary they are with the backing soda/super glue fix. Knock on wood, I have only had to lower strings, not raise them.
 
Have done the old paper or card at the nut a few times myself - as a lefty who restrings ukes upside down the nut is sometimes an issue for me. It doesn't look perfect but it does the job extremely easily and cheaply! In fact, I've just done it on my long necked tenor for the exact reason you have - CF27 too thin for the slot and fighting with fret 1.
 
I skipped the super glue baking soda method because I might change to other stings in the future. So I decided to try the "paper on the nut" method and it worked well. There is no more buzzing. The playability still intact. I could not hear any deterioration in sound quality. Thanks for all your input.
 
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