Interference problem?

Hi. I hope this is the right board for my question.

My Kanile'a K-1 tenor sounds a bit "dead" when I play an E plucking the C string fretted at the 4th fret (Plucking the open E string seems also a bit "dead"). Likewise, my Kala (tenor) also shows a similar behavior on the 5th fret of the C string (and the first of the E string). So my question is if this is a common phenomena amongst ukuleles? Could anyone maybe explain the physical background of this to me? ... no scientific essay needed here ;-) ... I guess the sound waves of a note around E-F interfere somehow with the body of the ukulele or something like this but I have no clue. So I'd really be happy if someone could shed some light on this.

I know they've discussed this kind of thing in tech support...

have you tried different strings?

http://www.ukuleleunderground.com/forum/showthread.php?t=13319&highlight=dead+spots

cornfedgroove said:

I know they've discussed this kind of thing in tech support...

have you tried different strings?

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I tried Aquilas and Worth Browns on both ukuleles and there's no real difference to me (maybe a bit less with the Browns but I'd say it's pretty much the same). But from what I just read about dead spots it seems to be more a matter of the neck/body.

http://www.ukuleleunderground.com/forum/showthread.php?t=13319&highlight=dead+spots

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Thanks for the link! I just did a search for "dead spots" and it turned out that I already asked a similar question some time ago. haha, bad memory

I guess I was a bit confused yesterday because I actually wanted to ask a different (related?) question at first, namely: what causes the C string to vibrate quite heavily when I fret it on the 4th fret (thus playing an E) and pluck the open E string whereas there's no vibration at all on the C string if I fret it on some other fret? I guess this also has to do with some "frequency interference" (don't know the correct term)...

ukumic said:

...What causes the C string to vibrate quite heavily when I fret it on the 4th fret (thus playing an E) and pluck the open E string whereas there's no vibration at all on the C string if I fret it on some other fret?

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When you play a note, everything on the ukulele will vibrate "sympathetically" if and as much as it can. By fretting an E, you make it a lot easier for the C string to vibrate along when you pluck the E string. But it may also vibrate to some degree when fretted elsewhere, just not nearly as much so that it is hardly (or even un-) noticable.

Hope this helps,
Erich

Thanks for your help!