Lanikai L21 tips!!! (long post warning O.o)

Ok, I just bought a Lanikai L21, my first ukulele. Now, I don't really know much about ukes, and I don't really know how to play one, but I have been playing and setting up guitars for five years, and have pretty expensive taste in terms of tone (unfortunately my budget is not so large lol).

This uke actually amazed me, I wasn't expecting the feel or the sound to be what it was. it came with Aquila nylagut strings, and the action was set at 3/32 @ the 12th fret. Sustain wasn't too good, and the sound wasn't overly crisp, but the Uke felt solid and fairly well built, and what could I expect from a laminate...read on to find out how I improved my tone, sustain, and intonation while fretting!

Now, I had some issues at first...and have learned a few things from them.

The intonation was off for the first two days, but after the strings stretched, it was perfect. So, don't mess around with intonating your uke until the strings have had a chance to stretch and "settle".

On another note, pressing too hard on the strings made notes go to sharp...this is something I am still struggling with after four days, but I have gotten pretty good at lightly pressing the strings so they only touch the fret and not the fretboard. Intonation was still a little off at this point, but I suspected that was due to the action. So, don't press your strings to the fretboard as this will stretch them tighter than you want.

The action was too high for my likings, but everywhere I looked people were telling me the lowest I could go was 1/8"...which was 1/32" ABOVE where my action already was, finally I found a site that said some people like their action at 1/16". I was happy!
I decided to take the saddle out and sand it down 1/32" to bring my action down to 1/16" I loosened all the strings and worked the saddle out of the slot...boy was it tight, I pried it out, and to my surprise, it had a 1/32" balsa (or some other sort of soft wood...which is a HORRIBLE nono for tonal reasons), I took the shim out, and didn't have to do any sanding to the bottom of the saddle, I did however run the side of the saddle on a piece of 100 grit sandpaper (on a flat surface) to thin it down so it was snug, but not tight in the saddle slot. Now, I feel I should mention that the L21 saddle is slightly intonate and as such, you should mark it so you can tell which way it goes when you put it back.

Ok, so I put the saddle back in and tuned up the uke. I noticed several improvements right away.

1.The tone and sustain had improved exponentially, this is due to the fact that balsa wood (or whatever that soft wood shim was) is not dense enough to transmit sound waves very well, if you ever need to shim up a saddle, try to use ebony or some other dense wood.

2.Fretting intonation was almost non existent, this is due to the fact that the strings are now closer to the fretboard and have to be stretched less in order to hit the top of the fret.

3. it is now easier to form the dreaded E and D chords, infact, I have no problem getting a clean sound on either chord, something I was struggling with before I lowered the action. The reason once again is that I don't need to fight the strings in order to fret them, and as such, it feels more natural.

In conclusion, Lowering the action to 1/16" at the 12th fret has DRASTICALLY improved my ukulele both soundwise, and playability wise. And, I even tried strumming really hard to see if I could make the uke buzz 9since many were telling me not to go below 1/8" or it would) I can't get it to buzz...so don't hesitate to set up your uke the way you like it, you may be pleasantly surprised!

This seems like a topic that should go into the tech board, but on the same note, the L21 is a beginners uke so I feel that this should be in the beginners board, if one of the mods do not agree with my assessment, go ahead and move the thread.

EDIT: After playing around a bit, I think I'm going to lower my nut action as well. I'll probably only go down 1/64th, but it should make it easier to fret right next to the nut. I'll try to remember to take pics of this process.

Great stuff - thanks!

I started on a LU21, and I love the feel and sound of the instrument, but its tuning does get funky, and its action is significantly higher than my Flea and Fluke. I may have to try your approach for lowering the action.

Thanks again, and enjoy your uke!

great post, very informative, thanks!

Thank you

Thanks. My LU 21 C also has the intonation problems you describe. I suspect it's for the same reasons...

ironman said:

I decided to take the saddle out and sand it down 1/32" to bring my action down to 1/16" I loosened all the strings and worked the saddle out of the slot...boy was it tight, I pried it out, and to my surprise, it had a 1/32" balsa (or some other sort of soft wood...which is a HORRIBLE nono for tonal reasons), I took the shim out, and didn't have to do any sanding to the bottom of the saddle, I did however run the side of the saddle on a piece of 100 grit sandpaper (on a flat surface) to thin it down so it was snug, but not tight in the saddle slot. Now, I feel I should mention that the L21 saddle is slightly intonate and as such, you should mark it so you can tell which way it goes when you put it back.

Click to expand...

Could you see the shim prior to taking the saddle out? The saddle in my LU21 appears to be flush with the bottom of the saddle slot.

peteandboodog said:

Could you see the shim prior to taking the saddle out? The saddle in my LU21 appears to be flush with the bottom of the saddle slot.

Click to expand...

Yes, but they had colored the ends to match the bridge, so I initially thought that it was part of the bridge.

If you do not have the shim, then you will need to sand your saddle to drop the action. This tutorial should help anybody wanting to do this. I realize it's for guitar, but the principal is still the same. Also, one last note, it's better to take off too little material than to sand off too much. http://www.frets.com/FRETSPages/Musician/Guitar/Setup/LowerAction/loweraction01.html

Now, I took my action down to 1/16" at the twelfth fret (measuring from the top of the fret to the bottom of the string) and have had no buzzing problems, but there are people out there who strum in such a way that they would get buzz, so make sure your playing style will allow the lowering of the bridge.

Nice post, Ironman.

It all just emphasises how many intonation problems are caused by high action. The only suggestion I would add is that it is usual to set action at the nut before setting at the bridge. It's usually high action at the nut end that causes that puzzling phenomenon where a perfectly in-tune uke sounds so cr@p when you fret chords. If the intonation of fretted notes is sharp but becomes less so as you move up the fretboard, then it's a good bet that high nut action is the cause.

On that same site you linked, Frank has a great article on adjusting action at the nut.

Setting action at the nut may fix intonation and playability issues to the extent that you sometimes don't need to do much work on the saddle. It's handy when it works out that way, as there can be a volume and tone sacrifice involved when lowering the saddle considerably. This is true of string instruments in general, not just ukes.

Final tip for newbies, try to get some spare nut and saddle blanks. It may be best to work on those instead of the factory ones. That way, if you screw it up you can always restore the factory set up. Doing it that way makes life easier if you ever have to claim against warranty for a manufacturing fault. Sellers often raise eyebrows at claims for faults when the owner has obviously been busy with files and sandpaper.

Try to make sure you can restore the as-new status quo if you need to.

buddhuu said:

Nice post, Ironman.

It all just emphasises how many intonation problems are caused by high action. The only suggestion I would add is that it is usual to set action at the nut before setting at the bridge. It's usually high action at the nut end that causes that puzzling phenomenon where a perfectly in-tune uke sounds so cr@p when you fret chords. If the intonation of fretted notes is sharp but becomes less so as you move up the fretboard, then it's a good bet that high nut action is the cause.

On that same site you linked, Frank has a great article on adjusting action at the nut.

Setting action at the nut may fix intonation and playability issues to the extent that you sometimes don't need to do much work on the saddle. It's handy when it works out that way, as there can be a volume and tone sacrifice involved when lowering the saddle considerably. This is true of string instruments in general, not just ukes.

Final tip for newbies, try to get some spare nut and saddle blanks. It may be best to work on those instead of the factory ones. That way, if you screw it up you can always restore the factory set up. Doing it that way makes life easier if you ever have to claim against warranty for a manufacturing fault. Sellers often raise eyebrows at claims for faults when the owner has obviously been busy with files and sandpaper.

Try to make sure you can restore the as-new status quo if you need to.

Click to expand...

You are quite correct that nut action should always be looked at during a full setup, however, once again, I was following what other people said about setting up Ukes and it seemed universal that if you fretted at the third fret and stuck a business card under the first, it should slide in with a bit of resistance, and that's where my nut is at, so I assumed it was just right since I know little about setting up ukes. Now with the action at the 12th so low, the action at the nut seems a little high. so am planning to take it down a 64th. I cannot stress how much better it is to take off too little material than to take off too much. You cannot put material back on, but you can always sand more off.

Now, you are also correct that lowering your saddle does hamper volume, but it actually improves intonation, playability, and tone (in most cases). In most instances, the benefits outweigh the cons.