gloss wood and high action

PandaLuver

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hello

i just got my new ohaha TK 300g solid koa tenor and i have a few qustions:)

ok umm gloss wat does it do? sure it make the uke shiney but does it protect it?
also i bought a humudifyer do gloss ukes need humidity?:confused:

last my uke has high action and i dont really like it would it be safe to sand down the bridge or do i sand down something else?wat do i do to lose the high action?
plz help lol thanks bye
 
hello

i just got my new ohaha TK 300g solid koa tenor and i have a few qustions:)

ok umm gloss wat does it do? sure it make the uke shiney but does it protect it?
also i bought a humudifyer do gloss ukes need humidity?:confused:

last my uke has high action and i dont really like it would it be safe to sand down the bridge or do i sand down something else?wat do i do to lose the high action?
plz help lol thanks bye

Not sure what gloss finish does. I'm not a fan, but that's a personal thing. As for the action, where did you buy it? I'd try there first, and ask that it be lowered.
 
I don't know what kind of gloss finish the Ohana has, but what is certain is that it won't protect your uke from the elements. Yes, you will still need to keep an eye on the relative humidity (RH), usually anything between 40-60% is good. The gloss makes it shiny, and tends to be more durable to everyday wear n tear. Some wooden instruments get a scratch if you look at them cross-eyed. Gloss finishes are generally more durable than that. The downside is that it has the potential to kill the sound a bit, depending on how and how much it was done.

If you bought the uke in a shop, take it back and have them adjust the action. If that's not possible, then your best bet is to find a local luthier ... or a shop with someone in there who knows a thing or three about string instruments and how to set them up.

What you'd be sanding is NOT the bridge, but the saddle.. so if you don't know what you should be doing there, it is very much better to take it to someone who does.
 
Start at the nut. Look at that first. The popular notion of starting at the saddle...
 
All finishes protect the uke. I prefer matte finish to gloss (don't like finger-prints). As for the action, often a saddle can be lowered. Sometimes it is the nut that must be filed down a bit. If you are not sure how to do that, a good luthier can make fast work of it.
 
dont start anywhere...

take it to the store you purchased it from, tell them to do it.

Sanding is easy, but not if you dont understand the dynamics of the instrument. Dropping down the saddle is pretty remedial, but its only part the issue. If you sand down the nut, what happens if you shallow out the grooves too much? That again, nothing real difficult, but you need to understand the instrument, how it's built, and what are appropriate or at least function tools you can use to do it. Let the retailer deal with it...you brought him your business, he needs to take care of that.
 
All finishes protect the uke. I prefer matte finish to gloss (don't like finger-prints). As for the action, often a saddle can be lowered. Sometimes it is the nut that must be filed down a bit. If you are not sure how to do that, a good luthier can make fast work of it.

Well yeah, but I was just trying to give him some of the general feelings of what the pros of a gloss finish are, since the first reply was against a gloss finish. Lots of people like glossy shiny instruments, and lots of people don't. I go both ways. ;)
 
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