Kala Acacia Tenor - Intonation problem

Hi everyone,

I got my new Kala Acacia Tenor today. I noticed a weird problem with the intonation - the high A string goes noticably flat when you go up the neck (esp. starting around the 12th fret) - the other strings are ok but go slightly sharp up the neck. You really notice it when you play unisons with the G string up high (like I was doing in an arrangement by John King).

Is this par for the course with Ukes? I thought since the Kala was a relatively higher end uke, I wouldn't have problems like that. Or could it be a problem with the strings? Are there any solutions to this problem?

Thanks for your help!

Could be the strings. Did it come with aquilas? Was it set up by the dealer? MGM does that when you purchase from him. If not, you may want to look into having that done, or do it yourself. Also, the Kala Acacia Tenors have an ebony saddle that may not fit snugly in the bridge and this may cause it to lean which may affect intonation. Some people have switched out the saddle and have found it to be an improvement on intonation and volume. Kala isn't considered to be high end. They are good value mid-range uke and the uke you have is high end for Kala.

Thanks! I did buy it from MGM so it came setup with Aquilas (great service btw)

I did just change the 1st and 4th strings to D'addario j65 Nylons available locally and that helped the intonation. Its still not perfect playing a unison between the 4th and 1st strings up on the 12th/14th fret, but its better now.

The saddle seems pretty snug and doesn't appear to lean, but where would I go about buying a higher-quality one? Do they make good compensated saddles for uke?

Thanks for your help!!

The ebony saddle is nice, it's just that Kala put out a bunch that didn't fit the bridge perfectly. Or, they put out a bunch of bridges that were wider. If the saddle is fitting well, you may not need to upgrade or switch out. Some people here have opinions on both options. I had that same uke and liked D'Addario T2s on it, and some people found Savarez to work well with it.

Cool - thanks again for the info. It seems the string changed fixed about 75% of the intonation issue i had.

However, I noticed on the nut, the cut for the A string is noticeably lower than the G string. I'm just eyeballing it roughly, but could this be the culprit - causing the A string to go flatter up the neck?

I had similar problem with long neck soprano Valley Made ukulele made with Koa. Initial subtle problems with string intonation as one moved up the fret board with high G going sharp while A string was becoming flat. Changed strings to aquilas which fixed the problem ... about 75%. Got somewhat frustrated, put the instrument away for about a week. Picked it up again. And the intonation issue seemed to have resolved with no further issues. I suspect the new strings eventually settled/stretched after the week, and this resolved the intonation issue!
Maybe let the strings settle for a few days and reevaluate.
My question is that I've seen enough posts about individuals having intonation problems with new instruments, which I suspect maybe string related. I wonder why this is such a common issue. Is it a common issue? Or does it appear so to me only because it happened to one of my ukuleles? Just curious.

I do my own setups and I compensate everything.

Yes, a lower string height at the nut can cause the problem.

Here are a few basics... If you lengthen a string (nut to saddle) is will go flatter, if you shorten it, it goes sharper. If the A string is lower at the nut, you have lengthen it a bit. Also there is less distance when pressing doen the string which can also make it a little flatter. Small amounts do not make much of a difference.

Get an automotive feeler guage so you can see just how high or low the strings are set. If you can see the difference, it is probabaly too much already. You can compensate the saddle yourself. Of course I learned on electric guitars so if I made a mistake I just turned the screwdriver the other way. Something you can't do on an acoustic after you have filed away too much. There is a thread on UU that talks about using a paper clip to figure out where to compensate.

John

I am also wondering where do you guys buy good quality nuts and saddles?

I found this on the kala website. http://216.167.195.234/detail_accessories.asp?product_id=51
Has anyone used it?

Thank you so much