Ovation's Action. . .

So I got my ovation a few weeks ago and I love it, but the action almost double of what my Kamaka is, and that extra space is making strumming and picking a little bit harder to do.
I was wondering if anyone has any ideas as to how I might be able to lower it?

You can go to a repair shop to shave down the nut and/or saddle, depending on where the action is too high.

The action on my soprano Applause is a bit high as well. I don't remember its height in the past, but I assume the height increased from a number of severly sporatic weather changes over the months.

SuperSecretBETA said:

You can go to a repair shop to shave down the nut and/or saddle, depending on where the action is too high.

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The action is fine towards the head, but down near the sound hole is where it gets bad.
I was thinking about getting it adjusted but it has a different lookin saddle. . .well it's nothing like the saddle on my Kamaka basically.
So yeah I took pics so you guys could see just in case any body else may have another idea, other then that I have no clue how to adjust this?

Top of the Uke looking down

A shot from up top the Uke

And a shot from the bottom looking up

I have the same uke in black. I was excited because the owners manual said that you could adjust the action with an allen wrench, and when I got it, I thought to myself: "What a cool little feature" But then I realized that the owners manual is just a generic Applause guitar manual. And yeah...the bridge is pretty funky on this thing.

Personally, I don't mind the relatively high action because my string tension is low so it's not difficult to press the strings down. I would like to lower it by like a tiny bit, and if someone knows how to do it myself, I'd be interested in finding out.

And out of curiosity, what strings do you have on yours? Im still using the original strings with the wound C string, and was wondering if something else would improve the acoustic projection.

And oooh, don't want to move completely off topic, but since you have the same uke, I was wondering if I could get this thing to sound like a guitar if I invested in a pedal of some sort. I know nothing about pedals, but I think it'd be pretty cool to have it sound like an electric guitar.

They don't shave it from the top; they shave it from the bottom. It shouldn't affect the tops. You could also shave the bridge itself from the bottom.

I found this thing. It may prove useful.
www.fretnotguitarrepair.com/Repairs2.htm

experimentjon said:

And out of curiosity, what strings do you have on yours? Im still using the original strings with the wound C string, and was wondering if something else would improve the acoustic projection.

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I use D'Addario Tenor Ukulele J54 strings, I'm not sure if their better or worse then the strings you have on yours cuz mine came with all nylon strings
But I know they shound much better then the strings that originally came with my ovation.

experimentjon said:

And oooh, don't want to move completely off topic, but since you have the same uke, I was wondering if I could get this thing to sound like a guitar if I invested in a pedal of some sort. I know nothing about pedals, but I think it'd be pretty cool to have it sound like an electric guitar.

Click to expand...

Uhh I have Dunlop SW-95 Crybaby Slash Wah Pedal, this one has the wah effect and a distortion setting.
I use it when I play for my schools praise band and it sounds pretty crazy!
If you want I can try made a vid and show you how it works and how it sounds, I think you'd like it.
Another good pedal is a reverb pedal, that's the only other effect that I use when I play

<~/UkeDude\~> said:

I use D'Addario Tenor Ukulele J54 strings, I'm not sure if their better or worse then the strings you have on yours cuz mine came with all nylon strings
But I know they shound much better then the strings that originally came with my ovation.

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Did you buy it new? Because I bought mine used on Craigslist, so that could explain my different strings. $250 in absolutely perfect condition with a free $60 amp too...and warantee and extra strings and a cheap tuner. I love craigslist. I'll probably be trying to find a cheap pedal and an improved amp there too. And since I'm in no rush to get it, I'm sure I'll get a good deal...since new pedals are expensiveee.

Hehe, now to figure out exactly what these switches on the side do.

SuperSecretBETA said:

You can go to a repair shop to shave down the nut and/or saddle, depending on where the action is too high.

Click to expand...

i have to do this with my new acoustic bass