Fret wire thickness

poppy · Oct 18, 2011

Just figured out the real difference on my new uke. it uses heavier guage frets. This seems to cause me to press harder, pehaps I am. Should this be necessary. Same strings both tenors but the dollar bill, business card test were about the same. But Im think im used to taking the string to the fret board and wonder if I need to learn a new method. I requires more pressure to take the heavier guage one to the neck? any secrets or just learn and live with it?

dhoenisch · Oct 18, 2011

I had a uke that used taller/wider frets, and I just had to learn to use lighter pressure since I was pressing too hard on the strings and making them go sharp.

Dan

kissing · Oct 18, 2011

In my view, it's more likely to be the scale length.

hmgberg · Oct 18, 2011

I recently built a ukulele. I found it hard to play, much as you described. Then, I measured the fret height and compared it to my Martin O. The crowns on the one I built were, on average, about .039" high. On the Martin, they were closer to .030" high. I planed down the frets on the one I made to about .032". It made a huge difference. It's a joy to play now. My hand doesn't get tired. Take your ukulele to a luthier and have the frets lowered, leveled, and recrowned. That's my recommendation.

poppy · Oct 18, 2011

Wow great idea never even thought of that. Any idea on a fair price for that operation seems like a lot of work but I'm almost sure that would do the trick.

hmgberg · Oct 18, 2011

poppy said:
Wow great idea never even thought of that. Any idea on a fair price for that operation seems like a lot of work but I'm almost sure that would do the trick.

I did my soprano in less than an hour. $50-$80, I would think. It's not hard to do. First you cut the frets down with a leveling file. Then you crown them using a crowning file. Then you dress the ends with a fret end file. Good luck with it. I'm also pretty sure that will do the trick.

poppy · Nov 5, 2011

hmgberg said:
I recently built a ukulele. I found it hard to play, much as you described. Then, I measured the fret height and compared it to my Martin O. The crowns on the one I built were, on average, about .039" high. On the Martin, they were closer to .030" high. I planed down the frets on the one I made to about .032". It made a huge difference. It's a joy to play now. My hand doesn't get tired. Take your ukulele to a luthier and have the frets lowered, leveled, and recrowned. That's my recommendation.

Really hope this works, I'm pretty certain in will. Took it to the shop today measured the mainland, about .039-.040 checked it against the OU6LCE .028-029 he is going to set them to .030 recrown etc $75 normally charges $125 for a guitar so I felt it was fair besides he has done great work on 3 of my ukes so far . Thanks for confirming my suspicions and telling about your experience. Will have it back in a week or so as he is pretty busy and I am not short ukes to play ! lol. Will post a follow up then.

hmgberg · Nov 6, 2011

It will work. At .039"-.040" it must have been uncomfortable to play. I think you will be most pleased. And, $75.00 is a fair price, right in line with what I predicted.

OldePhart · Nov 7, 2011

Yeah, most ukuleles made these days use frets more appropriate for guitar. The best frets I've found are on my Kiwaya KSL2 - very thin and low. If I ever get the dough for a custom uke I'm going to specify this thin, short fret wire. Much more appropriate to a shot-scale, nylon-stringed instrument than what we are seeing on most ukes including the expensive production ukes.

John

poppy · Nov 7, 2011

The ones on the Honu concert are very light not only lower but thinner. When I play it I can play for hours. It fits the "plays like butter " description perfectly! The OS has a finer fret wire (than the mainland) and It is a tenor also so I felt this was a the best measure to set it to. Scott did some work on the OS and it went from "Wish I never seen it" to an excellant player.

poppy · Dec 1, 2011

Well hmgberg, Scott lowered the frets and said several were not level. He reset the action to the new level. The difference was considerable and I could sit and play it for long spells and not get sore fingers lol thanks. However after all the work and expence I had to send it back due to another problem. Win some lose some but thanks for the help.

Fret wire thickness

poppy

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dhoenisch

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