How do I know if my nut is too high?

addicted2myuke

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I've been playing my tenor Kala for 8 months. I practice everyday for 1-2 hours. For the life of me, I cannot get much of a sound when I barre the first fret. The B-flat in particular. I have read other posts on this difficult chord, and I have tried positioning my index finger in different positions with no luck. I'm thinking of going to my local luthier and asking him to lower the nut. I have aquila strings on it, and after playing for a couple of hours, my index finger is pretty torn up in spite of the callous that has formed. How low should the nut be in order to barre the first fret easier? I measured it, and it measures 2/16ths. of an inch high. Does that seem normal. I am desperate, as this chord is holding me back from being able to play so many songs. Thanks for your answers.
 
As tempted as I am to make a smart ass comment on the title, the general rule of thumb is that you should be able to put a business card between the first fret and the string with slight toughing. I would recommend taking it to a music shop that does set up and have them tweek it. It cost me $15 and made a world of difference in playing ease.

Good Luck
 
For me the strings factor into this issue as well and I noticed it particularly on the first fret, as your have. I find the Aquilas seem to have higher tension thus requiring more force to fret and the closer to the nut the more pronounced. I also think there is a texture to the nygut that begins to hurt after a long session of playing, and it will stick to the ends of my fingers making the movement to the next note a little less fluid. I actually took some very, very fine sandpaper and polished off the texture of the nygut and they felt and performed better for my taste. I have Martin 600's on a some of my ukes and they really seem softer and smoother in texture both to touch and force required to fret. I understand that 600's require less tension which may be the reason.
 
I had the exact same problem. Could not get the Bb chord (or any other 1st fret chord) regardless of practice, pressure, position. Frustrating! Finally after reading about setup issues around here I took it over to a guitar shop and had the action measured. It was way too high. After I got it setup the 1st fret chords are actually possible now - no more dead strings and no more exhausted fingers from B chord barres. Have your action checked and at least eliminate that possibility. I'm not sure how you measured your gap but if it really is 2/16 inches (which would be equal to about 3 millimeters) that is much too high. I think about 1 millimeter is standard at the first fret.
 
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I measured it, and it measures 2/16ths. of an inch high. Does that seem normal.

Hi Addicted,
if that measurement is from the bottom of the string to the finger board, then YES, the action is too high. I measured my tenor and there is 3/64" space between the string and finger board. It would be worth a trip to the luthier to get a hands on inspection.

Bill
 
generally speaking your nut is too high if your waistband goes up to your navel.

Unlike vanflynn, I couldn't resist! ;)
 
As tempted as I am to make a smart ass comment on the title, the general rule of thumb is that you should be able to put a business card between the first fret and the string with slight toughing. I would recommend taking it to a music shop that does set up and have them tweek it. It cost me $15 and made a world of difference in playing ease.

Good Luck
I just find it kind of special that this thread is right above the "self examination" thread...

Well, was right above the self-examination thread...
 
the business card is a good way..i also fret the first fret and if it is too hard then your nut is too high
 
This may sound like I'm picking a nit, but I'm a printer and want to point out that there is a fairly wide range of thicknesses for business cards these days. I think the luthiers were using precise measurements like "gnat's whisker" for this. The difference in some paper thickness could be measured in dozens of those whiskers.

The use of such precision terminology has me feeling that ukulele setup is more art rather than hard science.
 
just not touching. It doesn't have to be too low, just good enough.
 
The most reliable way to know if your nut slots are too high is to use a good tuner. With the uke tuned properly with the open strings, fret each string properly at the first fret. If the note "pulls sharp" the slot is too high. I.e. the E string should be a perfect F, not fifteen or twenty cents sharp of F. Almost all inexpensive ukes will have between one and four strings that are high unless it has been set up after it left the factory. (Recent example, of four LU-11s I got for grandkids this year, there were only about five slots that didn't need lowering.

BTW...fretting properly means just behind the fret and with just enough force to get a clean note. If you fret too far back and or press really hard you can force even a high-dollar instrument to pull sharp.

If the string starts buzzing before you get it low enough not to pull sharp then you have a case of frets not being level. That's a whole other ball of wax. If it's bad enough you'll want to fix it by leveling the frets and that's considerably more work. If not, you can get rid of the buzzing by putting just a dab of CA glue into the slot and letting it dry, then dress it with the file - this basically reverses the process of lowering a slot by building it back up. You can also do this if you just got a little too enthusiastic while lowering the slots.

Bottom line, this is all a pain in the backside but a properly set up uke is a joy to play - you will learn faster and enjoy practicing more. I would rather play a $30 uke with a good setup then a $200 uke with a high nut and/or unleveled frets.

John
 
Addicted, I know you weren't trying to be funny, but I'm a gal, and I got a chuckle out of it too. I grew up on a farm, so I'm a crude redneck, sometimes.Welcome to the wonderful world of being an ukulele geek!
 
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