Nut adjustment

I have an Eleuke Peanut, and after plaing my new Honu Mango for a while, I have realised that the action on the peanut and the nut is wayyyy too high. After the Honu, I find the Eleuke almost mpossible to play now!

I've seen some videos about adjusting this myself, but to be honest it looks a bit scary - especially one where they knock the nut off using a block of wood and a hammer, breaking the glue.

Do most music shops do these adjustments? Has anyone here adjusted an Eleuke?

Hi Phooto

If it looks scary, leave it to a professional. Yes, many music stores offer a simple set-up. They say they do for guitar, and the same techniques apply to ukulele so that's not a problem.

When I bring my instruments for repair/adjustment, I much prefer to talk directly to the repairperson. Some music stores have in-house service (and even then, you want to talk directly with the repairperson, not the front) but others ship instruments to somewhere else. I personally feel a lot more comfortable if I know the person actually touching my instrument. Also, you can ask questions and judge how good/sloppy the person is (looking at workbenches etc).

You probably mean the nut slots, not the nut. The nut slots can be filed down and this does not require the nut removal. A decent repairperson can do the filing etc, in less than 30 minutes, $20 ~ $30 unless something else is horribly wrong (like a warped neck, uneven frets) - I just saw you're in UK. How many pounds??? It probably costs you three "fish and chip" lunches? [And Farnborough is where they do some air shows?]

Anyway, you can get your Eleuke adjusted and it will be worth every penny

Cheers
Chief

Thanks for that as a sanity check, I'll ask my local store.

Yes, Farnborough is where we have the airshow every two years, it was a couple of weeks ago!

Here are some of my pictures from a local event : http://phooto.co.uk/galleries/20120711_barons/

The right tool for lowering action at the nut is a set of nut files. If you haven't got a set you can't do a decent job.

With regard to music shops, just because they set up guitars does not mean they know how to set up ukes. If you get the impression that they set up nil or very few ukes but think they're experts because of said guitar setups I'd steer clear.

I intend to get a small section of 1/4" hardwood dowel to "tap" the nut loose. A decent "tool"....better one?

It is not necessary, or even desireable, to remove the nut. Each slot needs to be individually adjusted to the perfect height so you really want to use files and work from the top. Ideally, you should have the proper nut file (the good news is that for almost all ukes a single file will do - the .026, .032 double-sided nut file from StewMac.com works fine for anything from around .02 through .036 and it's pretty rare to find a thicker string on a uke). In a pinch you can use a folded piece of 400 or 600 grit wet'or'dry paper if it only needs a light touch. Avoid the triangular needle files at hardware stores - they will give you a triangular notch where the string height varies greatly with minor differences in string gage and that traps strings instead of letting them slide smoothly for tuning.

BTW...just my opinion on choosing a guitar shop to let work on your uke (since most people aren't going to have a uke specialist handy). Take your tuner with you and check the first fret-intonation on the mid-priced guitars ($300-$600) hanging on their walls. Many guitars in this price range and below need a setup. I can understand a shop not setting up $99 junk guitars but by the time you get to the mid price range any shop worth the name should care enough about their customers to be setting them up. If they don't care enough (or know enough) to be setting up those mid-priced guitars for their customers then I wouldn't risk letting them get their hands on one of my instruments, let alone pay them to do so.

John

Ditto on the StewMac double edge .026---.032. The handle is nice too.
Jim

Phooto said:

Yes, Farnborough is where we have the airshow every two years, it was a couple of weeks ago!

Here are some of my pictures from a local event : http://phooto.co.uk/galleries/20120711_barons/

Click to expand...

Nice pictures!

Cheers
Chief