a couple of very silly questions?

filipinouker

Well-known member
Joined
Aug 20, 2012
Messages
300
Reaction score
0
Location
England, UK
Hi,

I've been reading some posts in this forum and learning lots :) and have come across words I don't quite understand.

1. "action" - what does it mean when someone says "the action is low" or the "action has been lowered" ? And why is a low action preferable?

2. "set up" - what does it mean? I read a post that said something along the lines of "Should i buy the uke with set up?"

Should i be concerned that when i bought my uke I never bothered to figure out its "action" or "set up"? I'm planning to buy a second one and want to be wise! :)

Sorry if these are really silly questions...
 
Here's a good explanation of "action" and "setup" - http://www.theukulelesite.com/ukulele-setup.html

Hawaii Music Supply (who published the article that I linked to above) is a vendor that is known for properly setting up all of the ukes that they sell.
 
Last edited:
Not silly at all. Loz "Needs a Beer" (and I agree) shares a great link that shows what should be done by someone for every uke but frequently isn't.

HMS does a great job and Mike's a great guy, and a very valued asset and contributor to the uke community.

In a nutshell, the "action" in simple terms is how close your strings are to the fretboard. And a "setup" is the process of adjusting the string height at the "nut," the bar at the top of the neck, and the "saddle", the bar at the bottom of the uke.

Other members here also do setups as a matter of routine. Buying without a setup on inexpensive mass-produced ukes is hit or miss on good vs. not-so-good action, and "intonation," which is the accuracy of a note played at different positions on the neck.

Always choose to buy from a retailer that does a quality setup, or find a local luthier to do it for you, or learn to do it yourself.
 
 
Here's a good explanation of "action" and "setup" - http://www.theukulelesite.com/ukulele-setup.html

Hawaii Music Supply (who published the article that I linked to above) is a vendor that is known for properly setting up all of the ukes that they sell.

Loz, ukemunga & coolkayaker1 - thank you very much for your response to my questions. My goodness, what a lot to consider!

Your explanation (+ the article on theukulelesite.com) regarding the height of the action makes so much sense to me now!!! I own a Kala-CEM - and have enjoyed strumming but, more recently, have been wrestling with fingerpicking (e.g., Here Comes the Sun riff) as well as classical pieces (e.g., Study in E Minor by Francisco Tarrega and Andante by Ferdinando Carulli). There are parts of these pieces where, no matter how hard i practice and no matter how slowly i change from one chord position to the next, i keep thinking " I wish the strings were a little lower so i don't have to press harder or keep slipping". I didn't realise that that is the action. Also, i find that because i am pressing hard on the strings, i feel the sound i produce is sometimes distorted.

Should i then aim/seek to alter the set up of my Kala-cem? The height of the action increases as i go up the frets - by the 7th fret onwards, it is 3mm to 3.5mm. I'd be so frightened to do it myself !

Also, i have been hunting for a second uke (solid top) and i have not heard of any of the shops i've been to (UK) speak of offering a set up service.

I would like to play more fingerpicking stuff as well as classical pieces, so a good sound is important to me.

Thanks so much for being so helpful here.
 
Last edited:
I took the leap and popped the saddle off of my Kala KA-SLNG and carefully sanded it down to lower the action to the point where it's 2.5mm at the 12th fret. It made a very positive difference. I drew a line around the bottom of the saddle the same depth as the material I wanted to remove so I had a good visual indicator of where I wanted to stop sanding. If you mess up you can always buy a new saddle, but if you measure accurately and take your time it's not difficult.

One thing I did NOT do is mess with the nut slots. That end of the neck seemed pretty good and I didn't want to mess things up there without proper slot files.

From what I've read, 2.5mm at the 12th fret is a good starting target. Good luck if you give it a go.
 
Top Bottom