Icelander53
Well-known member
As a beginner I read a lot about action and how important a low action is for a player. Now I'm starting to believe that there is a lot more to this than I thought. I started off asking for "as low as you can go without buzzing" and often got an instrument that for me was difficult to play and I couldn't say why.
In my early days I bought a low end Pono and got it and did not specify an action and it was higher with a high tension string and I hated it and sent it back saying the thing was unplayable for me. This is embarrassing to acknowledge now but if I tell it how it happened someone else might avoid my mistake. Andrew at HMS was very polite in taking the return and I think he knew where the problem was and knew he wasn't going to be able to educate me very much and so just made it a breeze to return it at the lowest possible cost to me. He never tried to make me feel it was my problem.
And down the road some months and several mid priced ukes all with that "very low action" (one of which does play superbly for me). The others I've struggled with and am not sure why.
Just recently I decided on a higher end Pono because I couldn't believe that all the good press they get was wrong. The instrument I received came with a lower action but maybe a tad higher than all my other ukes and what felt like high tension strings. At first I didn't like it at all and was about to take it to a luthier and then by sheer chance stumbled on to the comment I had missed. Actually it was in a Pono video on using the truss rod. This luthier for pono said that some players that press too hard will always get buzzing no matter what and the lower your action the lighter your touch needs to be when playing.
BINGO! I knew I pressed hard and was working on it but then I focused on it with intent with this Pono. I quickly realized the Pono has taller fret wires than all my other instruments and if I just lightly form the chord or whatever it plays beautifully and is not hard on my hands or fingers at all. After working on this I now find this action and tension perfectly fine and I'm playing it better and much easier than my very low action ukes. And btw this Pono sound wise is wonderfully amazing when played this way.
So... I'll bet there's more I don't know about this action issue and I'm thinking of taking some of my ukes back in to have the actions raised. But before I do that I'm hoping we can have a discussion with some of the more experienced players and maybe builders talking about action and playing styles and what you all think about this issue and what is your experience with the actions on your ukes.
In my early days I bought a low end Pono and got it and did not specify an action and it was higher with a high tension string and I hated it and sent it back saying the thing was unplayable for me. This is embarrassing to acknowledge now but if I tell it how it happened someone else might avoid my mistake. Andrew at HMS was very polite in taking the return and I think he knew where the problem was and knew he wasn't going to be able to educate me very much and so just made it a breeze to return it at the lowest possible cost to me. He never tried to make me feel it was my problem.
And down the road some months and several mid priced ukes all with that "very low action" (one of which does play superbly for me). The others I've struggled with and am not sure why.
Just recently I decided on a higher end Pono because I couldn't believe that all the good press they get was wrong. The instrument I received came with a lower action but maybe a tad higher than all my other ukes and what felt like high tension strings. At first I didn't like it at all and was about to take it to a luthier and then by sheer chance stumbled on to the comment I had missed. Actually it was in a Pono video on using the truss rod. This luthier for pono said that some players that press too hard will always get buzzing no matter what and the lower your action the lighter your touch needs to be when playing.
BINGO! I knew I pressed hard and was working on it but then I focused on it with intent with this Pono. I quickly realized the Pono has taller fret wires than all my other instruments and if I just lightly form the chord or whatever it plays beautifully and is not hard on my hands or fingers at all. After working on this I now find this action and tension perfectly fine and I'm playing it better and much easier than my very low action ukes. And btw this Pono sound wise is wonderfully amazing when played this way.
So... I'll bet there's more I don't know about this action issue and I'm thinking of taking some of my ukes back in to have the actions raised. But before I do that I'm hoping we can have a discussion with some of the more experienced players and maybe builders talking about action and playing styles and what you all think about this issue and what is your experience with the actions on your ukes.