beeejums
Well-known member
Update: Read this entire thread before trying this... as it turns out, much wiser men (women?) have chimed in and given a slew of reasons why this might or might not work, and it seems that some careful diagnosis of the problem would be in order before gluing anything to anything.
I've been doing a lot of reading and watching videos on lutherie, and have found a way that greatly improved the intonation on my Mahalo soprano. It's kinda punk rock, but it works, and it's a cheap fix for a cheap uke.
I wouldn't try this unless an accurate digital tuner tells you that your notes are consistently sharp on all strings all the way up the neck--Correct me if I'm wrong, and I'll fix it here, but this should only work if your bridge has been glued too close to the neck, making your notes sharp. In my case, most of the notes up to the fifth fret were about 20 cents sharp.
I was inspired by this video and a paperclip.
The long explanation can be found in this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fNKcdlWJu2I
Before you start, unbend your paperclip and jam it up underneath the strings (like I do in that video) to make sure it helps your intonation before you waste your time, effort, and glue an ugly piece of wire to your uke.
You will need:
-Paperclip made of relatively heavy gauge wire
-Superglue
-Wire Cutters
Here's what the nut on my Mahalo looked like before I started:
First, I took the strings off the bridge. Do what's easiest, but get them completely off and away from the nut so you don't end up gluing your strings to anything. It would be best to get them out of the way.
Unbend the paperclip and measure the straightest part against the width of your nut. I didn't have this issue, but I imagine the straightness of the wire is paramount to this working properly.
Mark where you intend to cut with a Sharpie and cut the wire just short of the entire width of your nut - otherwise it might snag on your hands.
Before you glue anything, set the wire up against the nut to make sure it works. Mine looked like this:
I've been doing a lot of reading and watching videos on lutherie, and have found a way that greatly improved the intonation on my Mahalo soprano. It's kinda punk rock, but it works, and it's a cheap fix for a cheap uke.
I wouldn't try this unless an accurate digital tuner tells you that your notes are consistently sharp on all strings all the way up the neck--Correct me if I'm wrong, and I'll fix it here, but this should only work if your bridge has been glued too close to the neck, making your notes sharp. In my case, most of the notes up to the fifth fret were about 20 cents sharp.
I was inspired by this video and a paperclip.
The long explanation can be found in this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fNKcdlWJu2I
Before you start, unbend your paperclip and jam it up underneath the strings (like I do in that video) to make sure it helps your intonation before you waste your time, effort, and glue an ugly piece of wire to your uke.
You will need:
-Paperclip made of relatively heavy gauge wire
-Superglue
-Wire Cutters
Here's what the nut on my Mahalo looked like before I started:
First, I took the strings off the bridge. Do what's easiest, but get them completely off and away from the nut so you don't end up gluing your strings to anything. It would be best to get them out of the way.
Unbend the paperclip and measure the straightest part against the width of your nut. I didn't have this issue, but I imagine the straightness of the wire is paramount to this working properly.
Mark where you intend to cut with a Sharpie and cut the wire just short of the entire width of your nut - otherwise it might snag on your hands.
Before you glue anything, set the wire up against the nut to make sure it works. Mine looked like this:
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