New MELE 8-string Mahogany

Geeky666

Geeky666

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I bought off EB, beautiful instrument and great sound but the action was high for me 3mm @12th. I took it to my luthier with 50+ years experience and he said there was no room to lower the action, would take a neck reset. I called Cheryl and she quickly handed off the Mike who set it up. He all but insulted my luthier just because I said he worked on all stringed instruments including electrics. In the end he said to send it back, at my expense which I understood when I made the purchase.

My old Lanikai was able to be set up with much lower action.

I get why he would send it out with not-so-low action but with no room at the saddle to bring it down?

I don't think I will be recommending Mele if anyone asks.

I decided to keep it and live with it but still feel like Mele pulled a fast one on me.
IMG_1061(1).jpg
 
BTW, there was a turtle at my door when the postman delivered it. I wonder what that means?
 
Aw, that's awful !
Stupidly high action ukes are absolutly a curse, especially on a 8-string I think.
I am sorry about your misadventure and thanks for the info.
 
Any specifics on the statement "no room" ???? Can't sand down anything? Nut? Saddle? Deepen nut slots? Have a Mele tenor, and previously, a Mele soprano, with no actions problems. Did you buy it directly from Mele?
 
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They advertised it as having "an oversized bridge design (which attaches more securely and also, on our amplified models, allows the use of a regular-sized guitar transducer, which produces sigificantly superior sound to the smaller ukulele type)"

But my luthier said you have to have a certain ratio of saddle engaging the slot to get good coupling and that installing a Misi trio uke would not allow him any room to lower the action without sacrificing tone.

Since I decided to keep it (her) I'll just get a K&K Aloha Twin or Misi air and have him squeeze whatever action he can out of her.

Yes, I bought it from Cheryl.
 
Geeky666 said:
They advertised it as having "an oversized bridge design (which attaches more securely and also, on our amplified models, allows the use of a regular-sized guitar transducer, which produces sigificantly superior sound to the smaller ukulele type)"

But my luthier said you have to have a certain ratio of saddle engaging the slot to get good coupling and that installing a Misi trio uke would not allow him any room to lower the action without sacrificing tone.

Since I decided to keep it (her) I'll just get a K&K Aloha Twin or Misi air and have him squeeze whatever action he can out of her.

Yes, I bought it from Cheryl.
Click to expand...

There is something just not right with the advise from the luthier. If fitting an under-saddle element takes up some of the space in the slot then this REQUIRES that you lower the amount of saddle protruding from the slot to MAINTAIN the ration between in the slot and sticking out of the slot.

I don't know what's going on but the advise from the luthier sounds ODD at least. At this point I can't hold Mele responsible.

Anthony
 
Also, I don't think that action is particularly high anyway. An 8 string tenor is principally a strumming instrument (I do pick when playing mine though) and an action high enough to not rattle when strummed hard is desirable. That's the Hawaiian way and a Mele has a great Hawaiian sound.

Anthony
 
I play bar chords up the neck and use a pick. May not be the "Hawaiian Way" but it's my way for 7 years on 8-string, I find high action makes it a struggle. I didn't have a problem getting the action right on my Lanikai LU-8E which I'm used to. Maybe it's my 45+ years on various guitars that are driving my expectations. :cool:
 
Geeky666 said:
I play bar chords up the neck and use a pick. May not be the "Hawaiian Way" but it's my way for 7 years on 8-string, I find high action makes it a struggle. I didn't have a problem getting the action right on my Lanikai LU-8E which I'm used to. Maybe it's my 45+ years on various guitars that are driving my expectations. :cool:
Click to expand...

OK, well the action CAN be lowered. I just don't accept the luthiers story as to why he states that he can't lower it. So far it doesn't make a lick of sense. We need more information to make sense of the claim.

I have a Mele Koa 8 string tenor with the same bridge I believe. The Mele saddle slot is sitting lower than my other ukuleles with less string break angle but I see no reason for not lowering the saddle height when fitting an under-saddle piezo. Mele do this fitting themselves all the time hence their incredulity.

Anthony
 
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sound like the neck is bowed and no relief in the neck.....
 
hawaii 50 said:
sound like the neck is bowed and no relief in the neck.....
Click to expand...

Maybe but then again the OP isn't saying that the Luthier claimed that the neck was bowed. There is scant information or pictures of anything in this thread. My Mele has a slightly high action but so too did a KoAloha ukulele that I was looking at buying. I CAN lower the action on my Mele so I don't know what's going on.

It's pretty common these days for a Ukulele neck to be parallel with the soundboard. My older ukuleles and most guitars have the neck angled down slightly. I suspect the luthier hasn't seen this construction style before and doesn't know how to handle it. I've seen some pretty low saddles these days and maybe this Luthier has a bee in his bonnet about requiring minimum saddle heights and minimum saddle break angles.

This Luthier is probably very good at what he does, but just stuck in his own ways about what is the right way to do things, and what is wrong.

Anthony
 
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Your Mele is built pretty much identically to mine. The neck doesn't need a reset. Its just the ukulele way being parallel to the sound board. Yes there are technical advantages to having the neck angled down slightly yet lots of ukuleles are built like this. Yes there isn't much string break angle across the saddle but you can get away with less.

You can lower the action slightly at the saddle and probably a fraction at the nut too without problems.

Anthony
 
Ok Anthony, I probably over reacted due to this being the most expensive ukulele I have purchased so far and my prior experiences. I'm taking a chance and going for the Misi trio. Like I said, the intonation is fine all the way up the neck and sounds great. She's a beauty, I am a little hurt and ashamed that I doubted her. I wonder if she'll ever forgive me? I'll report back with the results. Thanks.
 
I'm not offended. When you read forums like this one for luthiers and guitarists you will read ENDLESS debate about how much string break angle is required with strong opinions from everyone.

Yes, Mele have decided to build their ukuleles with the neck parallel to the sound board with correspondingly very little saddle break angle across the saddle but so to do many ukulele builders. Many an experienced Guitar builder/repairer will consider this to be wrong and they may have some points but its just the ukulele way.

Anthony
 
Still sounds good, Luthier dropped the action slightly when installing the MISI. We noticed this weird brace, doesn't seem to be anchored on the top. Anyone seen this?

IMG_1151.jpgIMG_1146.jpg
 
Have you considered putting together a custom set of strings with less tension?
 
Mezcalero said:
Have you considered putting together a custom set of strings with less tension?
Click to expand...
I run with Aquila Lava's and a Red low G for now. I'm not sure whether that would be considered low tension. As of now I am tuning 1/2 step down A438 out of choice. Since my Luthier lowered the action marginally, that is not really an issue for me anymore.

Here's another picture of the mystery brace.....maybe it's an antenna.

IMG_1161.jpg
 
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