Hello! This is my first time on the UU forums, as I felt this would be the most appropriate place to post this. I apologise in advance if my inexperience/laymanship shows:
Simply put, I am finding it unusually difficult to barre the first fret on my uke, and it’s preventing me from getting clean sounds out of chords I’m learning, like Bb, Bbm and F#. Somehow the strings feel a lot stiffer on the first fret than anywhere else on the fretboard, and I need to apply significantly more pressure with the barre to have the notes ring out (I can barre the second fret onwards without a problem). The problem seems to be improving with practice but it doesn’t seem at all normal that I have to apply way more pressure specifically at the first fret, and I don’t want to risk straining my wrist in the process.
Is this the sort of issue caused by high action? Are there any other plausible explanations, and should I get my uke looked at by a professional luthier? Any help would be appreciated!
(I did check the action myself though I’m not sure how common this test is - when I press the strings down at the third fret, there is about 0.75-1mm of daylight between the crown of the first fret and the strings... remember reading somewhere that this is a bit much but I could be mistaken...)
Simply put, I am finding it unusually difficult to barre the first fret on my uke, and it’s preventing me from getting clean sounds out of chords I’m learning, like Bb, Bbm and F#. Somehow the strings feel a lot stiffer on the first fret than anywhere else on the fretboard, and I need to apply significantly more pressure with the barre to have the notes ring out (I can barre the second fret onwards without a problem). The problem seems to be improving with practice but it doesn’t seem at all normal that I have to apply way more pressure specifically at the first fret, and I don’t want to risk straining my wrist in the process.
Is this the sort of issue caused by high action? Are there any other plausible explanations, and should I get my uke looked at by a professional luthier? Any help would be appreciated!
(I did check the action myself though I’m not sure how common this test is - when I press the strings down at the third fret, there is about 0.75-1mm of daylight between the crown of the first fret and the strings... remember reading somewhere that this is a bit much but I could be mistaken...)