Arcy
Strummin' in the Rain
How do you identify if the problem with a specific Uke is:
Ok. Easy answer: it's the player. The long term goal is to upgrade the player without replacing him, but that will take a while and in the short term I'm trying to figure out if there's also a tools problem.
I've run into issues both when trying out Ukes in the store and at home. I have a cheap soprano and just got an inexpensive concert. I liked the soprano a lot more before I got the concert.
I'm trying to figure out if the difference is this specific soprano and I should swap it for a better one, if its something I can adjust, or if the soprano just doesn't sing for me and I should concentrate on larger sizes for now.
I suspect it's a mix of 1 & 2: the specific instrument was cheap and definitely has limits on its sound, but it sounds good enough to learn on if I hit the notes cleanly. After I dropped the action it's fairly playable up to the 8th or 9th fret.
The three big differences for me between playing it and the concert are:
What I haven't done yet is to swap out the soprano's strings, because I ditzed out when doing the setup and misplaced the new set.
My current theory is that the problem is either the strings (fixable by changing, I hope) or the string tension (which appears noticeably looser on the soprano than the concert - I think that's an expected difference), and that a better player would compensate.
Similarly, I was hoping to narrow down what I liked both in sizes and tone woods by trying everything available in the local mega-music store, but my results and variables were so inconsistent I couldn't draw any conclusions.
The instruments there are not set up well, have new and unsettled strings, are all in the category where I can't tell if they are cheap (low cost but bad) or inexpensive (low cost and worthy). I've never played a Uke there that called to me, nor gotten a quiet listen without a lot of conflicting sound from others. At some point I should give into snobbery and make the trek to the dangerously good music store
- The Uke itself
- The setup
- The player
Ok. Easy answer: it's the player. The long term goal is to upgrade the player without replacing him, but that will take a while and in the short term I'm trying to figure out if there's also a tools problem.
I've run into issues both when trying out Ukes in the store and at home. I have a cheap soprano and just got an inexpensive concert. I liked the soprano a lot more before I got the concert.
I'm trying to figure out if the difference is this specific soprano and I should swap it for a better one, if its something I can adjust, or if the soprano just doesn't sing for me and I should concentrate on larger sizes for now.
I suspect it's a mix of 1 & 2: the specific instrument was cheap and definitely has limits on its sound, but it sounds good enough to learn on if I hit the notes cleanly. After I dropped the action it's fairly playable up to the 8th or 9th fret.
The three big differences for me between playing it and the concert are:
- the concert sounds a lot richer, which I expect is a combination of upgraded size and higher quality instrument.
- the concert stays in tune much better than the soprano does, even though the soprano's strings have had longer to settle
- I get caught up in the soprano's strings often when strumming, while I don't on the concert. This is my big problem right now.
What I haven't done yet is to swap out the soprano's strings, because I ditzed out when doing the setup and misplaced the new set.
My current theory is that the problem is either the strings (fixable by changing, I hope) or the string tension (which appears noticeably looser on the soprano than the concert - I think that's an expected difference), and that a better player would compensate.
Similarly, I was hoping to narrow down what I liked both in sizes and tone woods by trying everything available in the local mega-music store, but my results and variables were so inconsistent I couldn't draw any conclusions.
The instruments there are not set up well, have new and unsettled strings, are all in the category where I can't tell if they are cheap (low cost but bad) or inexpensive (low cost and worthy). I've never played a Uke there that called to me, nor gotten a quiet listen without a lot of conflicting sound from others. At some point I should give into snobbery and make the trek to the dangerously good music store