Good suggestion! It would be the most intrusive but it is very interesting! Will have to look up the tooling needed
Advice needed: Increase fret height without refretting
- Thread starter kerneltime
- Start date
Yup! and it is not the nut..
From this description is sounds as if you are barreing with the fleshy part of your finger and not the bony side. It might be worth trying to roll your wrist a little as you barre.
If you want to keep your existing playing technique, which seems to require higher frets, then the easiest and cheapest way is to re-fret it yourself. Much easier than you'd think if you read up on it thoroughly and don't rush at it.
Lowering the saddle will have almost no effect at the lower frets, so if your barreing is OK at the higher frets I wouldn't bother with that.
Thank you Beau, this helped, I reduced the saddle height down by half a mm. It reduced the pressure on the fingers quite a bit. This feels comfortable now.
Higher frets are still more desirable but I think I might be able to avoid the refretting time/cost. Also, it might be better to use slightly fatter strings. The current strings are Worth Brown
Thank you. Yeah I do try different positions but the problem only occurs on a specific uke not all ukes.. so some of it is the setup and frets. Lowering saddle actually helped.
Update: lowered the saddle by 0.7 mm approx. Bar chords play smoothly now.. the only remaining issue is when playing a single note with the pinky, the pressing is not perfect. Higher frets would help but reducing the saddle height had amazing results.
ktuurna
Well-known member
I have Anuenue Moon Bird tenor which has pretty fat frets. I have found them very comfortable and light to play and I like them much more than thin and low frets so I understand why you want higher frets. As they wrote at Gotaukulele.com's review:
We have 20 nickel silver frets in total, with 14 to the top shoulder and 17 to the lower shoulder. They are all dressed perfectly and the edges hidden by binding on the edge of the fingerboard. The frets are what I would consider in guitar circles to be of the more vintage jumbo style. That isn't to say they are high (quite the opposite) but that they are fatter than most you see on ukuleles which seem nothing more than thin fuse wire. These are immensely comfortable. The sort of frets that do their job but your fingers don't really know they are there. Wonderful.
They also wrote this:
"Boy... this has been a hard review to write. Am I really giving this the best score on Got A Ukulele ever? Well, yes, I am. It's close, but it IS the best. I have played a LOT of ukuleles but not all of them, so perhaps there is a better one out there. But I can only write as I find and this ukulele is wonderful. I want this ukulele!"
I must agree. I hope I can build better some day.
We have 20 nickel silver frets in total, with 14 to the top shoulder and 17 to the lower shoulder. They are all dressed perfectly and the edges hidden by binding on the edge of the fingerboard. The frets are what I would consider in guitar circles to be of the more vintage jumbo style. That isn't to say they are high (quite the opposite) but that they are fatter than most you see on ukuleles which seem nothing more than thin fuse wire. These are immensely comfortable. The sort of frets that do their job but your fingers don't really know they are there. Wonderful.
They also wrote this:
"Boy... this has been a hard review to write. Am I really giving this the best score on Got A Ukulele ever? Well, yes, I am. It's close, but it IS the best. I have played a LOT of ukuleles but not all of them, so perhaps there is a better one out there. But I can only write as I find and this ukulele is wonderful. I want this ukulele!"
I must agree. I hope I can build better some day.
Uke-alot
Well-known member
Did you remove the saddle and then shave off the bottom? If so, did the saddle easily come out of the bridge? I'm thinking of trying this with my Fluke.
Yes. their saddle design has changed over the years, not sure which one you have. There is a small piece of saddle made of some black man made material that sits in a slot on the bridge (quite hard to sand down without a sander), I removed it, used a coarse knife sharpener and a blade to shave it down and kept measuring using a caliper for the uniformity of the sanding.
The saddle pops off easily with the string tension is relaxed. I was able to get the saddle out and in without removing the strings, which is super nice. The saddle itself was a pain to sand (unlike bone saddle).
The saddle pops off easily with the string tension is relaxed. I was able to get the saddle out and in without removing the strings, which is super nice. The saddle itself was a pain to sand (unlike bone saddle).
Last edited:
Uke-alot
Well-known member
Thanks for this information! My Fluke was purchased from the factory in fall 2018. It does have a black saddle that sits in a slot in the bridge. Not having tried this before, I was slightly concerned that it might be glued into the slot or something. I'll probably give it a try one of these days, after I get brave.
It should not be glued and should be cheap to replace (if nothing else bone saddle on amazing is pretty cheap).
Also, raising a saddle is easier than lowering (you add wood/hard plastic strips). Go for it! It was the next best option after professional refret.
I am still considering the idea of glueing brass strips on top.
Also, raising a saddle is easier than lowering (you add wood/hard plastic strips). Go for it! It was the next best option after professional refret.
I am still considering the idea of glueing brass strips on top.
