Bizarre experience with a KoAloha

I own a longneck KoAloha soprano strung with KoAloha soprano strings. I think they recommend concert strings, but I always observed stepping up that direction kind of kills the sound on these smaller bodies. They are built light and don’t need much to fully resonate the soundboard. It does buzz on a certain string certain chords tuned in standard C tuning with my vigorous playing style aka really digging in, but the trick is I tune up to D (ADF#B) and wala zero buzzing without so much floppy-ness in the strings. This is not a problem for me as a solo player, but you can always re-tune back to C at a uke group or playing with a band need be and it’s really hard to notice in that loud of a setting. The upgraded UPT tuners really make tuning back and forth a breeze. Hope this helps, little soprano/sub-sopranos were originally tuned higher back in the days anyways it’s just physics and sounds MUCH more ideal.

Dohle, I hope you get this resolved soon. There is a whole thread somewhere in UU about fixing buzzes, which aggravate me to no end.

If you switch to D tuning, don't you have to learn a whole new set of chord names?
Or, if you use Onsong, can you just switch each song to the next lower key?
 
D tuning itself wouldn't be a problem but there are a couple of issues with it. The major one is that if you tune strings that are meant for C tuning up to D tuning you usually get quite a high tension on the strings. This might solve the issue, although not guaranteed, but in any case I prefer the normal tension designed for the strings. The other issue is that I don't believe D tuning would sound as good on a KoAloha. D tuning generally produces a very shrill sound, especially on sopranos. I have my Gibson banjo uke and my Brüko soprano tuned to D but I seriously doubt it would suit the KoAloha. I'd prefer the sound for this one to be at least somewhat subtle and mellow.
 
As I mentioned earlier, the shop owner offered to raise the nut to fix the issue. He actually said that the issue might very well be that the nut is too low / the nut slots are cut too low. But before I mess with the nut (or have someone else to do it), I'll wait for KoAloha's response. I'm sure they will know what should be done next.

The buzz indeed stops when fretting the strings. My little paper trick also got rid of the buzzing, so the issue is definitely the nut, or at least at the nut. I just think that jamming some paper under the strings is not an acceptable long-term solution as it can affect the sound of the strings. Also, I always try new strings first when dealing with buzzes so it's definitely not the stock strings. I even switched them to a slightly higher tension than the stock strings but that alone wasn't enough to fix the issue.

Thanks for all the responses and support, btw. For now, I'll try to take it easy and wait for KoAloha's instructions. Although, being the impatient dolt that I am, I already ordered another higher-end uke from another dealer so I can at least have that one to play with, but I am still determined getting the KoAloha fixed as it's my only koa intrument.

If, as you said, the buzzing stops when you fret the strings - the problem is the nut slots are cut too low.
 
If, as you said, the buzzing stops when you fret the strings - the problem is the nut slots are cut too low.

I think the nut could also be cut too wide or too narrow. But my head is hurting trying to figure it out.
 
If indeed the fault is with the nut as shipped from the factory, it's still good to let KoAloha know about it. Since you've already reached out, I hope you get a satisfactory result soon.
 
I'm a bit late to the conversation, but I'd like to add some reference to the analysis. From personal experience I completely agree with Davaravo ( #24 ).

I have a new KSM-10 (soprano) Pikake. I've noticed a distinct 'chime-like' buzz when playing the A open. It goes away on any fretted note.
Prior to my purchase I watched a number of videos from and about KoAloha. I remembered a specific one entitled "KoAloha Notching Process." At the beginning, he refers to "the issue" being an ongoing "problem" that he's going to show us how to correct by further Notching the nut. He gives very specific cut dimensions for each size of uke!

FWIW, during setup I requested the strings be changed to pink Uke Logic's. The 'soft' version has an A string that is pretty small in diameter, something like .019" My suspicion was that skinnier string was vibrating in a nut slot that was cut for a thicker string.

The factory nut is a TUSQ 1265-00. Upon inspection, the nut on my KoAloha -from the factory/dealer- is cut really deep too. I think that increased the likelihood of vibrating 'in the V cut' when it's so deep. I've included two images for comparison. One is of my Romero tenor, the other the KoAloha in question. Both string heights -at the nut- are the same, around 0.054-.055

I sent an email to KoAloha and they sent me a new nut. (It seems to be an odd 'size' as I couldn't find it anywhere online and local luthier didn't find it in their catalog of TUSQ) Anyhow the stock nut is REALLY tall. It's going to require some deep starter cuts and I'll cut the top down before refining the nut angle.

Of final note, the head angle of the KoAloha soprano is pretty shallow when I compare it with both my Ohana and Kanile'a. That might make it more difficult to get the angle and break just right. Perhaps that's what the video helps define.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F3GCOBpRhWQ&list=PL2XyznNq3HxOGr3n3ykEmT2GdgNLa0CTl&index=17

View attachment 125949

PS - Advance the video to around 3:20 mark to hear the examples of the chime-ie buzz.
 
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Tell you what, the A string on my KSM-00 has that exact chime, although it's clearly audible with a down stroke as well (as opposed to the video). The G string doesn't have the exact same chime, more of a buzz, but it's close.

Thank you for the whole comment. At least my initial suspicions lean towards the same issues you've had. Certainly seems to be something to do with the nut or nut slots. I have a feeling that thicker strings might help with the issue but I haven't tried yet as I'm still waiting for further response from KoAloha, so I'll keep waiting for now. Wouldn't be surprised if they decided to send me a new nut as well.
 
Tell you what, the A string on my KSM-00 has that exact chime, although it's clearly audible with a down stroke as well (as opposed to the video). The G string doesn't have the exact same chime, more of a buzz, but it's close.

Thank you for the whole comment. At least my initial suspicions lean towards the same issues you've had. Certainly seems to be something to do with the nut or nut slots. I have a feeling that thicker strings might help with the issue but I haven't tried yet as I'm still waiting for further response from KoAloha, so I'll keep waiting for now. Wouldn't be surprised if they decided to send me a new nut as well.

You're welcome... I'd originally thought about trying thicker strings, but have grown to like the Uke Logics and Worth Browns! I hesitated to link to the video because he was talking about problems they were having with ukes made from different woods. But, as WE know, it isn't limited to the ones to which he refers!

PS-If you decide to order a TUSQ direct from GraphTec the price is nearly $14 US plus shipping. Best to contact KoAloha, mention the video and your problem. They sent me a replacement, free of charge, in a postal envelope, no fancy packaging ... just dropped it in the Canada post!
 
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IIRC, the nut blanks were being manually cut at the KoAloha factory. Now that it looks like a problem has been identified outside of the seller, I hope you get a response from KoAloha soon!
 
Hi all. Just wanted to give some closure to my KoAloha issue.

So, I actually got a response from KoAloha a few weeks ago. They didn't suggest sending me a new nut but instead told me that the nut slots can be easily adjusted to fix the buzzing. They suggested that I bring the uke to a music shop for adjustment since obviously it makes no sense to send it halfway across the world to KoAloha themselves. In the end, I took the uke to a very good luthier I know. I had to pay a bit for the adjustment but it wasn't much, and I don't mind giving them some money anyway during these hard times. The buzz is now completely gone and the uke sounds wonderful. The action is now a bit lower than originally but I might actually prefer that, and I haven't noticed any issues with the lower action at least yet.

Just to be clear, I don't feel dissatisfied towards neither KoAloha nor the shop I bought the uke from, but I am still a bit puzzled why neither of them didn't feel that the buzzing should be fixed before selling the instrument. I guess it goes to show that even the more high-end ukes can have some flaws. Regardess of that, the responses from both parties were professional, I felt. In fact, the shop owner was so patient with me that I now feel comfortable telling the name of the shop. It's a German ukulele shop called Gute Ukulele. They replaced my uke once and offered to repair it twice without extra cost (I declined simply because it was cheaper for me to have it repaired locally), and in the end they sent me a bunch of string sets for free as an apology for my troubles. They mostly sell more high-end ukes so the selection is excellent, one of the best I've seen. The website (https://gute-ukulele.de/) is in German but it's easy to navigate by just using Google Translate. If anyone in the EU is looking for a high-end uke I would definitely recommend them.
 
hello, I've followed your story and would like to know what the luthier said was the cause or what he did to remedy it?
 
hello, I've followed your story and would like to know what the luthier said was the cause or what he did to remedy it?

When I brought the uke to the luthier, he almost immediately said that the nut slots were cut too narrow, if I recall correctly. In any case, the reason for the buzzing was that the strings were moving in the nut slot. KoAloha themselves said basically the same thing. The only thing the luthier did was he adjusted the nut slots by cutting them slightly so that the strings would fit better in the slot and wouldn't move. I can't describe the procedure in detail because I wasn't present when he did it. He managed to cut the slots so finely that the action wasn't lowered too much. If the action had lowered so much as to cause more buzzing, the nut would've had to be raised, but thankfully he didn't have to do that.
 
OK, thank you. I would guess that he angled the slot down to the tuning machine side, so the string rests on the forfront af the nut. That gives you a better intonation and nothing the string can rattle against.

It could also have been necessary to V-shape the slot, so the string can't move sideways.

Nice that it worked out for you.

I started learning to do these things on my own, after the only two local "luthiers" made a bad job of my instruments, so I had to correct it afterwards.

It's much easier to just do a job, instead doing corrections to other peoples bad jobs.
 
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