Intonation issues with Aquila 30U GDAE strings

Hi,

I haven't played my soprano in a long time so I put on
Aquila 30U GDAE strings and have been playing it daily. I really love the fifths tuning because violin is my main instrument. However I have noticed that the intonation is off quite a bit. I tuned it so that the open strings are perfectly in tune. Here is an example:

The worst is the A string:

Note = +/- cents
A = 0
B = +4
C = +5
C# = +8
D = +8
E = +10

The open D is near 0 but the other ones on this string are on average +5 cents.

The notes on the G string are on average +2 or +3 cents.

And the E string is on average +3.

To my (bad) ears, GD & E are acceptable. But the A string being +8 cents sounds off.

Is this normal? I know I'm pushing the limits with the fifths tuning on a soprano uke. My strings are not new, I've had them on this uke and changed them with the normal Aquila strings several times now. I don't know if it's a problem with the strings or the uke. My uke is a Flea soprano.

I really enjoy playing GDAE with nylon strings at a low budget.

I think the soprano just suffers the most from string changes and especially if has fat frets and a high setup. It's short scale length means that the string length changes a lot from ideal when fretting.

What errors do you get if you play the natural harmonics at the 12th?

clear said:

I think the soprano just suffers the most from string changes and especially if has fat frets and a high setup. It's short scale length means that the string length changes a lot from ideal when fretting.

What errors do you get if you play the natural harmonics at the 12th?

Click to expand...

At 12th fet:

E string: near 0 but sustain isn't long enough to get a good reading
A string: +10
D string: 0
G string: 0

The intonation on the 5th fret seemed to be better today, I don't know why. It was much more humid today after raining all day. I don't know if that changes it. On my tuner, -15 to +15 still lights up green and the notes were pretty much all green so I think the intonation is not that bad.

I thought the flea ukes had good intonation because the fretboard is plastic and molded accurately, but I don't know. If I could get better sound buying a better soprano I would consider it.

How high is your nut? What's your action like at the 12th fret?

I always thought that for fifth tuning you need different saddle compensation because the range of string thickness is much larger. Have you thought about getting a different saddle for the fifth set of strings?

merlin666 said:

I always thought that for fifth tuning you need different saddle compensation because the range of string thickness is much larger. Have you thought about getting a different saddle for the fifth set of strings?

Click to expand...

Just curious, how would this saddle look like?

Eugenio

Here is a photo of the nut & action at the nut and at the end of the fetboard.

I don't have a way to accurately measure the action.

I have those strings on my soprano and also have some intonation issues (nor do I like the tone, as I recently said in a different fifths tuning thread.For me, it’s my D string and I believe it’s because it is thicker than the fluorocarbon C string that it replaced and is not fully in the nut slot. it’s almost +30 at the 12th. I didn’t want to widen the slot (in case I didn’t like it) but I believe I will have to, as I play up the neck a great deal of the time.My A and E are ok, as is the G. I didn’t use the Aquila G from the set though. I’m sure that would also have sat high in the nut slot too, but I used the low G Fremont soloist (wound string, so it’s thinner than the nylon G).
I’m gonna experiment with fluorocarbon for the D,A and E,(happy with the G). I think the nylon Aquila set is dead sounding up the neck. I think fluorocarbon may have better tone and clarity, and since they are thinner than nylon, they will sit deeper in the slots hopefully correcting intonation issue and lower action. I just gotta figure out what gauges. Suggested strings were given in that other thread but it was for nylon.I was hoping someone had already worked it out for fluorocarbon.