I suppose this thread could be suitable for the Luthier Lounge but since I'm not actually building a uke I'll just leave this here.
I have a number of mid and high-end ukes purchased from several different stores, and yesterday as I was playing and restringing a few of them I noticed some weird issues. On one of them, all of the strings weren't actually at the same height at the nut, and on another the nut slot for the 2nd string was cut at an angle so that the string gets caught on the nut slot when tightening or loosening the string. I'm glad I noticed these issues since now I know why I've been having some playability, tuning and intonation issues with these ukes, but I'm simply baffled these issues exist in the first place. These are high-end Hawaiian brands bought from reputable dealers (not naming names out of courtesy) and yet I'm experiencing issues that would and should be resolved with a simple setup. You might recall my previous frustration with a KoAloha soprano with a badly cut nut, so this isn't even the first time I'm experiencing these kinds of issues. I know that some brands like to leave the action fairly high at both the nut and saddle so maybe the responsibility, in the end, lies with the dealers.
Luckily, I know a very good luthier whose workshop is quite close to me but I really don't want to continually bring my ukes to him for a simple nut job (heh). So ultimately, I decided to order some nut files and learn to do setup for the nut myself. I'm a bit terrified of messing with the nut on high-end ukes but I did order some extra nuts for me to practice on. I'm confident I can do the job myself if I'm just careful enough but I'm happy to take any pointers from more experienced people that have done setups themselves.
Also, shoutout to the Southern Ukulele Store and World of Ukes. I've had zero issues regarding setup on any ukes I've purchased from them.
I have a number of mid and high-end ukes purchased from several different stores, and yesterday as I was playing and restringing a few of them I noticed some weird issues. On one of them, all of the strings weren't actually at the same height at the nut, and on another the nut slot for the 2nd string was cut at an angle so that the string gets caught on the nut slot when tightening or loosening the string. I'm glad I noticed these issues since now I know why I've been having some playability, tuning and intonation issues with these ukes, but I'm simply baffled these issues exist in the first place. These are high-end Hawaiian brands bought from reputable dealers (not naming names out of courtesy) and yet I'm experiencing issues that would and should be resolved with a simple setup. You might recall my previous frustration with a KoAloha soprano with a badly cut nut, so this isn't even the first time I'm experiencing these kinds of issues. I know that some brands like to leave the action fairly high at both the nut and saddle so maybe the responsibility, in the end, lies with the dealers.
Luckily, I know a very good luthier whose workshop is quite close to me but I really don't want to continually bring my ukes to him for a simple nut job (heh). So ultimately, I decided to order some nut files and learn to do setup for the nut myself. I'm a bit terrified of messing with the nut on high-end ukes but I did order some extra nuts for me to practice on. I'm confident I can do the job myself if I'm just careful enough but I'm happy to take any pointers from more experienced people that have done setups themselves.
Also, shoutout to the Southern Ukulele Store and World of Ukes. I've had zero issues regarding setup on any ukes I've purchased from them.