Things That Could Improve Sound of Any Ukulele

kregger said:

Just curious what players have tried in their endless pursuit of optimal sound.

I've experimented with all brands/types of strings, raising/lowering action, etc., but these are all ordinary things. I'm wondering if there are any counter intuitive methods for enhancement. For example, I'm considering sanding the top down just a tiny bit to make my uke thinner and thus, produce greater vibrations. I probably won't do it, but I just say it as an example of something that COULD be done. I just want to optimize everything about my uke's sound...even if it's risky or makes it unsightly. Just want the best sound possible.

BTW, I love the sound my KTM-00 produces, so I'm not looking for "maybe you should try a different uke." My question applies to all ukes: what could be done to improve the sound, even if by only .01%, of any uke?

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Is the KTM the uke you're looking to optimize? I ADORE my KTM-00, so I think this is a rather odd question. I feel that mine is optimized already, and I couldn't imagine doing anything that could make it better, short of a string change or action change, which are perfect for me as they are. Becoming a better player is the way to go, as I know I don't do this uke justice. I would love to hear it in the hands of a really, really good player. This reminds me of something that happened last year. I went into a uke shop to get a few things done on my Kanile'a (action lowered), and the owner brought out what he called his old "beater" uke, an old Kanile'a. It was a sight for sore eyes, really beat up. As a music instructor, he was VERY good, and the decrepit Kanile'a sounded marvelous - a real gem of a uke! I know my KTM will make the music I want to make, once (if!) I become proficient enough. If you are talking about playing around with a cheap uke which isn't already very finely made, well that is a different story.

I just want to state for the record, in case any eyes come across this thread in the future, I would 100% buy the KTM-00 again. Nothing is wrong with my KTM-00. It sounds phenomenal and I'd readily choose it over the other K brands a thousand times over. If you're thinking about getting a KTM-00, don't let this thread deter you.

Driver: "What can I do to make my race car even faster?"
Crew: "Drive more."
Driver: "Yeah, I get that, and I will, but I'm asking if there's anything I can modify on the car that'll make it even faster."
Crew: "You have a fast car."
Driver: "Yes, I know, and it's awesome and I win a races with it, but is there anything I can do to make it even faster?"
Crew: "Have you tried other cars?"
Driver: "I don't want another car. I just want to know if there's anything I can do to make it faster."

The answer to your question is no, there is nothing that can be done that would be guaranteed to make every ukulele sound better.

Every ukulele is unique, so something that might help one would be detrimental to another. And two people can have different beliefs of if it’s better or worse.

There are lots of things that can be done to make a ukulele sound or feel different, but there’s no way to know if you will think the result is better or worse. Because unlike the speed of a car, which can be objectively measured, the sound of a ukulele being good or bad is subjective.

I understand where you are coming from, we all what the holy grail of sound. Neil 0 did give you some constructive ideas. A few others are raise the saddle height, this usually increases volume. Have a luthier change the nut and saddle from the stock Tusc material to real bone. Have the bridge converted to string through instead of tie bar. Experimenting and I mean exhaustive experimenting with different strings, this gives the BIGGEST change in sound.

At the end of the day these changes might make it sound different but possibly not better.

kregger said:

Driver: "What can I do to make my race car even faster?"
Crew: "Drive more."
Driver: "Yeah, I get that, and I will, but I'm asking if there's anything I can modify on the car that'll make it even faster."
Crew: "You have a fast car."
Driver: "Yes, I know, and it's awesome and I win a races with it, but is there anything I can do to make it even faster?"
Crew: "Have you tried other cars?"
Driver: "I don't want another car. I just want to know if there's anything I can do to make it faster."

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Crew: “This is the best car available anywhere, it’s perfection, it’s state of the art. If it were possible to make it faster then we’d have already done it, that’s our job and we’re ‘the best’. Wait a minute though, I’ve just got to find it, I know it’s around here somewhere; when I find my Wand I’ll turn you into Lewis Hamilton, that’ll make the car will go faster.”



No offence intended, but I feel for the frustration of the crew.

Perhaps what you’re really looking for are forms of customisation which make it possible for you to extract more from your instrument, but customisations are specific to the user and the device so effective customisations are somewhat difficult to identify without seeing and talking to you. Almost only conversations with a Luthier will help you.

If you play without nails, you could try growing them out. I suppose it would depend on the type of music you play as well as many other factors, but after growing mine out, I felt like I had new instruments.

More for the theoretical discussion; Bigger or smaller frets, height and or width. I have a guitar that has jumbo frets. I cannot make it play the way I want yet, but it is a very different animal from the standard frets. On a medium-fret guitar, and all ukes I have played, my fingers are stopped from pressing down on the strings any further by contact with the fretboard. With my jumbo fret guitar, you will send the notes sharp if you do not press lightly on the strings. I guess I should also suggest fretboard scalloping, since I am enjoying this game.

DownUpDave says: nut and saddle and extensive string comparisons. In that vein, a metal nut, roller nut or a zero fret might do something interesting to the open strings. Compensated saddle? I can't tell if they use one from the pictures.

Some folks use different brands of strings for each position, so you might find a wolf-note-suppressing or otherwise enhancing combinations of different kinds of strings and fishing line. Gut strings?

What is the KTM brand?

merlin666 said:

What is the KTM brand?

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Since it is a "KTM-00"; wouldn't that make it a KoAloha?

cFloor said:

If you play without nails, you could try growing them out. I suppose it would depend on the type of music you play as well as many other factors, but after growing mine out, I felt like I had new instruments.

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I agree. Recently grew out my thumb nail and it makes the notes ring so much clearer & louder.

clear said:

Since it is a "KTM-00"; wouldn't that make it a KoAloha?

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Thanks I didn't clue into that. I am a big KoAloha fan so not sure what improvement may be possible. However, sometimes they sound quite harsh and metallic in videos but you never know if it's playing style or recording equipment that may be the cause. But if they actually sound like that with a skilled player in natural setting my first suggestion of a remedy would be to use different strings. Not sure what else could be done to tone down excessive harshness.

I think the main thing that could improve any ukulele is to practice...

merlin666 said:

Thanks I didn't clue into that. I am a big KoAloha fan so not sure what improvement may be possible. However, sometimes they sound quite harsh and metallic in videos but you never know if it's playing style or recording equipment that may be the cause. But if they actually sound like that with a skilled player in natural setting my first suggestion of a remedy would be to use different strings. Not sure what else could be done to tone down excessive harshness.

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It is a KoAloha. Since it is handmade, each uke will be different, but mine is sweet and resonant, and anything but harsh or metallic. These are all koa, and have that sweet, warm, rich koa sound. Adding that mine is a 2020 model, so is the new KTM-00 design, which is supposed to sound different that the previous design. Since the OP says he is 99% happy, I'm wondering what is the 1% that you find lacking?

I think to make strides toward "optimal sound", one first needs to identify what part of the sound that they hear is NOT optimal. From there, you can work to improve things, if it is possible to do so.

So, I'd start by doing a detailed check of intonation. Every note. Every string. Is it perfect? Of course it's not. How close to perfect is it? Can you make it better? Would it matter if you did? A lot of these questions only YOU can answer.

Somebody linked to a DIY setup thread elsewhere in this thread. Good info there.

Assuming intonation is close enough to perfect to suit you, and you don't have any buzzing or playability problems...

Are you looking for more volume? Are you chasing wolf tones? Are you interested in the subjective nuances of "warmth", or "sweetness"? Do you want it to sound better to YOU, or better to an audience?

Before you can solve the problem, you have to DEFINE the problem. Otherwise, you're just compiling a list of all the possible modifications/corrections you could do to a uke... maybe your uke needs some of them, maybe it doesn't?

I know that if I had a good recording setup, I could record certain notes, chords on my uke and identify "that! That sound right there. How do I get rid of it?" I can't even describe some of the sounds... and much of what I hear is (wait for it...) definitely related to how *I* choose to play. So, that's a factor.

To summarize... you're telling us that there's nothing wrong with your ukulele, and asking how to fix it. Tell us what's WRONG. What is it you'd like to improve? Then you'll surely get better answers.

To relate this back to cars (I'm a car guy and into motorsports), I've SEEN people throw the catalog at a perfectly good car in the name of making it "faster" only to succeed in making it difficult to drive and ultimately slower. Where a REALLY GOOD DRIVER in the same car in unmodified form will blow them and everybody else away and make it look easy. "It's not the car, it's the driver." Yes, the really good driver will be even faster in a PROPERLY modified car... but, that doesn't mean just blindly throwing parts or modifications at the car. As above, you need to be able to identify exactly what the car NEEDS, and carefully fix those problems without creating other problems.

Add a passive pickup. Hook up to an amp. Play like there's no tomorrow.

I think I'll be going chime in here.

I think it is not the ukulele that really affect the sound. I have own several ukuleles and tried many ukuleles. I have always wanted to hear the differences of the Hawaiian K Brands, and I did. Before the Covid-19 epidermic started, I sat down at Island Bazaar in Huntington Beach and tried 3 K Brands ukuleles. Kamaka, KoAloha, and Kanile'a. I played each ukuleles. They are all tenor-sized. I was surprised by how big the differences are on my comparison. The KoAloha, which I could describe as loud, clear, and bright. The Kamaka is warm, and soft, but also clear at the same time. The Kanile'a is actually a combination of both, it is soft, and mellow but also punchy and clear (I could hear each string very clearly when played). But at the same time, I remember I have long nails when I play. I always trim my left hand nails down when I am unable to play Fmaj7, but my right hand nails are moderate-long nails, just like classical guitar players. I am a jazz ukulele players, I prefer the clear sound but tends to stay on the soft and mellow side of the range. When I play a song, I play it differently than the last time I play it. So I suggest to observe each time you play and notice the small little details compared to the last time you play. Hear the embellishments, tweak/play with the sound to your liking.

Benjamin

With a fine instrument, strings you like, and lots of practice, the only other thing you can do to improve sound quality is fine tuning. Until practiced for a while, about the best your ear can do is +-.5 cents. That may, or may not sound optimal, depending on where that +or- falls. Your ordinary electronic tuner isn't any better. But, years ago I spent the additional money and bought a Polytune Clip tuner that is accurate, in chromatic mode, to +-.03 cents. After a few months of careful use, my ear got better, and I can now hear discrepancies under the .5 cents mark. Between my ear, and the Polytune, I can get the strings to ring beautifully in sympathetic harmony. That gives the Uke more to work with, and resonance and volume are increased. It does improve the overall sound. Typically, I first tune with the Polytune, then make tiny adjustments, if necessary, by ear. Most often, I find a slight adjustment to the C string against the A third fret, sweetens it up.

This is fascinating VegasGeorge. I was just gifted a Petersen Stroboscopic tuner that promises sweetened tunings for various stringed instruments. I am sad that it is Monday (workday), as I'd like a few hours with my new hopefully accurate tuner and my ears to try to understand how the 'sweetened' tunings differ from the normal temperament I have always used.

Neil_O said:

This is fascinating VegasGeorge. I was just gifted a Petersen Stroboscopic tuner that promises sweetened tunings for various stringed instruments. I am sad that it is Monday (workday), as I'd like a few hours with my new hopefully accurate tuner and my ears to try to understand how the 'sweetened' tunings differ from the normal temperament I have always used.

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The sweetened tunings are generally based on some type of just intonation, which means you can't transpose to different keys.

Dear friends,

When it comes to tuning, I want to chime in.
Sweetened tunings -- sounds cool, but the thing is: On ukuleles there are a lot of possible sources for intonation to go wrong. That also includes _playing technique_ to a huge extent.
So, all I can say:
Use your ears.
I didn't use an electric tuner since years. I don't care for the numbers it displays. I want my uke to SOUND right, not numbers to look right.
No tuner can help you to hear if several notes played together sound good. No tuner will help you to get the technique right and to adjust for slight inaccuracies of strings and instrument to the extent to get the desired result in the actual music you want to play.
You have to learn to hear it.
It's an interesting question whether a high quality tuner may be useful for improving hearing accuracy or not. I personally prefer to use my ears and a simple tuning fork, so I can concentrate on music and make music sound good for my ears. And that's what's really counts for me. And yes, I *DO* adjust my tuning if the music doesnt sound right for me. At least, if I'm not too lazy at that moment.

Best Regards
Wilfried