Tenor uke harder to play?

$

$arge

Member
Joined
Nov 26, 2009
Messages
15
Reaction score
0
Hello all-
im mainly a lurker around here but i have a question...
ive been playing a lanikai soprano uke, then i upgraded to an ou2, then a OU7T oscar schmidt spalted mango, and it seems that i have to push harder and position your fingers exactly behind the frets in order to get the strings to not buzz, especially when changing chords. it just seems odd, its so pretty and when you do position your fingers right its awesome, but the buzzing up against the fret is driving me nuts!!! is this true in all tenors vs sopranos? but why not in the concerts? or is it a string thing? i have aquila's on it. should i try other brand name strings to minimize buzzing?
thanks-
$arge...
 
IANAL (I am not a luthier) but I'm going to hazard a guess that the setup on that particular tenor may be to blame and perhaps an adjustment to the nut/bridge would help. It wouldn't hurt to try another brand of strings. Personally, I prefer Worth fluorocarbons over Aquilas, but you'll get widely different opinions as to the "best" strings out there.

As far as having to "push harder" on the tenor, the longer the scale length, the more tension there is on the strings.
 
My Kala tenor is easier to play than my Dolphin or Ohana sopranos, and only a tad bit harder to play than my Flea, which is the easiest uke I have ever played. I am not a big guy at 5'8" on a tall day, but I do wear size large gloves. The hardest strings for me to push down are the ones next to the nut, and on the tenor there is more distance between the nut and first fret, which seems to make it easier. Barre chords up high on the neck are way easier to play on my tenor.
 
Last edited:
As beautiful as they look, Oscar Schmidt's aren't necessarily what I'd call a "premium" instrument, so I wouldn't be surprised if the setup suffered a bit. I sold my OS guitar to someone with stronger hands than I had as it was downright painful to play.

So no, not all Tenors are difficult. Yes there's a bit more tension, and the longer scale makes long stretches that much harder, but I love my Kala Tenors (both of them).
 
My Kala tenor is actually easy to play. I am sure that a few months of practice time will get you and your new OS playing "together." What may seem like a nuisance now will actually increase your skill level by forcing you to be spot-on accurate. Good luck!
 
You know i tend to agree with the both of you, but it just bugs me that its that hard to play, i wrote the OS co. and asked them to see what they thought. i felt kind of "shooed" away, they said "take it to a music tech so he can make an adjustment." i thought that was poor customer service help. i really like it, and i hate spending money for crap that doesn't work. so i will see what the music guy says. but if its too much they will hear from me again. too bad that customer service nation wide is going to crap. what happened to companies that stand by their products???!
Rafael-
 
It sounds to me like you need the setup/action adjusted. I don't think it should be harder to play a tenor than a soprano. The main difference should be in spacing. I don't think you should notice a huge difference in playability, generally speaking. How is the intonation on the tenor? Do the notes stay in tune as you go up the neck?

I've got a Kelii soprano and a Kala jazz tenor. The only difference I notice at all is size.
 
I'm no expert but it sounds like a set up issue to me. Maybe the action is a little on the high side if you're having to push down harder. I have an Ohana TK35G and it's sh-weet, i just love playing it. In fact, most of the time I have to remember not to fret chords too hard as it just doesn't need a lot of pressure. I use Worth strings on it as I had a couple of problems with Aquilas intially that put me off them.

I certainly wouldn't discount Tenors because of this issue, I love 'em for the extra room the have on the neck and the great full sound they give.
 
I believe that i have found the problem...
the action on the OS seems o.k. BUT.... the fret wires are so tiny that i myself have to push a bit harder than the rest. why harder? because due to this being my first tenor my hand is used to concert and soprano uke hand chord positioning. so im at fault but i belive this would be one GREAT instrument if they just upped the gauge on the fret wire a notch or two. either way it doesn't help me any but i guess i'll just have to be more aware of which uke im playing at the time.
i thoughht id fill you all in on my findings....
Raf-
 
i'm a recent uke convert from 7 years of guitar, so i find the neck size and string tension of tenors much more comfortable. whenever i play my soprano for extended periods i get horrible finger cramps and my wrists start to ache. it's all in what you're used to and comfortable with i guess. for example, my girlfriend loves playing soprano but finds my tenor cumbersome.

i've played two OS concerts at Guitar Center and found the action to be awkwardly high. they do sound nice, though. i'd recommend a lanikai tenor in that price range. i couldn't be happier with mine.
 
Guess I have to chime in that of all my ukes the Flea is far the easiest to play for some reason. The others are OK with the Pono tenor for some reason more difficult, no doubt higher action amd maybe strings. Seems that tenors have more string tension so should I think they may be harder to fret,
 
What kind of strings do you have on it? I switched to low tension floru strings (Worths clears) and I find it much easier to fret my tenor.
 
I First began with a soprano but moved to a tenor recently as the size was much more comfortable to play, I personally find tenors better then sopranos but I did have to get the bit and nut fixed as there were some problems when I first bought it, I also had to change from the more common GCEA to Bartione (DGBE) having said that, it wasn't to tricky. Once you get used to it they're about as easy as each other.
 
I've done it too just as an experiment, but went back to GCEA. What made you decide you needed to change tuning?
 
When my Dad and I were tuning it we had problems that the heads were either slipping or the tensions was to tight for the neck as we struggled to tune it up, I went on 'ukulele chord finder' to find the lowest possible tuning to decrease the tensionon the neck, I had to re-learn chords but as I hadn't being playing for a while with my previous (cheapy cheap Mahalo always went out of tune every 10 seconds) it was much of an issue.
 
It sounds to me like you had mismatched strings, or needed some tuner maintenance. But if it works for you and you're happy with it, that's all that matters.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

purplepotamus
For Sale 2023 KOALOHA KOA TENOR SLIMLINE UKE with L.R. Baggs 5.0 PU: Mint
Replies
9
Views
613
rhiggie
rhiggie
Papa John
Sold Pono Bn4-3 mango nui baritone uke/tenor guitar
Replies
0
Views
262
Papa John
Papa John
3-1-1
For Sale Bonanza Tenor Dreadnaught HPL Uke
Replies
2
Views
305
3-1-1
3-1-1
H
For Sale Pono (Ko'Olau) TE electric solid body Acacia tenor uke
Replies
3
Views
536
Festussian
F
Shaw
New Uke Day (NUD) New... something day: tenor guitar turned octave ukulele. More guitar or more uke?
2
Replies
25
Views
1K
rustydusty
rustydusty
Top Bottom