Ukulele For Dummies (71 page)

If the air is very damp, the uke can warp. Leave a silica gel pack in the uke case to avoid this problem, which is more likely with solid wood ukuleles because laminated ones tend to hold up better in humid conditions. Ukes quite often come with silica packs anyway, but they're also cheap and easy to buy separately.

Diagnosing and Solving Uke Problems

In a perfect world, all ukuleles would be carefully made and ready to play straight out of the box. The fact is, however, that some aren't and have slight problems. This section provides a quick guide to a few of the problems you may encounter and what you can do about them.

To be honest, my carpentry skills are nonexistent. I know from experience not to so much as uncork a bottle of wine without industrial strength gloves, a Darth Vader-style helmet and a medical trauma unit on standby. But even I'm willing to take on the following simple jobs such as lowering and raising the action on a uke.

Deciding that the strings are too high: Lowering the action

The height of the strings above the fretboard is known as the
action
.

Now, the preferred action is a matter of personal taste. The average is a credit card-width distance between the top of the frets and the string. But some people prefer the action lower to make the uke easier to play, and others prefer it higher to improve the sound and prevent buzzing.

The action can be so high as to be unplayable. If chords such as B
m are almost impossible to fret cleanly because of the height of the strings, you may want to lower the action.

The action can be lowered at either end of a uke but a good idea is to start with the saddle. Most ukuleles have removable saddles, and so take off the strings and pull it out with some needle-nose pliers.

Sand down the bottom of the saddle but do so very gradually. Lowering a uke's action is much easier than raising it. So just give it a few swipes with the sandpaper, replace it and test it out.

The process of lowering the action is pretty similar at the nut, but you have to be more careful because the margin for error is even smaller. You can get specific fret files for this job, which is a good idea. The alternative is to use a thin needle-file. Again, take off a small amount and test it.

Lower the action only very gradually. This advice goes double for adjustments at the nut (actually it's more than doubly important, but I don't know the right word for 14 times as important!).

Fixing a buzzing sound: Raising the action

If the buzzing is coming from the strings, make a note of when you hear it. If the problem occurs on open strings or when you strum heavily, the strings may be too low on the fretboard and you need to raise the action.

To raise the action at the bridge, remove the strings and place a very small piece of wood (such as a sliver of a matchstick) or even just a little paper under it.

Raising the action at the nut is much more of a faff. The best solution is to replace the nut altogether. Some nuts slide out easily, some don't.

The alternative is to try to fill in the slot and then recut it to the depth you want. You can use superglue mixed with a powder of your choosing – baking soda or shavings of the same material as the nut are the most popular options.

If the buzzing seems to be localised to a specific string or fret, take a close look at the frets above the problem spot. One of them may be slightly too high or not set in the fretboard correctly.

You need to be brave or skilful to lower a fret by taking a little off it; I suggest leaving this task to a specialist.

If the buzzing doesn't seem to be coming from the strings, the problem may be loose geared tuners. If you hear a buzzing from them, check the screws are properly tightened. If the problem can't be fixed, you can buy replacement tuners fairly easily.

Fighting against out-of-tune strings high up the fretboard

Ideally, ukuleles should stay in tune all the way up the neck – which is known as having good
intonation
. Unfortunately, that's not always the case with cheap ukes.

If your uke goes out of tune as you play farther up the neck, the problem can be hard to fix. Sometimes changing strings can improve things – faulty strings can be uneven in thickness, which produces this problem (definitely try this first if your ukulele is new). If the gap between the strings higher up is very wide, you can inadvertently bend them out of tune as you fret them. If that's the case with your uke, try lowering the action (see the earlier section ‘Deciding that the strings are too high: Lowering the action').

But often this problem lies with the manufacturing and is difficult to rectify.

Adjusting strings that go out of tune

If your uke has friction tuners, try tightening the screw on the pegs to solve this problem. Not so much that you can't turn it, but just enough so that it doesn't unspool.

If you've just put new strings on your ukulele, they may well lose their tuning quickly in the beginning. You may notice this happening for as long as two weeks, depending on how much you play.

Follow the guide in the earlier section ‘Stretching the strings' to take out some of your new strings' stretch.