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New baritone arrived yesterday
11 November 2010
New uke arrived yesterday - three business days from Nova Scotia, which is pretty good for Canada Post. Hadn't expected it until Friday, and the Canada Post site even said it wouldn't arrive until the 16th, so I was pleasantly surprised.
Only had a couple of hours with it, but I posted some preliminary comments on my ukulele review site. I am having mixed feelings about it, but finally realized it was because I don't like the way it has been strung. The former owner has it as a standard uke tuning - GCEA. I find it a little harsh, even shrill for a baritone-sized body. Plus it makes for a lot more tension on the strings and the strings feel stiff and resist bending.
After two hours, my fingertips were aching and this morning they still feel bruised. I don't have the same callouses I had when playing guitar, so I really feel this.
I think this weekend I will re-string it to DGBE, maybe even a re-entrant D. At the same time I will apply some fretboard stickers to make the markers more visible (picked up a couple of sets of these from a Japanese sticker maker online).
I will also sand down the saddle a hair to lower the action and then oil the whole thing with teak oil. There's a small, almost invisible hairline crack from the bridge to the lower end, which I believe is the two top pieces separating. This is probably just one or both sides drying out a bit, so the oil should help prevent it from going further. I don't think it's serious, but will need watching.
There is a more noticeable crack on the back - sloppily repaired so the two sides of it don't align (one side is a bit higher than the other, so it's easily felt and seen). It doesn't affect the sound, but I didn't know about it before, and the former owner never mentioned it to me in our conversations. I'm a bit miffed at finding it out only after opening the box. I'm not sure what can be done to it, but will have to ask a local luthier for advice or a quote. I don't think it's a serious crack that could worsen, but I'm not a luthier who can determine these things.
Aside from that, the builder, Aaron Keim, used a rather unusual bridge setup - the strings go through the bridge and top and are anchored by a glass bead and a knot. A good design, but it does make restringing a bit more of a pain, since the strings have to be fished out of the body and tied, then pulled back. Some uke builders (and most guitar builders who use the through-the-bridge design) drill a larger hole and use bridge pins to hold the strings in place. These are much easier to use. I like to replace the stock plastic pins with brass, for more resonance.
I also think baritone bridges should be a little larger to help spread the energy over more of the top. the bridge is small - a style more suited (I believe) to soprano ukes. Larger ukes should have 'wings' on the sides of the bridge. Changing the bridge, however, isn't something I plan to do.
The other thing I need to do is dress the frets a bit. They're a bit sharper than I like and I rub my fingertips on the lower side around the 12th-15th fret when I up-strum or fingerpick. After a short while, this begins to scrape at the skin and becomes uncomfortable, and increasingly sensitive. A little gentle filing is usually all that's needed to make them more friendly to my fingertips.
Only had a couple of hours with it, but I posted some preliminary comments on my ukulele review site. I am having mixed feelings about it, but finally realized it was because I don't like the way it has been strung. The former owner has it as a standard uke tuning - GCEA. I find it a little harsh, even shrill for a baritone-sized body. Plus it makes for a lot more tension on the strings and the strings feel stiff and resist bending.
After two hours, my fingertips were aching and this morning they still feel bruised. I don't have the same callouses I had when playing guitar, so I really feel this.
I think this weekend I will re-string it to DGBE, maybe even a re-entrant D. At the same time I will apply some fretboard stickers to make the markers more visible (picked up a couple of sets of these from a Japanese sticker maker online).
I will also sand down the saddle a hair to lower the action and then oil the whole thing with teak oil. There's a small, almost invisible hairline crack from the bridge to the lower end, which I believe is the two top pieces separating. This is probably just one or both sides drying out a bit, so the oil should help prevent it from going further. I don't think it's serious, but will need watching.
There is a more noticeable crack on the back - sloppily repaired so the two sides of it don't align (one side is a bit higher than the other, so it's easily felt and seen). It doesn't affect the sound, but I didn't know about it before, and the former owner never mentioned it to me in our conversations. I'm a bit miffed at finding it out only after opening the box. I'm not sure what can be done to it, but will have to ask a local luthier for advice or a quote. I don't think it's a serious crack that could worsen, but I'm not a luthier who can determine these things.
Aside from that, the builder, Aaron Keim, used a rather unusual bridge setup - the strings go through the bridge and top and are anchored by a glass bead and a knot. A good design, but it does make restringing a bit more of a pain, since the strings have to be fished out of the body and tied, then pulled back. Some uke builders (and most guitar builders who use the through-the-bridge design) drill a larger hole and use bridge pins to hold the strings in place. These are much easier to use. I like to replace the stock plastic pins with brass, for more resonance.
I also think baritone bridges should be a little larger to help spread the energy over more of the top. the bridge is small - a style more suited (I believe) to soprano ukes. Larger ukes should have 'wings' on the sides of the bridge. Changing the bridge, however, isn't something I plan to do.
The other thing I need to do is dress the frets a bit. They're a bit sharper than I like and I rub my fingertips on the lower side around the 12th-15th fret when I up-strum or fingerpick. After a short while, this begins to scrape at the skin and becomes uncomfortable, and increasingly sensitive. A little gentle filing is usually all that's needed to make them more friendly to my fingertips.
