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Joined:
November 2006
Posts: 217
Location: Snåsa, Norway | I recently bought a cheap chinese made steel string uke guitar. It's called Mahalo (think it's a Saga brand) and looks like this:
It looks, feels, sounds and smells like a cheap plywood thing, and I bought it just to see if it's something to bring when I travel and miss a guitar to play. It's so small that it can come along on even the most heavily loaded holiday car. It's kind of fun to play, but the action and intonation sucked. The nut was poorly fit, so I tried to loosen it and correct the position, and lowered the strings at the nut, but intonation still was just as bad. I'd read this article on compensated nuts so I figured I'd just give it a try before it hit the dustbin, so i got my nut files, some small pieces of plastic and superglue and spent a couple of hours gluing plastic bits to the nut. The result was very satisfactory, the little guitars intonation actually is pretty good now, and the chords sound good in all positions on the fingerboard. :D
So, a crappy uke guitar bought on impulse gave me an interesting and useful lesson on how to compensate guitar nuts! I hope this little thing will last a while as a travel guitar. :cool: |
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Joined:
September 2006
Posts: 10777
Location: Keepin' It Weird in Portland, OR | Hey HP-- That's not Off Topic, the speak Ukelese here.
But that looks more like a travel guitar than a Uke.
Hope you can get it to work.
I need one of them things, just to annoy people on the bus! |
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Joined:
June 2006
Posts: 7307
Location: South of most, North of few | I can annoy people anywhere with a full size guitar. :p |
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Joined:
November 2006
Posts: 217
Location: Snåsa, Norway | Originally posted by Old Man Arthur:
that looks more like a travel guitar than a Uke.
Hope you can get it to work. Yeah, it's sold as an ukulele guitar, but I was looking for some kind of a travel guitar, and bought this because it was a fraction of the price of a Backpacker or a Washburn Rover. (Norwegian guitar prices are 2-3 times the US price). I got it to play in tune, and it seems to stay tuned too. I don't know how long it will last, it's got no truss rod, and with steel strings the neck will probably warp. Time will show, I'd surely never have tried to compensate the nut on an expensive guitar, and fixing that bit was really fun!! |
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Joined:
September 2006
Posts: 10777
Location: Keepin' It Weird in Portland, OR | If you only use it for travel, and don't travel that much... Tune it down a coupla steps when it's not in use.
No need for it to warp while hanging in a closet. Tune it up before you take it anywhere...
Then tune it up again when you get there.
It is always more fun to experiment on the cheaper stuff.
Just my luck, all my cheap stuff works fine!
It's the spendy stuff that breaks! |
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Joined:
November 2006
Posts: 217
Location: Snåsa, Norway | Originally posted by Old Man Arthur:
If you only use it for travel, and don't travel that much... Tune it down a coupla steps when it's not in use. Thanks OMA, I'll do that, but right now this new toy is played most of my guitars so it stays tuned to pitch. It's got a 19" scale (ca.) so I tuned it to G# at first, now I keep it at G which seems to be the lowest standard tuning possible without the strings feeling to sloppy. |
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Joined:
September 2006
Posts: 10777
Location: Keepin' It Weird in Portland, OR | I understand completely!
I have a New CC44, amongst other guitars that work just fine. Right now I'm messing with this derelict 1115. Why? Cuz it is my new toy!
[I also got my dependable old 4861 out, and I know it works]
Boys and their Toys... Everyone needs a hobby! |
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OT - diy compensatet nut on cheapo uke guitar