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Troubleshooting first cigar box ukelele

I just spent all this time on my first cigar box ukelele and I'm kind of frustrated at the results. The notes sound tinny and muted, more like a busted up kid's guitar than a ukelele. I'm trying to figure out what I can tweak on it to get a decent sound. The most trouble i've had has been with the bridge and the strings either slipping out of their notches or sitting too high above the frets. I'm not sure what the ideal distance for them above the fretboard should be.

Anyways, any troubleshooting tips would be appreciated.

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Permalink Reply by ChickenboneJohn on June 28, 2013 at 8:34pm

Cigar box ukes are tricky to get sounding good. The main problem is the nylon strings have very little mass compared with steel strings, so there is just not much energy in the form of vibration transferred to the top. If you are using a floating bridge, this makes matters worse. In my experience it is much better to use a conventional glued-on uke bridge, then the tension of the stirrings is already "pre-loading" the top, getting a better response from it. Also, a thinner and more resonant top will result in more volume and a better tone. Often cigar boxes, especially plywood ones are just too thick and are difficult to get vibrating with the very light loadings that uke strings put on it. Your results sound exactly like the first cigar box uke I made..which was very weak and feeble sounding.

An immediate fix to try and improve things is to tune the uke up higher and/or put heavier strings on it in an effort to put more load on the top to get it moving. String height above the frets should be modestly low - at the nut 1mm, at the 12th fret 3mm - you can go lower, but you don't want to be higher otherwise it will be hard to play and the notes will pull sharp when fretted.

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Permalink Reply by Dan Sleep on June 29, 2013 at 1:16am

Agree on everything CBJ suggested.

I made a beginner's video on string height, and posted it on my page. It may help a bit too:

http://www.cigarboxnation.com/video/string-action

I would check the break angle of the strings over the bridge/saddle and make sure you have plenty of downward pressure to the lid.

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Permalink Reply by Nacho Holiday on June 29, 2013 at 3:52am

Can you explain what the break angle is?

Also, there are metal ukelele strings. Would it make a difference to switch to them?

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Permalink Reply by Dan Sleep on June 29, 2013 at 4:41am

If you watch the video, I explain in detail what break angle is, and show video of what I am talking about.

Using metal strings would probably make a difference.

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Permalink Reply by ChickenboneJohn on June 29, 2013 at 6:10am

Ukes don't have steel strings - part of the technique of playing uke rely on the fact that they are nylon/gut strung - it's not going to sound like a uke or play like a uke with steel strings. You'll get some sort of a sound, and it might be louder, but personally, there's no way I'd want to play a uke with steel strings.