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Permalink Reply by Nathan Binns on July 27, 2015 at 5:11pm

For my uke build, the only way to adjust the action was to file down the nut and bridge. I made small adjustments and checked often by pulling a string tight by hand. I only had the string tied off at the bridge end so I could check it and then get it out of the way easily. You don't need full tension (tuned to a note) to get an idea of how much space is between the string and frets. 

I'm pretty new to these set ups so I wouldn't be surprised if someone here with more experience has a clever trick up their sleeve.

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Permalink Reply by Ron "Oily" Sprague on July 28, 2015 at 1:45am

Measure twice, cut once. ;-)

Seriously, though, you could math all this out on paper first for a set string height above the nut and 12th fret for a given scale length. But then you still gotta do the old trial and error by small increments until you get it right, as Nathan suggests. And even then, it depends on what action the player prefers.

Of course, once you do it right once, then you should be able to reasonably duplicate it for builds 2-100.

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