A few Ukulele build questions

[colburge]

Hi guys

After having done my first acoustic I thought I would have a go at a Tenor Ukulele before the next guitar, for a change of pace. I don't have any plans so I just drew them up as per Alan and Liams' suggestion in a previous post.

I was going to go with a bolt on neck, and even made a mould, but will now go the Spanish method as it seems to be the recommended method for beginners (again recommended by Alan I think ). What I can't work out is how you cut the bindings all the way around with a router when the neck is in the way - am I missing something?

What is the optimal position for the bridge in the lower bout, right in the centre? I have seen a few where the bridge looked like it was lower than the centre and it just didn't look right to me. Is this position just dictated by your scale length and whether you have the neck joining at 12th or 14th fret?

Last thing - radius on the back and top? What size radii do I use? I am about to make a 25' radius dish for my next guitar, is that going to be too big for a uke?

Cheer

Col

[Beau Hannam Guitars]

top- 28 radius. 25 should be ok but perhaps draw up a scale drawing to make sure it all works with the spanish heel.
Back- 15' radius (same as modern guitars)

tenor bodies are 12" long with a 17" scale and (usually) 14 frets to the body. Saddle is 8.5" in from 12th fret plus about 2-3mm for compensation.

Hope that helps.
Check out the program "G thang" its a free body template software.

[colburge]

top- 28 radius. 25 should be ok but perhaps draw up a scale drawing to make sure it all works with the spanish heel.
Back- 15' radius (same as modern guitars)

tenor bodies are 12" long with a 17" scale and (usually) 14 frets to the body. Saddle is 8.5" in from 12th fret plus about 2-3mm for compensation.

Hope that helps.
Check out the program "G thang" its a free body template software.

cheers mate, i will have a look at that program now.

Col

[Allen]

The only part of the Spanish build method that is tricky for beginners is the bindings. I cut them with a laminate trimmer as far as I can up to the neck. The rest is done by hand or using a dremel or similar with a very small carbide bit. You get pretty good at it after a few.

A note of caution here. With your laminate trimmer turned off, move it as close to the neck as you can making sure that the binding cutter is rotated so that its almost touching the neck. Then pencil a line next to the trimmer base to give you a visual reference of where to stop when you are actually doing the routing. Do this on both sides of the neck. Believe me, it will save you from stuffing up and inadvertently cutting a scallop in the side of the neck......speaking from personal experience here.

It really depends on your body shape on where the neck would join in order to place the bridge in the centre of the lower bout. My body shape on the tenor is designed for a 12 fret body join. I can squeeze it out to a 13 fret join, but 14 moves it too close to the waist. You can always change the scale length to get what you want in the way of bridge placement. It's reasonably common in ukuleles to have what is called "Long Neck, or Super" instruments. That's usually installing the next scale length up for a given body. A concert scale length on a soprano body for instance.

I use a dished workboard to build on. I couldn't tell you what radius it is, as it's dished only in the lower bout up through about 1/2 way through the sound hole. The rest of the upper bout is flat. The lowest part of the lower bout (where the bridge will sit) is about 2.5mm deep. My back is a conventional guitar radiused one at 15' made in my radius dish.

I make my bridge with a saddle that tilts back at 9 degrees from perpendicular. I place the base leading edge of the saddle exactly on the 17" scale length. The tilt back of the saddle and the width (3mm) gives me all the compensation that I will need.

[colburge]

The only part of the Spanish build method that is tricky for beginners is the bindings. I cut them with a laminate trimmer as far as I can up to the neck. The rest is done by hand or using a dremel or similar with a very small carbide bit. You get pretty good at it after a few.

A note of caution here. With your laminate trimmer turned off, move it as close to the neck as you can making sure that the binding cutter is rotated so that its almost touching the neck. Then pencil a line next to the trimmer base to give you a visual reference of where to stop when you are actually doing the routing. Do this on both sides of the neck. Believe me, it will save you from stuffing up and inadvertently cutting a scallop in the side of the neck......speaking from personal experience here.

It really depends on your body shape on where the neck would join in order to place the bridge in the centre of the lower bout. My body shape on the tenor is designed for a 12 fret body join. I can squeeze it out to a 13 fret join, but 14 moves it too close to the waist. You can always change the scale length to get what you want in the way of bridge placement. It's reasonably common in ukuleles to have what is called "Long Neck, or Super" instruments. That's usually installing the next scale length up for a given body. A concert scale length on a soprano body for instance.

I use a dished workboard to build on. I couldn't tell you what radius it is, as it's dished only in the lower bout up through about 1/2 way through the sound hole. The rest of the upper bout is flat. The lowest part of the lower bout (where the bridge will sit) is about 2.5mm deep. My back is a conventional guitar radiused one at 15' made in my radius dish.

I make my bridge with a saddle that tilts back at 9 degrees from perpendicular. I place the base leading edge of the saddle exactly on the 17" scale length. The tilt back of the saddle and the width (3mm) gives me all the compensation that I will need.

Thanks for the info Allen, especially regarding the bridge and saddle compensation, I just need to put it all into practice now.

Col