Since you re-birthed the thread, and since I've had a few queries, here's a bit of where I've gone to with all this.
Btw, as I'm essentailly a lazy git, the following is almost directly copied from a reply to a PM from Paul (Ozwood).
After a while of playing the falcate uke I decided that the top was braced too tight.
I got inside it by breaking the end off a hacksaw blade and putting a long, thin bolt through the hole.
Using this I thinned the main falcate braces a bit, in the area between the bridge & the sound hole.
I think it now sounds great and have recieved many comments as such.
I regularly get told that it doesn't have as bright a sound as a regular uke, more a sweeter sound that leans towards a guitar tone. (The fact that I use a Low G probably adds to this perception).
But it doesn't lose anything in volume, with it holding it's own ground at my uke club nights against around 35 other ukes played at once.
I have made 4 more falcate concert uke tops using what I learned from the first instrument.
Of these, two ukes have now been completed.
The top resonance of the original uke was 318Hz.
After re-working the bracing it's now 313Hz.
The top resonance of the second uke is 304Hz.
The top resonance of the third uke is 293Hz.
But to the ear they sound identical to the original, which is my main aim.
The differences between the original and the new tops are
- I did not use a bridge patch.
- I did not put cf rove on/under the little horizontal braces so I could sand them down or remove them completely if I wanted (but I haven't)
- I didn't put cf rove on top of the secondary falcates
- I made the main falcate braces less stiff between the bridge & the soundhole
And because we all love pictures, and because we all love Tim's Tiger Myrtle, here's how I made use of one of his 'special sales' on the third falcate uke.
Cheers all.
- 24022013244 (Medium).jpg (53.79 KiB) Viewed 10159 times
- 24022013240 (Medium).jpg (86.72 KiB) Viewed 10159 times
Cheers! Ross
