Baritone Ukulele

[Bob_H]

Hi - just sharing my fourth ukulele - a blackwood baritone with a sitka spruce top and jarah fretboard and bindings. After initial problems with the side bending, things have progressed fairly well. I have some issues with the top, where I have two problems:

1. There appears to be some subsidence between the bracing, which translates to some unevenness in the top and some light patches over the braces after sanding. Is this usual with sitka?

2. Some gaps between between the grain lines after sanding - as if the thin darker lines have "dropped" in places, leaving odd patches where the surface is ridged.

I haven't had this problem with other woods - is it a sitka spruce thing?

[Allen]

If you have used a fan bracing pattern and there are "dips" between them, then my experience is that you have taken the top just a bit too thin. I had this problem on earlier instruments until I tried going with slightly heavier soundboard and lighter bracing.

I'm not sure what you are refering to in your second comment. I use a lot of sitka and this doesn't sound like anything I've experienced.

[kiwigeo]

I'm with Allen with the inter-brace sinking of the top. How thin is the top? How stiff is the Sitka?
Re sanding out softer grain.....this can happen if you don't sand using a block and/or you're applying too much pressure during sanding. Your top wood looks like the grain is fairly coarse so this might also add to the "issue". If you look at a french polished top where the finish is very thin you can often see a subtle ridging due to the softer grain being a bit lower than the harder grain.

[Bob_H]

Thanks - the top is fairly light (1.75 mm) and the Sitka is fairly coarse and not particularly stiff. I will try to keep an eye on this. I suspect the coarseness and perhaps heavy handed sanding may have contributed to patches of ridging- thanks again

[kiwigeo]

1.75mm is getting in the thin side.

Thanks - the top is fairly light (1.75 mm) and the Sitka is fairly coarse and not particularly stiff. I will try to keep an eye on this. I suspect the coarseness and perhaps heavy handed sanding may have contributed to patches of ridging- thanks again

[Allen]

I would never go below 2.0 on a Baritone top.

[Bob_H]

Thanks again - I need to read my instructions more closely - Graham McDonald, whose book I have been referring to, agrees that a 2mm final thickness for the baritone top is desireble. I had been working to the tenor specifications, which described a 1.75 mm soundboard.