Steel String Baritone Uke

[Allen]

A referral from a client to his band mate resulted is something completely new to me. He was looking for an instrument that had more punch than his nylon strung Baritone and really liked the strings that were on his Beltona resonator. So a few emails back and forth we agreed to this.

Australian Blackwood with a Lutz Spruce soundboard. Rosewood bindings and ebony fret board, bridge and peg head veneers. I had some Hipshot tuners that I offered up to compliment the vibe of the instrument.

[56nortondomy]

Very nice Allen. It's an interesting concept. What bracing did you use it? Wayne

[Allen]

Very nice Allen. It's an interesting concept. What bracing did you use it? Wayne

I wasn't sure how much extra tension these strings would have and asked a couple of builders that do banjo ukes. They felt that it wouldn't be much more than a high tension set of nylon. So I went with my standard fan bracing but used a very stiff soundboard that was 0.2mm thicker than standard.

Turns out that this was the right course of action. No sign of too much tension / stress on the soundboard at all.

[56nortondomy]

Thanks Allen. That's good to know. Wayne

[Gazm]

Interesting concept Allen, two wound D G & two plain B E ? Extra light gauge strings? Good to see other uke lovers challenging tradition!
Could you press your open minded client for a sound sample...Love to hear it !!!!!

Cheers,
Gaz

[Cutty]

Awesome work, I love the cutaway.