Ukuleles

I thought I would post this here Georges thread made me think of it... a good deal of the work in these is hand work so i think it fits well, and I am not sure how many make their way into the instrument forum.

anyway here are a few ukes I have made in the last few months... they are numbered from left to right in the first pic, 1, 3.5, 4 and 5.

The reason for the 3.5 is I have a client who insisted on having numbers 2-8 and I told him I needed one for myself so we decided to built a fractional serial number for me. I have been really lucky to have a couple of clients who are willing to pay me to learn new skills... They are fully aware of my abilities and I let them know when there may be a problem, they also know I stand behind my work.

Anyway here are a few pics...
Attachment 208357Attachment 208359

Beautiful work! What's going on with the more dramatically angled bridge on the one on the left? Just a side effect of the string gauge? It seems like a lot of twist simply for intonation's sake, but I know little about Ukes. Maybe it's just the photo.

Either way, they look great. What are you using for a finish?

Are you going to get into guitars,too? Quite a production of ukes going on!!

Josh, the bridge on the first is angled for intonation... I followed the plans I had... the others have the bridge square and the saddle shaped to adjust for intonation.

George, eventuely I do plan to move into other instruments and guitars are definetly very high up on that list. I decided to start with ukes as I wanted to learn to play and I thought they would be a good place to get my feet wet. Turns out at least a few people want the ukes so I can't stop making them now :)

Oh, I figured it was for intonation, it just seemed like a lot of angle compared to what I'm used to in stringed instruments, but don't Ukes usually use a lower tension and higher action than what I'm used to seeing in like, an electric guitar? Either way, I figured you knew what you were doing, I was just curious if there was something else I wasn't seeing. The photo is probably playing some tricks on me too.

Either way, they're gorgeous! What's the wood on the top of the one in progress?

Sweet! They all look great! What did you use for plans? I have long wanted to build a guitar, and a uke would probably be a good palce to start.

Speaking of unusual designs in stringed instruments, a local guitar shop features the work of several luthiers (it's guru guitars, if you care to look). One of them has a pretty unusual design for the fretboard:

http://www.clayconnerguitars.com/

I'm not sure how much this modification would help on an acoustic since one doesn't usually play too far up the neck on one, but I did try out one of the electrics. The canted fretboard is worlds easier to play above the 12th fret.

Yup the pic definitely seems to add a bit to the angle... and the fretbaords on those guitars is crazy, looks like a serious pain to lay out...
I guess the action on the ukes is quite a bit highter than on a steel stringed instrument. I shoot for 1/32" at the first fret and 3/32" at the 12th fret.

The top wood on the work in progress is spalted Hackberry, the sides and back are rosewood... all from Florida.

Paul Galbraith plays what's called "Brahms guitar", built by David Rubio (luthier almost every luthier knows or heard about, and deservingly so). Fanned frets like that are used for compound scale where guitar is designed to be tuned lower, in specific tuning and/or to have extra low string(s) (as seen in Galbraith's guitar). Of course it can be incorporated in a guitar designed for regular tuning in order to accomplish specific acoustic qualities (because tension and string guage will be very different).

As far as playing those guitars go, I suppose a guitarist would have to develop very specific playing style and technique in order to fully maximize such fret position. For those used to playing regular straight frets, it definitely doesn't make it easier to play, especially in polyphonic music. But then in the case of Paul Galbraith, having his unique style of playing goes without saying (he plays guitar upright like playing the cello, with end pin resting on resonator box on the floor on top of fanned frets). Either way I think it'll remain a niche, but it is a reasonable design. I don't know about the true temperament fret design of recent days, though.

It's not a new concept, it's been there for centuries actually. Last I heard a few years ago, some guy in the US has patent on this design. Not sure if it's still the case, however.

Thanks for the info sam! I am definitely not a Musition or a Luthier as of yet, I have a lot to learn. I really enjoy building the ukes and and Like the flexability in materials. It seems that guitars are more sensitive to material choice to acheve optimum sound quality. i can also get a uke out of a small piece of wood in the scrap bin if i want.

Last I heard someone had the trademark on "fanned frets" or something like that - so other builders can use the method, but you have to be careful about what you call it when selling instruments -

I haven't played one, but from what I hear, they're the cat's meow when it comes to getting even string tension on an instrument with an extended range. Something with a real long scale length, it can make the hand positions a little more natural at the extreme ends on the fretboard.

There's a few calculators out there to help in laying it out - the simple way is to pick your scale lengths for the two outside strings, lay that out and then draw across between the two scales; the middle strings sort themselves out. A concern for those fanned frets is determining where you want the "parallel" fret to be, as it can significantly change the feel of the instrument.

I'm afraid I know nothing of stringed instruments (or any musical instruments for that matter), but they look to be beautiful pieces of work.