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Baritone Uke Questions
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Author:  JelC50 [ Sun Aug 11, 2013 8:04 pm ]
Post subject:  Baritone Uke Questions
Longtime lurker, first time builder, my first post and I'm seeking some advice

Building a baritone from plans from Ukulele World. Almost finished, but after reading some other threads on this forum, I have a couple of questions and concerns.

First-- I glued and screwed my neck to the body today. I used a straight edge to align the neck (without fret board) flush with the top of the body. I noticed some people use a 1 or 2 degree downward angle. Did I screw up.

Second--Got my frets, nut and saddle from StewMac, so I'm almost ready to do my fretting and setting the nut and saddle height. I've noticed that most builders advise to have .09" between the 12th fret and the strings. Does this apply to a baritone as well. I also saw a thread where one poster said to lay a 1/8" drill bit under the 14th fret and lay a straight edge from the nut to the 14th fret, and that shows the height of the saddle.

Third--I made it out of some black walnut I had laying around the shop, and I'm using a hard maple fret board, also some I had laying around the shop. I already have a soprano and a tenor, so I'm using Aquila nylgut strings (G,C,E,A) because I don't want to relearn all the chords. It's gonna be pretty, but what type of sound should I expect.

Fourth (and last)--Finishing? I've read that for the best sound, don't use any type of stain or varnish that will soak into the wood. I'm plan to use a cellulose based sanding sealer. I want a satin to low gloss finish, so what should I use.

Sorry for the long post, but can't go any further without consulting with someone more experienced than me.
Author:  unkabob [ Mon Aug 12, 2013 8:40 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Baritone Uke Questions
Jerry:
The first thing is RELAX!
Your ukulele will come out reasonable no matter how you do it. Make sure that your strings are low G. I ended up with high G for my brother's baritone and it loses the advantages of the big box. If you go for DGBE, you will play the same chords but you will be playing in a different key.

Build the bridge later. A straight-edge on the top of the frets should just kiss the front-edge of the bridge. Build the bridge to fit. Small adjustments can be taken up in the saddle.

An 1/8" clearance at the twelfth fret is a reasonable place to start. You can hone things down by messing with the nut-slots and saddle. Nylon strings are pretty forgiving on action.

For finishing, I use Danish-oil (instructions on the can) and several coats (5-ish) of wipe-on poly. It takes a month or so for the ukulele to get full voice.

Ukulele building is an adventure, enjoy the ride and the destination will take care of itself.

Bob :ugeek:
Author:  colburge [ Wed Aug 14, 2013 5:15 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Baritone Uke Questions
JelC50 wrote:
First-- I glued and screwed my neck to the body today. I used a straight edge to align the neck (without fret board) flush with the top of the body. I noticed some people use a 1 or 2 degree downward angle. Did I screw up.


The neck relief you mention, is primarlily used for when you have a radiussed (domed) soundboard. The reason being is that with a radiussed soundboard the saddle will sit a little higher which needs to be accounted for.

Cheers

Col
Author:  ernie [ Thu Aug 15, 2013 8:42 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Baritone Uke Questions
I only radius the back I want a nice flat surface for FB and bridge , you can thin the edges by 10 to -20 thou if they are too thick e.g..100. I want my neck/body coplanar.I use 1, 8-32 bolt and glue together many ways to do it. Check out my uke videos for some useful tips www.atelierrtomistrings.com
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