Official Luthiers Forum!

My wife wants me to build her a ukulele. What would the folks here suggest. The concert, Baritone or soprano. i get the impression that soprano is the 'classic' type.
i know little about them. I have visited a number of websites and googled a bunch. Any pointers? I have two sets of wood. an all Koa and a zebra wood set to which i would add a spruce top. I'm kinda looking forward to a new project.

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Greg
http://garibaldiinstruments.com/

The concert size is the nicest in my mind. There are several uke builders here on the forum as you know, and I'm sure you'll get some pointers. I'm looking forward to see what you come up with...

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"I want to know what kind of pickups Vince Gill uses in his Tele, because if I had those, as good of a player as I am, I'm sure I could make it sound like that.
Only badly."

I'm partial to the standard (soprano). you can find blueprints of a old martin soprano at elderly instruments for $3.50. http://elderly.com/books/items/113-28.htm

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John Mayes
http://www.mayesluthier.com

Greg,

If your wife is a guitar player looking to make the switch, she may find a tenor uke, which you
didn't mention in your list, more comfortable. The fingerboard is a little bit less cramped and
string sets are available that provide a non-reentrant tuning (i.e., not that "My dog has fleas"
thing with the topmost string an octave higher what you'd expect from a guitar).

The GAL has published a tenor uke plan.

If she's not used to guitars and has dainty fingers, this may not matter.

Oh, and there's a luthier section in the discussion forum on uketalk.com.

Whatever you make, go really thin on the tops, sides, and back to get nice tone.
Guitar rules don't apply. I recently made a tenor uke and ended up at about
.07 - .075 thickness. (I got this advice from a John Mayes posting on the afore-
mentioned uketalk site.)

Eric

Standards, Concert and Tenors are usually tuned GCEA, wheres the Baritone is usually tuned DGBE (sound familiar?). Although there are a few players who change tunings, a lot.

In general, mainland players go for Standards and Concerts, while Hawai`i players tend to go towards Tenors. Many different schools of thought inbetween - I stick with Tenors, as this is the size that works with low g tuning. Its also the size that most multiple stringed `ukulele is made, 5's, 6's and 8's. Its also the one that most guitar players pick up (you would think it would be the Baritone).

Also keep in mind what is played. In Hawai`i, we chalk up the mainland style to more chalang-a-lang as we call it, whereas here the music follows traditional Hawaiian. Of course, there are many exceptions in that as well. Some say the low g tenor (especially those with softwood tops) sounds too guitarish, in a bad way. I disagree, its still an `ukulele, with one octave more range, and it still can be played past the 1st position.

If you're building a Spanish heel, Asa or Mike at Hana Lima I`a has those plans, as well as a designed Kasha pattern (which you'll have to further modify, or it'll probably be too stiff).

I am curious. What is the preferred neck/heel style on the islands? It seems there is a wide difference in opinion about these instruments based on where you reside.

Also, has the Kasha pattern been accepted within the island circles?

I have build a couple of these instruments, but I have no basis of knowledge to know if they are any good or not.

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Brock Poling
Columbus, Ohio
http://www.polingguitars.com

Greg, check out the plans at LMI as well. I've built several Hanalima tenors and a concert as well as Antes concerts. I combine some elements from both plans. I prefer the larger size of the Antes concert, but the deeper body of the Hana lima plan. You might get some building tips from my journal at www.likekestrings.com. I play in a Hawaiian group, the preference seems to be for concert and soprano ukes over tenors and high G over low G.

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A higher purpose for wood.
Rich Smith
Issaquah, WA

Here is another, somewhat more obscure, source of uke plans:

http://www.donsplans.com/html/ukulele.html

This sounds like a good project. I think that building a uke would be a hoot!

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Jim Howell
Charlotte, NC

Generally, heel style depends on if you learned from Mike Chock or not - a few of us bolt on, but other than that its butt.

Kasha, again, depends on your circle of friends - which Mike has a giant circle. There are more than a few building Kasha, but I think side ports are more popular.

The tension of the strings if fairly low on a uke and you can use just about any style neck connection that you want. Some builders use traditional dovetail, others mortise and tenon and some just a straight but joint. As far as size goes, I prefer tenors and baritones. Hana Lima also has good mahogany sets if this is your first build. I have found it much easier to bend than some koa. But don't thickness according to their plans or you will way over build.
Have fun
Bob

Greg,

You already have some good input but I’ll give a bit also. Aaron is correct that with the lower string tension any neck joint will work. I have only finished 2 ukuleles. One had a butt joint the other a tenor with a Spanish heel. Frankly, I liked the Spanish heel best. I found it easier to keep everything in alignment. Check David Hurd’s site http://www.ukuleles.com for some tips on working with a butt joint.

My current collection of ukuleles includes tenor, concert, extended neck soprano, and soprano. The one I play the most is the extended neck soprano. It has the traditional sound but includes a concert neck for more playability and room.

Mike and Asa Chock at Hana Lima ‘Ia will have everything you need for ukuleles. In addition, they have a number of plans for all sizes of ukulele plus many Kasha braced plans. Mike and Asa are very knowledgeable and a quick call or email can answer questions along with the ukulele forum on their site. Bob Gleason of Pegasus Guitars and Ukulele (and Hilo strings) has built a ton of ukuleles and also has plans. It is best to contact him by phone. He also has some reasonably priced koa too.

You didn’t say if your wife is a musician or guitar player. If she plays a guitar then you might want to go with a tenor. If she is a finger picker then I would go with low G tuning allowing an extra octave. If she is a strummer then go with the high G tuning. If she is not a player then you are wide open. In that case I would suggest a concert size so you still have a little room but don’t have to stretch as much as a tenor. Soprano size is also nice and many people feel this size is the traditional size ukulele.

Use the all Koa set to build her ukulele. What could be more traditional then an all Koa ukulele?

No matter what choices you make you are in a win win situation. You are making it for your wife so it will be a winner no matter what direction you take. I had been showing my wife wood sets and she finally found a set of figured myrtle that she really liked so I will be following you soon in building her ukulele.

I have wood and plans for a number of future builds including a couple of Kasha braced tenors and one with dual sound hole in the upper bout. Currently, my focus is on work and poker. I’m hoping to get back to building after the World Series of Poker is over. Most likely I will take a break from poker then. But as always my only holdbacks are no time, no space, no tools, and no skills.


Best of Luck

Philip

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aka konacat

If you think my playing is bad you should hear me sing!
Practice breeds confidence and confidence breeds competence. Unfortunately, I'm stuck in practice.

I purchased a couple of koa uke sets when I was in Kauaii a month ago from Jamie Stadig of koaguitarwoods.com,so this thread is of interest to me.I`m thinking about a Tenor ,but haven`t decided for sure.
James

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James W Bolan
Nashville Tennessee

Thanks guys. i appreciate the input. I think I'll do one of each! I have a soprano set up first. Then a Tenor.

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Greg
http://garibaldiinstruments.com/

Mahogany. Believe it or not, our Kupuna tend to gravitate towards Martins, and not necessarily the K's. But, alas, this is soon to be short lived.

My friend has a 12 fret Martin Tenor, that is on its last leg. Everyone he plays in front of loves that instrument. He wanted a replacement, and from me, he could pick any wood he wanted. He went with Mahogany, not caring what it looked like, but more what it sounded like. No pressure trying to imitate a Martin Tenor.

Have fun with the build.