NUD - Gary Gill short-neck tenor

RafterGirl

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My new Gary Gill - Pear shaped tenor body/concert neck, aka short-neck tenor arrived yesterday from Mim. Thanks Mim, you rock!

Douglas Fir top
Mahogany back & sides
Side sound port
Walnut & maple headstock
Walnut fretboard with Corian fret markers
Walnut binding
Worth Brown strings
MiSi pick-up

I am most comfortable with concert scale. I do ok with soprano, but tenor was a little too much for my less than long & graceful fingers. I had a tenor & loved the sound, but just couldn't get used to it. Happily, I came across this tenor/concert combo, and it fits my needs perfectly. Wonderful tenor sound with a scale I can manage easily. Mim described the tone of this uke as "buttery" and she was right. This is my first time with Worth Brown strings, and now I know why everyone likes them so much. They sound & feel great.
 

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Nice, I didn't know there were any left since Gary retired from building awhile back. You should enjoy that for years to come!
 
Looks great! A real find. Tenor body and concert neck really appeals to me so if you ever decide to sell please let me know pleeeeease.
How do you think this compares to your new Loprinzi?
I just tried Worth browns mediums on one of my ukes too and was pleasantly surprised - feel and sound is quite a bit different from the Worth CL and Martins.
 
Looks great! A real find. Tenor body and concert neck really appeals to me so if you ever decide to sell please let me know pleeeeease.
How do you think this compares to your new Loprinzi?
I just tried Worth browns mediums on one of my ukes too and was pleasantly surprised - feel and sound is quite a bit different from the Worth CL and Martins.

Mim had three Gary Gills for sale on her website ..... two concerts and the one tenor/concert. I had never seen the short neck tenor combination before, and since I got ukulele money for Christmas I decided to jump on it. The Loprinzi is a more compact sized concert, so it kind of has a concert and soprano blend sound. However, the cedar & rosewood keeps it more mellow than a soprano. So far I’m loving the Worth Browns on the tenor.

One thing I am struggling with is the strap on the Gary Gill. I use straps on all my ukes and much prefer two strap buttons. Not a fan of tying to the headstock. But Mim told me that because of the way the neck is joined to the body on the GG, you can’t put a strap button on the heel of the neck. If anyone has a supercool, stick-on strap button idea, let me know. Having the strap tied above the nut gets in my way and tying above that makes me wonder about pressure on the tuners. I have tried the sound hole hook kind and those are the worst.
 
First off congratulations on a unique and wonderful looking ukulele.

I am not doubting MIM and her knowledge of GG instruments but I have never heard of this issue before. Ask her if installing a button on the heel cap would work.
 
I did ask her and she said “no bueno” on GG due to the way the neck is attached. It looks to be bolted in some way. I read some past reviews of GG ukes and I do recall someone saying that they had a hard time with it. I figure if Mim won’t do it, I’m definitely not trying it. My local guitar shop also messed up a strap button in the past so I won’t let them try either.
 
One thing I am struggling with is the strap on the Gary Gill. I use straps on all my ukes and much prefer two strap buttons. Not a fan of tying to the headstock. But Mim told me that because of the way the neck is joined to the body on the GG, you can’t put a strap button on the heel of the neck. If anyone has a supercool, stick-on strap button idea, let me know. Having the strap tied above the nut gets in my way and tying above that makes me wonder about pressure on the tuners. I have tried the sound hole hook kind and those are the worst.

I suspect that the only person who knows your Uke better than Mim will be Gary himself and maybe he can offer you some help or guidance. There’s good news there because Gary is a UU member, you could send him a PM or, maybe better still, an email (he might not log on here frequently). It could be out of date now, and I don’t like to replicated that personal detail here again, but I spotted his email address in one of his posts - so not that hard to find.
 
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Congrats Raftergirl! Isn't Mim great?
I visited Ms. LoPrinzi last week. She is doing some repair work for me.
We have a club member who has 2 Gary Gill ukes, and one is her go to uke.
I've played the GGs and some LoPrinzis, and they're not quite the same. If you look closely, you can see a lot more experience in fine luthiery in the LP ukes.
I don't even like strap buttons on my necks. I tie a piece of soft leather shoestring between the two pairs of tuners, around the headstock. It never gets in my way, and I have no trouble with tuning (always tune before you play anyway). There is also another (leather) strap that smoothly wraps around the headstock and doens't interfere with tuning. We have 4 of them but I don't remember where we got them.
 
I have seen the Uke Leash website that has either webbing or leather securement for the headstock. Maybe I will look at one of those?

I am super happy with my little herd of ukes. They each have a distinct size, sound, and personality.
 
That's gorgeous, RG! I saw it on Mim's site and gave it some thought myself. I think that scale on a tenor is a brilliant idea. Congrats, and have fun with your herd. :)
 
Congrats on the uke! Sounds like the perfect combo. Wish I had known Gary made a short-neck tenor and that he was still making ukes. I'd love to have one. Enjoy it!
 
Congratulations on the new uke. It looks lovely! A slightly out of the box thought for your strap button situation. What if you used a wooden strap button and glued it to the heel. No screws or anything would penetrate into the heel to disrupt the neck joint configuration. In my experience, a well done wood glue joint should have more than enough strength to hold your strap button in place. Unless, of course, you have a tendency to get extremely animated while you play ;).
 
I have seen the Uke Leash website that has either webbing or leather securement for the headstock. Maybe I will look at one of those?

This is my favorite strap option. The webbing is easy to put on and the strap can be clipped/unclipped from that if you want to share the strap between several ukes. I also prefer the one with the end pin connector although I do have one without that can be used with ukes with no pin.

However - it is still connected to the headstock and if you don't like that, you may not like the UkeLeash either. Personally I prefer it to the two-button setup as it feels more "stable" to me with smaller bodies of ukes - but that is a personal preference kind of thing.
 
This is my favorite strap option. The webbing is easy to put on and the strap can be clipped/unclipped from that if you want to share the strap between several ukes. I also prefer the one with the end pin connector although I do have one without that can be used with ukes with no pin.

However - it is still connected to the headstock and if you don't like that, you may not like the UkeLeash either. Personally I prefer it to the two-button setup as it feels more "stable" to me with smaller bodies of ukes - but that is a personal preference kind of thing.
I looked at the Uke Leash website this morning and I think I found my solution. I already have a nice Sherrins Threads strap for the Gary Gill that's attached to the end pin of the MiSi pick-up with a Tapastring adapter. You can buy the Uke Leash headstock adapters separately, so that solved the problem on that end. Now....how to put the two together??? I scrolled down to the bottom of the page and there was the answer (I hope). A banjo adapter with the male portion the the strap buckle on a short piece of polypro with a tie. I can tie the banjo adapter to the end of the Sherrins Threads strap and snap into the headstock adapter. I will report back when I get it and see if it works.
https://store.ukeleash.com/products/additional-headstock-straps-leather-hsl
https://store.ukeleash.com/products/connectors
 
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