Replacing soprano neck with tenor neck

U

Ukulelia

Active member
Joined
Jun 8, 2011
Messages
25
Reaction score
1
Location
PA
Not something I'd do myself, but I'm considering having this done. I'm holding off on buying the uke and replacement neck until those with uke building experience chime in. :eek:

The potential uke is a Mainland cedar/rosewood pineapple. It has a soprano size body and comes in either soprano or concert scale. Well, I prefer tenor... So, would replacing the stock neck with a tenor neck damage the uke?

My tentative plan is to buy the uke and replacement neck and fretboard, and pay someone with expertise to do the job. That is, if it will work, structurally. Whoever it is will probably be a guitar person, so any thoughts from uke folks would be great!

I feel dumb for asking this... But I only know what I want and not the ins and outs of making it happen.

Thank you!
 
Sounds like a strange idea to me. It would have to be a custom made neck, and removing a soprano neck, to replace it with a longer one, would entail quite a lot of delicate work. Why not just have the whole uke made to order?

John Colter.
 
I was just talking with Kilin Reece about the same thing ... he said he could do it no problem. Give him a call, he is in Hawaii. 808-387-4583

He is on UU and I have found him to be patient, and extremely helpful.

He just sent me a video of his projects in his shop, I think he would let me email it to you if you like.

PM me with your email and I will send it.

Cheers.
 
You will probably run into problems with the position of the bridge on the uke body.The bridge should be approx the same distance from the 12th fret as the 1st fret is,putting a neck with a longer scale length onto the donor body will almost certainly cause problems.
 
Hi Andy, that's why I said it would have to be a custom made neck. If you want a uke with a soprano sized body, and the scale length of a tenor, the best approach would be to have it designed and built that way. Trying to adapt a soprano, by fitting it with a neck intended for a tenor, seems a strange thing to do.

JC.
 
ukantor said:
Hi Andy, that's why I said it would have to be a custom made neck. If you want a uke with a soprano sized body, and the scale length of a tenor, the best approach would be to have it designed and built that way. Trying to adapt a soprano, by fitting it with a neck intended for a tenor, seems a strange thing to do.

JC.
Click to expand...

I am not a luthier, however KoAloha does have a Soprano Body with a Tenor neck ... and if I was going to buy a Soprano, I would buy their's as it has the tenor neck on a Soprano body.
 
A tenor is a tenor. The description derives from the scale length. Some people talk about, "a long neck soprano". There is no such thing, unless you mean one that joins at the fourteenth fret instead of the customary twelfth. If it does not have a soprano scale length, it is not a soprano. The size of a ukulele body may vary, and you may make a uke with a body of a size and shape normally associated with a soprano, but if it has a concert scale, then it is a concert. If it has a tenor scale, it is a tenor.

If KoAloha make a tenor with a very small body, I'd wager they did not concoct it simply by taking a neck and fretboard from the tenor production line, and fitting it straight onto a body intended for a soprano.

I could be wrong, of course - it has happened before.

I think.

John Colter.
 
This has been discussed before, last year I think....It ended up as "Mission Impossible" due to scale lengths and bridge position :(
 
Last edited:
sam13 said:
I am not a luthier, however KoAloha does have a Soprano Body with a Tenor neck ... and if I was going to buy a Soprano, I would buy their's as it has the tenor neck on a Soprano body.
Click to expand...

You are right, Sam. Mission not only possible, but already landed. I owned one. A standard KoAloha body coupled with a standard KoAloha tenor neck. T2 model I believe. I loved it. Very head heavy, must use strap. Sound was soprano, yet even louder with great sustain and a familiar tenor fret spacing. I should never have sold it. One sold on eBay a month ago for $680; I bid and lost in the final minutes.

They use a concert size case.

There are reviews by Pippin in his online magazine, and youtube videos of it. HMS had a video of Corey playing it sweetly. MGM had youtube videos when he got the first models in 2010 or so. Mine was 2012. I've not seen new ones in a while. I miss mine greatly.

http://www.theukulelesite.com/koaloha-soprano-tenor-neck-new-model.html

http://youtu.be/pOZpwfGnHI0

Here's Pips overview at 4:50 min, but it's brief. The written review in hi Ukulele Player is better
http://youtu.be/Ii1_qlr5I1U

Even Pua Pua sold them.

http://www.hawaiianukuleleonline.com/koalohaksmt2

I'd love to own another one. I have plenty of straps now. Lol. If someone visits Papa, please ask if they still build them. It's, for obvious reasons, the best picking soprano-sounding instrument ever.
 
Last edited:
coolkayaker1 said:
I'd love to own another one. I have plenty of straps now. Lol. If someone visits Papa, please ask if they still build them. It's, for obvious reasons, the best picking soprano-sounding instrument ever.
Click to expand...

If he puts friction tuners or UPT tuners, I bet they would sell well. I had the Sceptre and I thought it was head heavy with the closed gear tuners
 
Coolkayaker said, "You are right, Sam."

In what way was Sam right? Nobody said that KoAloha have not made a tenor ukulele with a soprano sized body. They have - that is indisputable. Sam is wrong in referring to it as a soprano. A soprano has a scale length of 13"; a concert is 15"; a tenor is 17". That too is indisputable, although the figures are approximate, and can vary by a small amount.

John Colter.
 
I would imagine that if you were placing a tenor neck on a soprano sized body, and wanted the bridge in roughly the right position, the neck joint would have to be at the 16th fret or something. So a standard issue tenor neck wouldn't fit. And given the increased tension of tenor strings, the soprano top wouldn't be braced enough.

And I agree with John. Call it a small bodied tenor, not a long scale soprano.
 
In the photos of the KoAloha shown in a previous post, the neck joins the body at the 16th fret and the bridge is close to the tail, far from the sweet spot. Not an optimal design, IMO. I'll stick with putting tenor necks on tenor bodies.
 
ukantor said:
Coolkayaker said, "You are right, Sam."

In what way was Sam right? Nobody said that KoAloha have not made a tenor ukulele with a soprano sized body. They have - that is indisputable. Sam is wrong in referring to it as a soprano. A soprano has a scale length of 13"; a concert is 15"; a tenor is 17". That too is indisputable, although the figures are approximate, and can vary by a small amount.

John Colter.
Click to expand...

Your negativity is unbecoming. But you shout the loudest,so you win, ukeantor.

Sven, you are more than welcome to call it a small-body tenor. It has the exact soprano body that KoAloha used for sopranos, so most (HMS, Pua Pua, Ukulele Player Magazine and me) refer to it as a tenor-necked soprano, which is pretty fitting nomenclature to my mind.

Ukelalia, I have no idea if you want a KoAloha, but Sam had a good idea in that model and they have been built. By the time you find a less expensive uke and have it modded, it might be up around the same price as the K. I don't know. I will say that a tenor-necked soprano does sound great, so your idea is good. I don't know if the internal bracing is precisely the same as a standard sop. Perhaps the braces are either reinforced or relocated.

Great thought. Daniel , about the tuners. I can see a Sceptre and perhaps a PS having similar issues of heavy headedness. I do wonder if K still makes the T2 as they never are in stock recently.
 
Last edited:
"Your negativity is unbecoming."

Please help me to overcome this flaw in my character, coolkayaker. What must I do (apart from giving correct information) for you to consider my posts "becoming"?

John Colter.
 
ukantor said:
Coolkayaker said, "You are right, Sam."

In what way was Sam right? Nobody said that KoAloha have not made a tenor ukulele with a soprano sized body. They have - that is indisputable. Sam is wrong in referring to it as a soprano. A soprano has a scale length of 13"; a concert is 15"; a tenor is 17". That too is indisputable, although the figures are approximate, and can vary by a small amount.

John Colter.
Click to expand...

Here's what's "indisputable". KoAloha calls their long-neck soprano a long-neck soprano. (Check their web site) That's the only way I've ever heard them described. A soprano with a concert neck is a long-neck soprano. A soprano with a tenor neck is a long-neck soprano.
Now I won't be unnecessarily contrary. If you want to call it an E-flat sousaphone, you can. No hurt feelings. But if you say it's indisputably a sousaphone, you're wrong. I can call it a long-neck soprano if I like.
 
Last edited:
coolkayaker1 said:
Great thought. Daniel , about the tuners. I can see a Sceptre and perhaps a PS having similar issues of heavy headedness. I do wonder if K still makes the T2 as they never are in stock recently.
Click to expand...

You know that's why I sold the Sceptre. I don't want to rely all the time on a strap so balance is important. I don't mind overall weight feeling "heavy" and actually don't like ukes that are too light as they sound hollow.

As for ukantor, why don't you show more examples of people calling ukes by scale length. I do own a tenor with a concert scale Kamaka. I'm glad they didn't charge me tenor prices. :p
 
"A soprano with a concert neck is a long-neck soprano. A soprano with a tenor neck is a long-neck soprano."

Yep, I'm all for people calling their instruments whatever they like, but it without a generally agreed system of defining the major types, confusion would reign. Ukuleles are named according to their scale lengths. It is a well established system. If you wish to change that system, to one based upon the size of the body, then perhaps you will explain how your new system works, and how it helps to avoid confusion.

The words I have quoted above are oxymoronic. A soprano with a concert neck is not a soprano - it can't be, it has the scale length of a concert. It could be described as a concert with a soprano body, if you must.

Anyway, call 'em whatever you like.

Peace and love.

John Colter
 
ukantor said:
"A soprano with a concert neck is a long-neck soprano. A soprano with a tenor neck is a long-neck soprano."

Ukuleles are named according to their scale lengths. It is a well established system.

John Colter
Click to expand...

Nonsense. There's no need to explain the system you call new, because it's very old. This thread is the first I've ever heard of what you call a "well established system". Maybe your system does exist. Perhaps it's regional or something(?) but I've never heard of it. Ohana, KoAloha, Mya Moe, Kamaka,....The list goes on. As long as long-neck sopranos have existed, they've been called long-neck or super sopranos (at least by their builders). In fact, isn't Kamaka the very oldest existing manufacturer of genuine ukuleles? Calling a long-neck soprano a long-neck or super soprano may be new to you, but I think it's pretty well established, too. As I say, you can call yours a short-neck concert or tenor. I'm not offended, but there's no need to correct the people who are just as correct as you are.

I think you should save your admonitions for Kamaka. Please, send Chuck Moore a strongly worded letter while you're at it. Like Kanile'a, he calls his a super soprano. Let the spankings begin!!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

John Colter
Replacing the front on a soprano ukulele.
Replies
5
Views
577
John Colter
John Colter
Timbuck
Replacing a Soprano Bridge
2
Replies
22
Views
3K
hmgberg
H
about2
Replacing Tuning Machine Heads
Replies
10
Views
502
SkeeterAB
SkeeterAB
Oldscruggsfan
Cutting/ grinding off molded plastic frets & replacing with metal fret wire?
2
Replies
22
Views
938
casualmusic
C
C
Replacing tuning gears
Replies
12
Views
443
kkimura
kkimura
Top Bottom