Tenor neck joined at 14th or 16th fret?

Matt Clara

Matt Clara

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I typically join my concert uke neck to body at the 14th fret. I'm trying my hand at my first tenor uke. Seems like I should make the neck a bit longer and join at a lower fret, like the 16th. Or I could continue to join at the 14th and just position the bridge further south on the lower bout. Any opinions as to what's preferred?

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Your 14 fret design seems to put the bridge lower. My only concern would be the area between the bridge and the sound hole would have some dipping in the future. On the 16 fret design the bridge is in the sweet spot but because of the tenor scale length and more tension on the top, slightly heavier bracing will have to be used. I would dome both tops for both designs.
 
14 fret join is the norm. It's all about getting the body length to scale length ratio correct. In my opinion and experience there is no sweet spot, just a bridge in either the right or wrong place. This is where design and training collide with experience to produce the correct result.
 
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I'm assuming that you are using the same mold for the tenor as you have used for the concert uke. In this case you are thinking that if you join at the 14th fret, then the bridge wont be at the optimum position. I recently made a small bodied guitar where the bridge was further from the soundhole than would have been the optimum position. I was happy with the volume/tone/sustain of this instrument. Of course I cant say whether it would have sounded even better had the bridge been located at the optimum position. If I were faced with the choice, I'd stick with the standard neck-14 frets to the box.
 
I have a custom built join at the 15 fret, now i want a tenor join at 12 fret...
 
Somebody correct me if I'm wrong. My understanding is that 12 fret neck instruments were the "standard" design because it placed the saddle right at the widest part of the lower bout. 14 fret necks allow for better high fret access but this moves the saddle away from the widest point of the lower bout. 14 fret necks have become so standard these days that they now look right to everyone.

Matt Clara has drawn a design where the saddle is set at the middle of the lower bout with a 14 fret neck (just as 12 fret necks used to be) but is so used to the look of other 14 fret necks that he is considering a 16 fret neck. Have I missed something?

Anthony
 
I believe the collective wisdom now holds that slightly off center of the lower bout is the sweet spot, or so I've read, but I trust Pete Howlett when he says there's no such thing as a sweet spot. Also, the 12 fret to body was the standard design for a soprano sized ukulele. I don't think that's been the case with the other size instruments (concert and tenor).
 
Its my understanding that all sizes of ukulele's were initially 12 frets to body. Soprano's are still a holdout with 12 fret necks being common where as 14 fret necks are common on the other sizes now. Scott Wise in Western Australia still makes 12 fret to body tenors. That's his standard tenor model. I have one of his 14 fret neck tenors which he redesigned for 14 frets which he calls the Solo model.

EDIT: For the record I measured my Wise Tenor Solo (14 fret) and the saddle is 1" (25mm) towards the neck from the widest point of the lower bout. My more standard 14 fret tenors have the saddle 1 1/2 inches towards the neck. Interestingly, my Mele, 14 fret 8 string Koa tenor has the saddle 1" towards the neck, same as the Wise and the Mele is a great instrument as well.

Anthony
 
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