Good plans for Soprano Uke?

mwaller

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Hello!
I have a Grizzly soprano uke kit that I'd like to modify by adding a spruce soundboard.
Where can I get a good set of plans that will show me how thick to make the sound board, and how to brace it correctly?
Thanks,
Mika
 
Hi. About the thickness - it depends very much on the piece of spruce wood you have. I made a tenor with a spruce top that I took down to 1.8 mm. I should have gone thinner than that. Along with the too heavy braces the top got stiff and heavy. Made one of cedar with 1.5 mm which felt ridiculously thin. It developed a slight belly with Aquilas, so I switched to Worth LT that was just right for the instrument. Belly gone, beautiful sound.

Bracing a soprano soundboard is easy when it comes to where and how big. If you can't find plans just do image searches on the web and look around. Check my blog and see if you can find pics there (the tenors are also there).

Oh, but I just remembered! Check this out:
http://www.grellier.fr/divers/ukulele_en.pdf
It is quite good. I use a similar drawing for sopranos.

blog address:
www.argapa.blogspot.com

Good luck man / Sven
 
Cool! It is a good idea to start with a kit. I did too, but like you I modified it some. It turned out rather odd looking, but it sounds fantastic (in my un-biased opinion...)

Post pics when done, of the building as well.

Sven
 
Stew Mac has a free soundboard plan.
Go to the Uke Kit page and download the instructions. There is a full size plan on the last page of the pdf file.
For thickness, I think 0.08" to 0.09" is good for spruce.
 
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