What to make?

robedney

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Hi All,

I'm a relative newbie here, having recently been bitten by the ukulele bug. We have a boutique shop making carbon fiber violins and I spent some pre retirement (early) years developing our instrument. We've become pretty good at working in carbon fiber and wood (our fiddles have epoxy permeated CF reinforced wooden necks).

For sometime now I've been wanting to make a CF ukulele. It's such a flexible and fun instrument that one really ought to be able to take it anywhere. I'm a huge fan of traditional wooden instruments, but I wouldn't want to take anything I currently own to the beach or other hostile environments. We've got violins in places like Africa, Alaska, Bali and other challenging environments.

So, I'm asking for some help regarding what to make as our initial instrument. I've talked to some folks and I've about become convinced that a tenor size would make sense. I'm also considering making it a long-neck tenor for additional flexibility. On the other hand, if the intent is a quality instrument with great sound that you can take anywhere, there are advantages to the smaller size of a concert. What do you think?

I'm designing this thing to be attractive, offer plenty of volume and resonance. I'm also designing it to be attractive while not being overly difficult to make, as my target pricing is around $800 - $900. The first offering will be all CF (aside from wooden accents) with a hollow neck. As we have CNC capability I'm also considering the option of adding some optional inlay work in wood or perhaps MOP. Like our violins they will be primarily bench made entirely in our shop here in California.

Please feel free to toss out any ideas, wants, etc.

Thanks,

Robert
 
14th fret join concert... or long neck concert.

Blackbird already makes a CF tenor but doesn't have cf concert and their concert is 12th fret... which makes alot of things a reach.

Personally.. I like the long neck concert idea.....
 
I agree with spookelele. I have written reviews of a lot of ukuleles (I publish Ukulele Player Magazine). A CF uke would be nice and durable. Smaller appeals to me because of portability, but, my long fingers are more comfortable with a concert rather than a soprano. I do like long-necked concert ukes, too, but, either a twelve-fret or fourteen would be a favorite.
 
I'd certainly prefer a concert scale.

Although I own two tenors, I would never opt for a long neck tenor. The only long neck uke I'd consider would be a long neck soprano.

I wouldn't mind a 12 fret join, but some folks prefer a 14 fret join. Either way, I'd vote concert....
 
When I gave this some serious thought I had conflicting feeling regarding size. I like the idea of a CF uke that is stable and durable for that "take it anywhere" feature. So a long neck soprano makes sense or a long neck concert. There are inexpensive plastic sopranos out there so I do not think there is room in that market size.

A long neck soprano might be too close to the cheap plastic sopranos to tempt people to spend that kind of money. Here in lies the problem, will perspective customers spend that much for a knock about uke??? It needs to sound really good and tenor size might give that full expensive sound. But the size is too big to be easily portable. Long neck concert might cover most bases.
 
As you can see in my signature, I prefer a tenor cutaway, plus a good preamp with tuner built in and the output jack NOT in the strap button.
 
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