Top and back thickness?

All right I have my baritone ukulele Honduras top and back glued up and are ready to sand to the proper thickness.

I’m following guidelines by Georgia Luther supply where I bought the original plans. They’re a little vague and are written for both Guitar and ukuleles. I just want to check with you guys.

Here’s what the book says.
For top plates of ukuleles, this dimension should be approximately 1.5mm to 2mm (.06 to .08”). Backs should be about 1.8 mm (.08")

But it also says it depends on which species. Does that seem about right for Honduras


Thanks as always

These numbers sound about correct from my limited 3 year experience. I have built 3 tenors and 1 baritone. I used, Sepele, Spruce and Cedar and had them all thickness sanded to 2mm. I sanded from these thickneses and all went well (so far) . The baritone is kasha braced. To date I have not seen any sound board deflection around the bridge. I understand that thinner is better, and bracing can have a big impact on the final strength. Good luck!

the sound will tell me. i use my ear. i used to be so anal about these figures when i first started building until i figured they're all just guidelines. every wood behaves differently . even the ones cut from the same billet.
sand until you get the desired tone/sound. you'll know what i mean after about a couple dozen builds under your belt. and...a uke is not a guitar.

weerpool said:

the sound will tell me. i use my ear. i used to be so anal about these figures when i first started building until i figured they're all just guidelines. every wood behaves differently . even the ones cut from the same billet.
sand until you get the desired tone/sound. you'll know what I mean after about a couple dozen builds under your belt. and...a uke is not a guitar.

Click to expand...

Yes, hopefully, I will be able to do it by ear sooner or later. Since I do not know what to listen for at this point I do not want the top to cave in so; I am going to be anal about the figures and go from there

The problem with numbers is that wood species, even wood with the same species, can vary greatly. Develop some method of tuning your tops using your senses. The numbers you listed for tops cover a very broad range but it should work as a starting point. Learn about your wood and how it's supposed to behave one an instrument. And don't forget to consider the type of bracing you use. The two can not be considered separately.

A good place to start is with Dr. David Hurd's website http://ukuleles.com/
There is so much good information there and just going through the website will keep you busy for a long time. Really, really useful info there. Maybe more than you ever wanted to know, LOL