Zebra Wood - Kasha

Hello All,

Here are some photo's of my kasha braced zebra wood and spruce tenor I just completed. It's got an ebony fret board, bridge, and bindings. I'm a little let down by it's sound. With all the extra work involved in doing the kasha bracing I guess I expected to be dazzled by the sound. It certainly doesn't sound bad (not at my skill level anyway), but not any better than my other fan braced ukes. Needless to say I don't think I'll be doing another Kasha for some time.

This is #9 for me, but I really consider it #5 as four of the others were the grizzly kits.

Should be finishing up my 6 string in a week or so.

Take care,
-darrel

Makes you wonder whether or not the whole Kasha theory is hogwash when it comes to ukuleles doesn't it? I've had the exact same experience as you've had; no better, no worse, but a lot more work. Maybe there's a pronounced difference in guitar building, don't know. I know someone that builds in the Kasha style almost exclusively and they are great sounding ukuleles. But then again, his Torres style ukes are every bit as good....
Excellent looking ukulele! Never seen those tuners before.

I honestly think Kasha is a red herring in ukulele. I have tried to get away with just 2 braces in a tenor but the string tension really bellies the front so I am up to 3. I know Chuck uses more... It is a very personal thing.

When it comes to guitar then I think you have more variables that you can modify. I built Weissenborns with a Larrivee style bracing and they sounded fine - I have never played a Larivee guitar I could get on with. I used to make ladderbraced parlor guitars with really wide grain discolored red spruce fronts and oak back and sides and they sounded wonderful. The x braced OM I made was mediocre. I gave up guitar making soon after realising that with ukes there is less to go wrong...

Glad to hear that you've had similar experiences and it's not just me. I guess on the positive side it does sound good and looks cool if you shine a light inside it...

The picture attached is the bracing I did on my favorite sounding uke so far. It's the one I reach for the most. Might be a little over kill also.

The tuners are Kluson guitar tuners. I messed up an earlier uke and got it all complete and realized the head plate was too thick for the tuners I had. It was a wedding present so I had to figure out something quick and those were the only tuners my local music store had. Rather than being stuck with 2 left over tuners, I bought two packages and put them on my last three ukes, this one being the last one.

take care,
-darrel

The X bracing should work fine Darrel. All of these styles of bracing, Kasha, fan, lattice, X, radial, will work if you understand and maintain proper sound board deflection. From my experience, particular bracing pattern matters little. The responsiveness comes after the braces are glued in, while you further taper and shape the braces and the subsequent thinning of the sound board.:2cents:

Chuck has it right. I don't so much do the tap tone thing but grab the uke in 2 hands and press with my thumbs where the bridge is to feel the deflection. As soon as moderate pressure start to give me some free movement I know I am nearing where I need to be. Next a feel the vibration resopnse of the box to my voice. It's all luthier mojo and i can't explain why or how it works...