Converting an Epiphone Mandobird IV to a solid-body ukulele

Just bought myself a used Mandobird on eBay for cheap for the sole purpose of trying to turn it into a solid-body uke.

I've seen a couple of videos on YouTube of people who have done this. One video in particular outlines what he did in order to make the conversion. He states in it that a lot of patience and tweaking of the individual bridge screws was needed to get the intonation on.

Just wondering if anyone has any suggestions to help cut down the tweaking time as I've never done it before. For instance, if I'm finding the notes sharp at the 12th fret, should I be loosening bridge or tightening? Do the individual allen wrench screws on each bridge do anything other than adjust the action?

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!

Epiphone Mandobird iv as 'Ukiebird', although it seems to have many different names.

Hi,


Just looking around and spotted your post.

Changing the intonation is easy (I did mine last night) if the note is sharp at the 12th fret you need to tighten the screw at the saddle, and likewise if it is flat loosen it.

It does make a hell of a difference!

Are you planning on changing your strings? I haven't bothered, I'm thinking that I'll wait and see how it settles down, and I'll probably change them if they start to break.


Jon.

Interesting. Saw one of these at LA Music, in Port Credit, last week. Hadn't considered changing it, but makes sense. Might re-look at it.

Faustus said:

Hi,


Just looking around and spotted your post.

Changing the intonation is easy (I did mine last night) if the note is sharp at the 12th fret you need to tighten the screw at the saddle, and likewise if it is flat loosen it.

It does make a hell of a difference!

Are you planning on changing your strings? I haven't bothered, I'm thinking that I'll wait and see how it settles down, and I'll probably change them if they start to break.


Jon.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the reply Jon. I actually got one not long after I made the post (this past February) and got the intonation pretty close. Had to go with a low-G as the high-G string was too thin for the nut (I know I could have refilled the nut slot with superglue and refile it but I was being lazy). I had a number of fun months with it but sold it in the end. The neck was too small (which makes sense as it's meant to be a mandolin). My fingers are too fat for a neck that small!

Thanks for the update. I also have fat fingers so now I can eliminate this option for me as well.