Interesting Details on a Collings Tenor

Darrel

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I picked up a Collings tenor a few months ago (UT-1 satin finish mahogany). There are all ready lots of reviews in the review section of the forum, but I thought I'd share some interesting luthier related details of it.

The bracing is a 3 fan pattern, but there are also two small braces running at ~90 degrees to the two outer fan braces. They are maybe an inch long or so running out toward the kerfing at the widest part of the lower bout.

Bridge plate is strange in that there isn't one? The bridge is not a string through.

The neck joins the body at the 13th fret. I think it is a dovetail or mortise & tennon joint. I cut the neck in half to see if there was a stiffener of some sort....just kidding!

Fret board is radiused slightly. The position markers look like they are ivoroid materiel and get progressively smaller as you move down the neck.

The compensation on the saddle is very elegant looking, you almost don't notice it unless you look very close. It's a single sweeping curve filed into the saddle. I haven't checked the intonation with a strobe tuner but it seems to be spot on to my ear (which is to say it could be off).
 
Aloha Darrel,
Thanks for sharing you version and review of the Collins ukulele..
Yup it's up there for me, one of my I wants... MM Stan...
 
I was told by one of the pros who visits uu now and again that he never uses bridge plates. Seems like he's in good company. I've taken the view that harder woods, like Cherry and Mahogany, etc., can probably do without, while cedar and even spruce (which is actually fairly rigid along its grain, hence its use in aircraft construction) should probably have one. On the two cherry ukes I've built, neither had bridge plates, but I did make sure the three tone bars pass through the area opposite the bridge. I'm curious if Collings also does something like that.

As a caveat, I've only built four, and only two of those were real successes!
 
Actually if you use bridge pins you would be advised to use a bridge patch, otherwise one could forego it. Other factors to consider are thickness of top and size of bracing. I have one concert uke with a light top and bracing but still a bridge patch and its my best sounding one.
 
I always use a bridge plate. I know we are all raving about Collings ukulele yet there needs to be the same caution exacted on my first instruments by Bob Gleason - let's see how they hold up?
 
Will be interesting to see how they hold up.
 
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