Danelectro Longhorn Uke!?

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ukebeatsguitar

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Me, having a HORRIBLE (but quite fun) case a UAS has led me to designing (and hopefully) building my first uke. The uke I've designed is Meant to look like a Danelectro Longhorn Bass. It's a tenor scale, it will have a low g, steel strings, and is solid body. Before I do any building or purchasing parts, I'd like to ask you guys some questions.

1. Tuners. I've heard grovers are good, but what would be the best tuners for a steel stringed uke?

2. Umm, where do I get low G steel ukulele strings?

3. Where is a good place to get one of those bridges kind of like the ones on strats, or better yet, what kind of bridge should I use for and electric uke?

4.I have no clue where to get all the electronics and pickups. Is there anywhere where I can get the whole setup, only for a solid body so I don't have to deal with those pesky nine volts.

5. And finally, where do you guys get those neat little clear pick guards?

And not to be REALLY picky, but I'd rather not just be suggested to by a book on how to do it. If I wanted to do it that way, I wouldn't be posting this.

Thanks, Nathan.

P.S. I'll post pictures of the design when I finish the headstock design thingymawhachamacallitajigger.
 
I was afraid you were talking about some god-awful texas longhorn ukulele. Thank goodness that's not the case... we all know Razorback ukes would demolish longhorn ukes any day of the week ;)

But, sounds like a neat little project you got going there! Keep us updated! Also, you might want to check with Risa (a german uke manufacturer) as they are the only steel-string uke makers I know of.
 
What about an ISU uke?

But anyway, I have the design finished and I think I'll go get the camera now.
 
Well, I finally got the camera to work. So here's the pictures. You can obviously tell I'm not really an artist. :) I did the headstock kind of hastily so it's not that great. I'll probably redo that and get working on a side view.

DSCF2600.jpgDSCF2601.jpgDSCF2599.jpgDSCF2602.jpgDSCF2598.jpg

The pictures aren't that great, but hopefully you can get the general picture. My camera is pretty out of date.
 
2. Umm, where do I get low G steel ukulele strings?
Click to expand...

Here:
http://ukulele.de/shop/product_info.php?info=p37_RISA-Electric-Steel-Strings.html
They are electric guitar strings, but with gauge suitable for ukulele.

4.I have no clue where to get all the electronics and pickups. Is there anywhere where I can get the whole setup, only for a solid body so I don't have to deal with those pesky nine volts.
Click to expand...

Sounds like you're after magnetic pickups for steel-string electrics.
They can be single coil or humbuckers. I imagine that certain electric guitar ones can be used for ukuleles.

5. And finally, where do you guys get those neat little clear pick guards?
Click to expand...
Try eBay
 
kissing said:
Here:
http://ukulele.de/shop/product_info.php?info=p37_RISA-Electric-Steel-Strings.html
They are electric guitar strings, but with gauge suitable for ukulele.



Sounds like you're after magnetic pickups for steel-string electrics.
They can be single coil or humbuckers. I imagine that certain electric guitar ones can be used for ukuleles.


Try eBay
Click to expand...

Thanks. And for you I have another question for you. Knowing you know practically everything about plastic ukes, I'll ask you what is the best kind of glue to use to fix a crack in the back of my Islander?
 
For strings, just go with electric guitar strings as noted above. My solid-body Jupiter Creek has 0.036, 0.026, 0.017, 0.013 gauge strings and is tuned EAC#F# (A-tuning). For a pickup it has half a P-bass pickup. It is well suited to the ukulele because it's small and has four poles. Rob at Jupiter Creek is nice and answers e-mails, I'm sure you could ask him anything.
cu-04july07-1.jpg
 
CulpRJ said:
For strings, just go with electric guitar strings as noted above. My solid-body Jupiter Creek has 0.036, 0.026, 0.017, 0.013 gauge strings and is tuned EAC#F# (A-tuning). For a pickup it has half a P-bass pickup. It is well suited to the ukulele because it's small and has four poles. Rob at Jupiter Creek is nice and answers e-mails, I'm sure you could ask him anything.
cu-04july07-1.jpg
Click to expand...

I never would have thought of using a p-bass pickup. That's ingenius. I'll have to sacrifice the Danelectro lipstick tube look but I really like that idea. Thanks!
 
CulpRJ said:
For strings, just go with electric guitar strings as noted above. My solid-body Jupiter Creek has 0.036, 0.026, 0.017, 0.013 gauge strings and is tuned EAC#F# (A-tuning). For a pickup it has half a P-bass pickup. It is well suited to the ukulele because it's small and has four poles. Rob at Jupiter Creek is nice and answers e-mails, I'm sure you could ask him anything.
cu-04july07-1.jpg
Click to expand...

Oh, and I really like your electric. It's really sharp. And by any chance, are you the CulpRJ that has the Stewmac build on youtube with the slotted head and cutaway. Cause, if you are, I watched all of those, and I have to say you did and AMAZING job.
 
Actually, lipstick pickups would work.
My Risa steel string electric has lipstick tuners.

In fact, any pickup with a magnetic field across the entire bar ('hot rod" is the term I believe) should work, since you don't have to worry about pole pieces.

Here are my ukes:
P230810_175901.jpg


The top two are my Risa steel-string electrics.
The first one has lipstick pickups, while the other one (the black Les Paul) has humbuckers :D
 
kissing said:
Actually, lipstick pickups would work.
My Risa steel string electric has lipstick tuners.

In fact, any pickup with a magnetic field across the entire bar ('hot rod" is the term I believe) should work, since you don't have to worry about pole pieces.

Here are my ukes:
P230810_175901.jpg


The top two are my Risa steel-string electrics.
The first one has lipstick pickups, while the other one (the black Les Paul) has humbuckers :D
Click to expand...

So, guitar pickups would work? And also, not to be demanding, but what is the best choice in glue to use for a crack on the back of my Islander?
 
I think you may be confusing me with someone else. I don't know anything about plastic ukes/glue/repair :-S
 
Hey if ya really did a longhorn uke, that'd be Mighty CooL.... here's a pic of my Dano longhorn twins: a bass and an electric guitar.
dano-pair.jpg
P.S. Dano longhorns are VeRy CooL....
 
Okay, first of all, I love you for making a longhorn. I'm a massive fan of the vintage longhorns (both bass and guitar)... MASSIVE fan.

Second. Hopefully eleuke will have their steel strings avail for public consumption by the time you finish this project. (I'm totally crossing my fingers, I'm jonesing for them too).

That being said, I'm totally useless in helping you track down this stuff, but I'm going to keep an eye out on your progress.
 
ukebeatsguitar said:
And by any chance, are you the CulpRJ that has the Stewmac build on youtube with the slotted head and cutaway. Cause, if you are, I watched all of those, and I have to say you did and AMAZING job.
Click to expand...

Yes that's me. I'm glad you liked the build. There are more uke repair/restoration videos coming soon.
 
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