Martin-style Concert

H

hmgberg

Well-known member
Joined
Jul 21, 2010
Messages
1,773
Reaction score
4
My friend and I would like to replicate, or at least make a reasonable facsimile, of a Martin concert ukulele. I cannot find plans for the instrument, but we do have Martin soprano plans and were considering just scaling it up. I found, on David Hurd's site, a list of certain dimensions of the various sizes of Martin instruments. Not surprisingly, things do not scale up uniformly. Nevertheless, this information should be useful. I also discovered an image of the inside of the top of an old Martin concert; it was fan braced, not ladder braced. We are still missing some data: top, back, and side thicknesses; neck, nut and saddle widths, and so on.

Does anyone know where I might find plans, or at least enough supplemental information to give it a go? Or, if you have any other recommendations about construction, I wold be most happy to hear them.

Thanks very much in advance for the help.
 
The Martin concert is ugly - it's not scaled up from the soprano. The harmony shapes in my most humble opinion are so much better and are what I use. However, I have no plans for you.
 
Pete Howlett said:
The Martin concert is ugly - it's not scaled up from the soprano. The harmony shapes in my most humble opinion are so much better and are what I use. However, I have no plans for you.
Click to expand...

I read earlier that you didn't get on with the Martin shape. I have a plan for the Martin soprano and thought that if the concert is just scaled up, it would be easier to adapt. I own neither a Harmony concert nor a Martin concert; I have sopranos of both, but I don't guess the Harmony soprano scales up to the concert either.

I'm not exactly sure what you don't like about the appearance of the Martin, but if it is what I surmise it to be, I just may agree with you. The Martin looks a bit like the body is too big for the neck - like they enlarged the body and stuck the standard neck on it. The tenors don't look that way to me, but I'm only going by the pictures.
 
Pete Howlett said:
The Martin concert is ugly - it's not scaled up from the soprano. The harmony shapes in my most humble opinion are so much better and are what I use. However, I have no plans for you.
Click to expand...

I should also say thanks, Pete. I've learned a lot from your videos and posts here on the forum. I really appreciate it!
 
fahrner said:
Why not use the Scott Antes concert plans available from Elderly or LMI?
Click to expand...

I have the Antes soprano plan and thought that if the concert was just scaled up, it would be easy to accomplish. I am unclear as to whether the Antes plan is also based on the Martin or on something else entirely. They are certainly inexpensive enough that I should probably get a set.

My friend and I used the Antes plan along with the Grellier plan that Pete Howlett recommended for our sopranos.
 
Try Guild of American Luthiers GAL Plan #43 Martin Tenor plan with concert and soprano outlines.
 
The Scott Antes concert plan has both a pineapple and a standard shape. We used it for our concert pineapple. Here is a pic of the standard (i.e. wasted) shape.

ConcertUke_sm.jpg

It looks very close to the Martin shape to me, which I don't like very much - but the pineapple version is fine, and much easier to build. Anyway, thanks to Matt Clara for sending us the plans.

Good luck with your uke build :music:
 
erich@muttcrew.net said:
The Scott Antes concert plan has both a pineapple and a standard shape. We used it for our concert pineapple. Here is a pic of the standard (i.e. wasted) shape.

View attachment 21064

It looks very close to the Martin shape to me, which I don't like very much - but the pineapple version is fine, and much easier to build. Anyway, thanks to Matt Clara for sending us the plans.

Good luck with your uke build :music:
Click to expand...

Thanks very much!
 
How do you all like the Kala concert? I made a sketch in gthang a while back - still need to balance it out a bit, but I think you get the idea.

ConcerUke_LikeKala_sm.jpg
 
I actually have a Kala concert. Mine is a 14th-fret join. Looks nice. Thanks.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Ukecaster
Martin Style 2 CTM concert
Replies
4
Views
393
Nickie
Nickie
T
Martin Concert C1K vs Style 2K Concert?
Replies
10
Views
830
tptrs
T
C
FS: Vintage Martin Style 1 Concert (1940s)
Replies
2
Views
711
cogfasser
C
P
WTT Martin style 2 M soprano (2012) and Koaloha concert (2016) for a tenor EUROPE
Replies
1
Views
421
Pinoninja
P
Ukecaster
Martin Style 0 concert
Replies
4
Views
430
bsfloyd
B
Top Bottom