A question on sides

thistle3585 · Feb 28, 2011

I am working on two tenors and have a question for the pros about the sides. The plans that I have call for a tapered side with the highest point of the side a little bit aft of the sound hole. My question is whether others taper their sides fore and aft and if they do it before they bend them or after? I also wondered if anyone could give the height of their neck block and tailblock for a tenor? My neck block is 2.375" and my tailblock is 3.00" without the top or back attached. That seemed like a pretty large disparity in heights.

Timbuck · Feb 28, 2011

I'm not a Pro builder but...Yes! I taper the sides before bending but when it is developed around the figure 8 shape it is also curved ..so I leave it about 3-4 mm big so it can be trimmed and sanded with the rad dish..My Tenor neck block height is 2.250" and the tail 2.625".

bluesuke · Feb 28, 2011

I also taper my sides before bending. 2/34'' at the head and about 3'' at the tail

ksquine · Feb 28, 2011

I taper the sides after bending and gluing in the blocks. Its easy to cut the taper with a chisel, block plane, and sand paper. Just be careful cutting because the sides can crack easily.
The 5/8th" taper on a tenor sounds pretty standard to me

BR Ukuleles · Feb 28, 2011

I taper them before bending. Some plans call for the neck and tail to be the same hight with just aft of the waist to be higher. Others call for the tail to be anywhere from 1/4 to 1/2 " different. The back can also just be the same height with a radius only built onto the back. Lot's of ways of doing it.

new wave ukulele · Feb 28, 2011

rather than taper, think of it as a profile... profile the sides before bending to match the radius of the back. it's more of a curve than a straight line. it may (will) take longer at first to figure out the profile, but once you have a side profile template fitting the back to the sides after bending will be a snap.

if you're using a flat back with no radius at all... never mind. taper away!

Timbuck · Feb 28, 2011

Even with a tapered "dead flat back" it's not a consistant taper

..But not enough to argue about..just leave a bit extra to sand.

cursley ukulele's · Feb 28, 2011

on my last soprano build i cut the sides at a taper to avoid the job of trying to remove all that surplus wood one the top and bottom blocks were in..

dave g · Mar 1, 2011

new wave ukulele said:
if you're using a flat back with no radius at all... never mind.

That's what I do - one heck of a lot easier

new wave ukulele · Mar 1, 2011

Timbuck said:
Even with a tapered "dead flat back" it's not a consistant taper..But not enough to argue about..just leave a bit extra to sand.

nothin that a flat sanding disc on the drill press won't fix...

dustartist · Mar 1, 2011

Before bending for me...

Liam Ryan · Mar 1, 2011

Yep, I profile before bending. 65mm at the heel, 60mm at the neck. With 2mm plates the heel ends up around 68mm deep. Just south of the soundhole is about 69mm, the neckblock around 64mm. This fits a 25' radius.

thistle3585 · Mar 1, 2011

Thanks to everyone that responded. As mentioned in my first post, I have a 5/8" taper between the two blocks and then I sanded the rim on a 15' radiused board last night. We'll see how it comes out.

A question on sides

thistle3585

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Timbuck

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bluesuke

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ksquine

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BR Ukuleles

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new wave ukulele

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Timbuck

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cursley ukulele's

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dave g

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new wave ukulele

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dustartist

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Liam Ryan

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thistle3585

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