Anyone ever try to tune the back lower than the top?

Plysters

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How's it going?And when will you tab it when it just a back and top or when finished.I know that the top have to tabe at the bridge but about the back I don't know much abput it.

Thank you all for sharing.

Ply
 
Get Roger Siminoff's book and dvd on tap tuning...

And you'll get a ton of info...probably conflicting...from Ervin.
 
Tap tuning is more to personal taste than an exact science. I don't bother with this technique and rely on more what woods are being used, how old they are, type of wood, stiffness, etc. Experience is the best teacher. In most cases, the lower the tap tone, the thinner the wood has to be. You have to ask yourself is this what you want? A thinner back is more likely to move around more and can cause problems if the top over-powers it. The back thickness should be able to handle whatever the top delivers. Only the person building the uke can determine this. I know many luthiers you use tap tuning techniques but can't explain why they do it or what exactly they are listening for. They just know when it is right, whatever that means. If you feel this will benefit your overall results, more power to you. Martin made many fine ukes and I sincerely doubt they ever tap tuned one of them. Again, experience is the best teacher.
 
Just build! Only make one change at a time. Pay attention to the results (meaning you have to have the old one on hand when you finish the new one). Don't over-think it, just build. Try to have fun. Ukes are supposed to be fun. Keep the woodwork tight and clean and don't worry about theoretical BS. Just build, and sooner or later it will all come to you.
 
Just build! Only make one change at a time. Pay attention to the results (meaning you have to have the old one on hand when you finish the new one). Don't over-think it, just build. Try to have fun. Ukes are supposed to be fun. Keep the woodwork tight and clean and don't worry about theoretical BS. Just build, and sooner or later it will all come to you.

Well isn't that a refreshing point of view! Gotta agree with you John. Understand the basics then put in a lot of bench time. Some people just want it sooner than later. There's no short cut to experience however.

FYI: For reasons I can't even try (or want) to explain, the tops of my tenors always seem to be tuned to "almost" G sharp. My backs are always about a half tone higher. David Hurd believes that keeping the tops and backs a semi tone apart helps to eliminate dead spots in certain areas of the fret board. For me it's something that I've observed with my ukes rather than something I've tried to achieve.
 
Let me offer a different view. Two years ago I purchased Peterson's Strobosoft software for my PC. The deluxe version was $100 or so and offers a very nice tap tuning capability. I started recording what my tap tones were on my tops, backs and the body resonance of the assembled body. I do not tune to specific notes, I just record the data. Like deflection testing, this is information. The idea is, if you build a killer instrument and you have kept records of the tap tones, as well as the other details, you may have some basis for repeating the build. Most of how I build is very intuitive, so I enjoy being able to go back over the data and look for trends. And, by the way, some months after buying the software for my PC, I bought the istrobosoft tuning application for my iphone. It is sensitive enough to tap tune and checking it against the PC shows it to be within a couple of cents.

Brad
 
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