Superconcert? Longer Scale or Tenor neck??

Hi

Was wondering if your customer wants a "superconcert" do you use a concert neck, which is typically narrower than a tenor neck and just connect at a higher fret or do you use a tenor neck. I know the bridge position will change but wanted to get some feedback. Secondly, how will the sound change as there will be more tension on the strings? Finally, will the balance be affected and the uke becomes head heavy?

Thanks for the input.

I've never done it but I've had a similar question from a bloke. My thought was to use a tenor neck and to keep the bridge location roughly the same. I don't think the head would feel too heavy, but if you're worried about it use violin peg tuners. I use them on almost all my ukes and they keep weight down.

Sven

Don't know why a tenor neck would be narrower than a concert. At least mine aren't. You still have 4 strings that are sized so close between sets that it's not worth mentioning. Mine are built to the customers specification for nut width and string spacing at the saddle, but they just about always fall into what I'd call a standard with 2 mm variance on each end between all instruments from soprano through tenor.

You would most likely need to have a 14 fret to body join using the longer scale length to put the bridge in a position suited to the smaller body.

There are other ways to compensate for a head heavy instrument. One is lighter tuners. Another is the choice of neck wood. Even making the neck a little thinner from fret board to back of neck. 1mm will make a lot of difference in how heavy that neck is. The other is to use a heavier tail block, or even a body wood that is relatively heavy compared to your usual choice. As long as the balance point of the instrument is very close to the heel / neck block join then the instrument will feel balanced.

You will not necessarily have more tension on the strings. In fact the opposite could be true. I don't think there is a way to accurately predict what the sound will be for your particular instrument other than building it and accessing it's quality compared to a similar instrument you also built. There is just way to much variation in bracing, wood choice, string choice etc. to make any meaningful comment.

I actually use a tenot neck for my super concerts. By using a tenor neck and moving the neck/body joint to the 15th fret, the bridge stays pretty much in the same spot with reference to the rest of the body so the the top will vibrate about the same.

I have had a number of customers request a 14th fret neck joint recently. I explain to them that I can do that if we extend the scale length, so the bridge position does not change much. I offer two choices. One is to go with the next size up neck and fretboard, i.e. a super concert. And to clarify, the dimensions of a tenor neck at the nut and 12th fret are not any different from a concert. Two, I offer what a call a plus size, in the case of a concert uke, my normal scale length is 14.75", the plus is 15.875", this is what I did with Teek's pineapple as she did not want a tenor neck. In the case of the super size, the bridge gets moved slightly towards the tail, and with the plus size it gets moved slightly toward the neck. It is all very much a balancing act. Where I understand what Allen says about the string tension may vary depending on what strings you use; for a given set of strings, if you increase the length of the string, the tension will go up at the same pitch, so I build accordingly. As I am mostly using PegHed tuners, I do not worry about the uke being unbalanced.

Brad

Sorry Allen

Should have been clearer. When I said narrower, I mean fret spacing and not with of the neck. I know that I can play Jake's song much more comfortably on concert than a tenor and it's because I have shorter fingers.

I don't much see the point of these hybrids. A super concert (tenor neck, concert body) just sounds like a weak tenor to me. I try to discourage them. On the other hand I do like the super sopranos I build. Go figgah.

Chuck...I like your comment about in other threads where you stated ukes don't have a set place where frets need to connect to the body

All I want is a concert that connects at more than the 12th fret, whether it be 13 -15, it's fine!! I looked up several models and listed where they are listed. These are "standard" concerts.

Kamaka - 12
Kanilea - 14
Koaloha - 13
Pono - 14

I guess, ultimately, I am complaining about Kamaka and don't want to pay additional $150 to get a few extra frets!! LOL

Moore Bettah Ukuleles said:

I don't much see the point of these hybrids. A super concert (tenor neck, concert body) just sounds like a weak tenor to me. I try to discourage them. On the other hand I do like the super sopranos I build. Go figgah.

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Jesus!! Don't tell Sukie!

olgoat52 said:

Jesus!! Don't tell Sukie!

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Sheesh, I forgot about that. Any way we could block her from seeing this?
No doubt it would've sounded even better as a full blown tenor. But as anyone who's ever worked with me knows, I have strong opinions about things and can be pretty narrow in my thinking.

Moore Bettah Ukuleles said:

Sheesh, I forgot about that. Any way we could block her from seeing this?
No doubt it would've sounded even better as a full blown tenor. But as anyone who's ever worked with me knows, I have strong opinions about things and can be pretty narrow in my thinking.

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I'll be glad to keep my mouth shut for bump in the list. Have a good weekend

What are we talking about here? Neck? Fingerboard? Scale length? Bridge placement?

We're just starting to make 14 frets-to-the-body concert ukes. I derived a scale length that would allow putting a concert fingerboard on a tenor neck so it's 14 frets from nut to body instead of the 12 we use on our tenor. I changed the body shape as well so as to put the bridge in the sweet spot. For me, this saves having to tool up a new neck, and doing different scale lengths is no big deal. Of course, now I want a 14 fret tenor in our line, and so that will require a new neck! And then I think we can move the bridge toward the soundhole on our tenor body without it being weird, but maybe I want a new body shape for a 14 fret tenor. It just gets complicated no matter what you do. Oh, well...

Thanks for chiming in Rick, I was going to say in my previous post, that in some respects it may be easier to redesign the whole instrument around a 14 fret neck joint. But for me, I would rather redo the neck than design and refine a whole new body shape.

Brad

Thanks everyone for the input and the number one input I am relying on is Bradford as he is making me a uke!!!! As I read this thread, I realize I have to improve my vocabulart and fingerboard is what I am talking about.