Looking For A Builder Who Is Willing To Build Me A "Not Quite Finished" Concert Uke?

joejeweler

Well-known member
Joined
Jul 7, 2011
Messages
538
Reaction score
0
Looking For A Builder Who Is Willing To Build Me A "Not Quite Finished" Concert Uke?

I'm looking for a skilled luthier who can build me an "almost completed" concert sized ukulele, in simple koa or mahogany back and sides, with a fine grained spruce top. When's the last time someone ordered a custom unfinished uke???

I prefer a bit longer scale of around 15-5/16" (my Ron Saul) up to about 16" scale, with frets in place and leveled/finished on a flat unbound fretboard. Grover silver machine head tuners. I like a bit wider neck with nut at around 1-7/16" instead of the usual 1-3/8", and that gets wider to match up with a wider string spacing at the saddle of around 44mm.

Frets the thin mandolin style or similar....

...12 fret to body, 15 frets total, and a neck width of 46mm where it joins the body. Neck either spanish cedar, or mahogany,....with added neck carbon fiber support, and an ebony or rosewood fretboard.

No body bindings or finish either, with the back to be braced with lightweight (solid or kerfed) linings notched to accept the back, which i'll glue up once i add what i want to the internals.

This is going to become a prototype of a design i'm refining, so it doesn't have to be "pretty"! :eek:

I'd like the sides thicknessed to around 1.5mm, with a "One Piece" spruce top as thin as you dare based on it's stiffness.
The spruce top i'd like braced just at the soundhole with thin 3mm thick flat bracing positioned under the fretboard and directly opposite the soundhole. No bracing at the sides of the soundhole. (ie, no bracing at the uke's "waist" sides around the soundhole) No rosette necesary.......

I'll add any additional bracing as i see fit under the bridge once i make it up, so NO Bridge or Bridgeplate
underneath,....."bald" up top and underneath! I want to make one up suited to my own plan......

The back can be thicknessed and braced normally.

I'll do final setup work after i complete my work and glue on the ready to go back. Roughed in nut slots ok for Aquila nylguts reg hi G tuning, and bone nut and saddle.

That's it,...... i'm not particular! :rolleyes:

For a builder who hates finishing and final set up, i'm your guy! You don't even have to put a label in if you don't want to, god forbid someones sees it in that state and thinks you normally work this way!

I've ported a few ukes recently, but one for a special purpose. I needed extra access to work on a new design i'm currently working to get patented, and i finally got a prototype worked up yesterday on my Ron Saul Concert koa/spruce. It was the best candidate for what i'm doing, as it is already very lightly built, with thinner than usual top bracing. I didn't really need a prototype for a patent application, but wanted some feedback on my work.

It looks to be a workable methology, offering many benefits to current designs,......but i just can't get into specifics at this point. There is just so much i can do to retrofit an existing uke to extract the most info, and i simply don't have the room right now to set up a complete shop and work from scratch and add additional changes i want to do for a fully functional prototype.

Im probably looking at a year,....maybe as much as 2 or 3 years out before everything is completed at the Patent Office, and $4000 to $5000 in cost.

I just charged $400 to my patent attorney a few days ago to get things started with a patent search.
Now the long wait begins!


Anyway,....anyone up to the project can add their thoughts and estimate of both time and $$$?

......PM's OK also if you want to remain in the backround. :D
 
Last edited:
To add another possibility to this project, and test the creative juices of at least one of the many builders here, i just
had a thought that seems interesting to me.

I think, since this is to be a prototype concert uke that i am likely to want to make multiple changes with over time, that an easily removable back might be possible.

Going that route, i'd opt for a bit heavier side walls of maybe 2mm thick, and a solid liner glued inside the side walls at
the back side, that could be positioned 7 to 10 milimeters below flush. This would create a ledge that a
specially prepared back could rest upon and screwed to at 7 or 8 several points. I'll add the screws and holes to the back
later myself.....

A thin strip of cork material could be affixed to this inner ledge, to help seal the back and prevent unwanted buzzes.
(The actual ledge depth depending on the thicknesses of the back with liner and cork layers factored in)

The inside back edge should probably be re-inforced along the outer edge with a 1/4" wide X 1/8" thick flat "liner" that would lay within the side walls, and against the cork insulation strip positioned there.

Having an easily removable back would be a great aid to experiment with different bracing patterns. Using reversable hide glue and a one piece top would help prevent center seam separation from periodic heating to try different bracing patterns.In this instance probably a one piece back would work best also.

It would seem to me this might be just the kind of testing platform that could prove to be a great learning tool.

......anybody up to the challenge??
 
Last edited:
Why? Do you expect your 'invention' to be widely coveted by the handful of dacrories making ukes today? Seems all a bit extravagant... I've looked to patent my horizontal rotary sander but my sales volume was insufficient to supprt the premium required to meet the ongoing patent costs...
 
Why? Do you expect your 'invention' to be widely coveted by the handful of dacrories making ukes today? Seems all a bit extravagant... I've looked to patent my horizontal rotary sander but my sales volume was insufficient to supprt the premium required to meet the ongoing patent costs...


......you have to believe in your ideas enough to support them with some financing.

Also,....i believe my idea will have a much broader potential market than covering just ukuleles, and will
also impact various styles of guitars, mandolins, and a host of other stringed instruments.

Working with a uke is just easier on the wallet, and also having just 4 strings to work with instead of 6 and lower
overall string tension.

A lot of R & D still needs to be done also,....which is why i'm looking for a workable platform to easily make changes. Once i can freely talk about it, i'll present it for licensing and leave the fine tuning to the big players in manufacturing such as Martin and Taylor, among other stringed instrument makers to sort out the best possible use.

Who knows,....if i'm granted a patent, a builder of my testing vehicle might get honorable mention!

Could even be YOU Pete??? :D

By the way, Thomas Edison's record of patents involved a great deal of improvements over exhisting inventions by
other inventors. Interesting link on him,...didn't realize he was THAT prolific!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Edison_patents#First_hundred_patents

.....might just be room for an improvement or two in the way you guys build-um?
 
Last edited:
Good luck with your project! I would suggest contacting maybe Bradford Donaldson (UU member "Bradford") or Rick Turner (Compass Rose Guitar and Ukulele). Bradford is very interested in this area, and has come up with ukulele kits and interesting prototypes. Rick has a class he teaches on building ukes and mandolins, where he prepares kits and then leads workshops on the assembly of them.

Sounds like your idea will be easier to realize than Pete's. Patenting and manufacturing complicated new tools can have a lot of expenses that make it hard for an individual to start up on their own. A design or process for fine tuning the details of the construction of instruments is much easier to accomplish. The key here is to make sure you have tweaked and perfected your finalized patent design, or made it general enough to protect you from someone else coming along and patenting an improved version. It's a fine line. Too general, and you can't patent it. Too specific, and someone will better it. It is good you have some experts helping you.

–Lori
 
Good luck with your project! I would suggest contacting maybe Bradford Donaldson (UU member "Bradford") or Rick Turner (Compass Rose Guitar and Ukulele). Bradford is very interested in this area, and has come up with ukulele kits and interesting prototypes. Rick has a class he teaches on building ukes and mandolins, where he prepares kits and then leads workshops on the assembly of them.

Sounds like your idea will be easier to realize than Pete's. Patenting and manufacturing complicated new tools can have a lot of expenses that make it hard for an individual to start up on their own. A design or process for fine tuning the details of the construction of instruments is much easier to accomplish. The key here is to make sure you have tweaked and perfected your finalized patent design, or made it general enough to protect you from someone else coming along and patenting an improved version. It's a fine line. Too general, and you can't patent it. Too specific, and someone will better it. It is good you have some experts helping you.

–Lori

Thanks Lori,.....just wish the long wait wasn't in front of me! Darn government beaurocrats......i doubt Edison
would have been able to patent even 100 of his thousands ideas/improvements to existing ideas in today's world!
.....suspect it was a whole lot cheaper back then in relative costs,....not accounting for inflation.

Anyway,...did you ever acquire a patent on your "Uke Leash", or find any competitor from overseas stepping on your
baby?

And yes,...if granted a patent i'm not planning on manufacturing an end product, so licensing will be a much easier
process.

BTW, ....i am on Bradford's list (out 6 months for me approximately), but want an example of his work built the
best way he knows how in a bit higher grade material. (he'll be putting in a soundport, not ME this time! lol).

.........another tough and long wait!

:cheers:
 
...
Anyway,...did you ever acquire a patent on your "Uke Leash", or find any competitor from overseas stepping on your
baby?

...
:cheers:

Uke Leash currently has "Patent Pending" status, which means it is protected internationally during the process. Check your PM for more details.
–Lori
 
My tool was a simple unique design but easily copied. When your designs are stolen I hope you have the funds to fight it, the time and effirt to monitor infringement... and of course the ongoing funds to protect your propert outside the US.
 
Why not just build the uke your self?

Lack of equipement and tools, as well as room in the home to set up a shop. Cold winters and a already full
garage rule that out, and no room in the 3 BR bungalo i own. Dust all over, etc.

If i don't find anyone to tackle the project, on option is finding a "project" uke that needs help. I'd prefer
a spruce top concert,....just not as many available compared to koa topped ones. I've been checking out Elderly
regularly,...but the "no name" $100 to $150 ukes are usually mahogany topped. I wanted to work with a
spruce top because it better carries over to guitar and mandolin applications of my idea.

As long as it is well made with a solid top and sides, i could manage removing the back and making the changes i'd want for an experimental piece. But i'd prefer a "clean work station" with no bridge or top bracing to have to
remove first.
 
Last edited:
I have that mahogany uke on my bench right now...

16 scale --1 piece spruce top-- 12 fret neck joint and 16 frets.

Is it spoken for?? .....how far along is the construction, and what about top bracing and bridge attachments?

Are the back's liners in place? ....remember, i'd like easy access to get inside periodically with an easily removeable
back as per my thoughts in post #2 to this thread.

.....pics would be nice also,....
 
Last edited:
I'm not sure why you wouldn't make the top removable.............

I guess i was thinking i wanted the top as stable as possible, because it's a critial tone producing element, and also because of the whole fretboard/neck angle/bridge relationship.

It would be nice to be able to swap out either, however! :D

......imagine the ability to experiment with different bracing patterns by recording each top and taking notes as to what you liked or didn't like about a particular setup, and then going back and doing the same thing with a 2nd, 3rd, or 4th top and comparing the results. This keeps some of the other variables like the internal body cavity dimentions and resonance of the sides and back from skewing the results.......

.....of course, that would also mean at times your uke would be TOPLESS! :drool:
 
Last edited:
Definitely contact Bradford. The man is a wizard!

Good luck with your project! I would suggest contacting maybe Bradford Donaldson (UU member "Bradford") or Rick Turner (Compass Rose Guitar and Ukulele). Bradford is very interested in this area, and has come up with ukulele kits and interesting prototypes. Rick has a class he teaches on building ukes and mandolins, where he prepares kits and then leads workshops on the assembly of them.

Sounds like your idea will be easier to realize than Pete's. Patenting and manufacturing complicated new tools can have a lot of expenses that make it hard for an individual to start up on their own. A design or process for fine tuning the details of the construction of instruments is much easier to accomplish. The key here is to make sure you have tweaked and perfected your finalized patent design, or made it general enough to protect you from someone else coming along and patenting an improved version. It's a fine line. Too general, and you can't patent it. Too specific, and someone will better it. It is good you have some experts helping you.

–Lori
 
Top Bottom