joejeweler
Well-known member
- Joined
- Jul 7, 2011
- Messages
- 538
- Reaction score
- 0
I must say i was a bit surprised when i recently received a wonderfully made concert ukulele made with breathtaking curly koa construction and a flawless finish! (see post #2 for body shots)
Had this been a new ukulele from a master builder, quite understandable. But this uke was made almost 11 years ago, and by appearence alone i'm confident has spent virtually it's entire life in a case. The highly polished nitrocellulous finish was mirrorlike,....not a faint scratch anywhere! For those of you who play your instruments, you know it is virtually impossible to avoid faint hairlines on the back from contact with clothing, small buttons, etc. The top was likewise pristine, not a hint of actual use,....yet this was made/started in 2000 and delivered to a specific individual in June of 2001
It is signed inside as such, and as i am at least the 3rd custodian to have owned it,.....i will refrain from identifying the builder for obvious reasons. Please keep it to yourself if you recognize the uke! This discussion is simply to unvail a curiosity of why such a beautiful curly koa concert has no evidence of actual playing time, while having passed thru at least 3 (or more) owners over almost 11 years!
Possibly the previous owner(s) had made action changes that did not acoustically benefit the instrument. I will say that the ukulele arrived with a reasonable string height that was not buzzing anywhere, although it was a bit lower than i prefer. (maybe 1/2mm lower than i wanted at the 12th fret).
Certainly i could have lived with the setup......except that the tone was subdued and uninspiring. Could this be the reason it had sat thru various owners and remained virtually unplayed all these years? I believe that is exactly what happened,.....and yet it was not necessary!
I'm thinking the builder, like me, preferred a bit higher action and the 1st owner lowered the saddle to his preference, which in this particular instrument's case was not a feasable solution. The bridge slots and holes were only cut in about halfway thru, so when the saddle was lowered the break angle across the saddle was quite weak. When you can easily slide the strings sideways while at pitch, you know not much of the string's vibration is reaching the top!
I immediately recognized the problem, as shown here:
I realized that even replacing the saddle with one just 1mm higher (to gain 1/2mm string height at the 12th fret) might not be enough to fully realize the potential, and i really didn't want to go much higher than that to keep playabilty fairly easy.
I thought about 2 possible solutions to drastically increase string break angle at the saddle. I could convert this to a "string thru the bridge" method of stringing by drilling holes just behind the saddle. This would surely create plenty of break angle, but i thought it would look as an "add on" because the string slots in the bridge would still be present.
I chose the 2nd option, although it was much more work and had to be done carefully. After protecting the top with taped on cardboard, i used my Foredom flex shaft machine with a fine tapered cylinder bit to increase the length of the string slots toward the saddle. I also had to deepen the knot holes a little, which was done with a long hand file with a rounded cylindrical tip. This was a REAL pain with the bridge mounted! I wished the slots and knot holes had been given "extra" length when made, but that was not the case here.
After carefully reworking the bridge, i decided that in addition to the extra height i would make the new saddle, i would also add a scalloped design to it. I have come to like this look, and it makes individual string height adjustments a breeze should that be necessary. Some have said it directs the strings vibrations in a direct manner down into the top. Note sure if that can be proven, but it looks really nice imo, and the individual string height adjustment ease is worth the effort alone.
Here is the bridge after the work was completed:
As you can see, a substantial break angle was added by both increasing the length of the slots and knot holes, in addition to making the new saddle 1mm taller.
A great start,......more to follow......
Had this been a new ukulele from a master builder, quite understandable. But this uke was made almost 11 years ago, and by appearence alone i'm confident has spent virtually it's entire life in a case. The highly polished nitrocellulous finish was mirrorlike,....not a faint scratch anywhere! For those of you who play your instruments, you know it is virtually impossible to avoid faint hairlines on the back from contact with clothing, small buttons, etc. The top was likewise pristine, not a hint of actual use,....yet this was made/started in 2000 and delivered to a specific individual in June of 2001
It is signed inside as such, and as i am at least the 3rd custodian to have owned it,.....i will refrain from identifying the builder for obvious reasons. Please keep it to yourself if you recognize the uke! This discussion is simply to unvail a curiosity of why such a beautiful curly koa concert has no evidence of actual playing time, while having passed thru at least 3 (or more) owners over almost 11 years!
Possibly the previous owner(s) had made action changes that did not acoustically benefit the instrument. I will say that the ukulele arrived with a reasonable string height that was not buzzing anywhere, although it was a bit lower than i prefer. (maybe 1/2mm lower than i wanted at the 12th fret).
Certainly i could have lived with the setup......except that the tone was subdued and uninspiring. Could this be the reason it had sat thru various owners and remained virtually unplayed all these years? I believe that is exactly what happened,.....and yet it was not necessary!
I'm thinking the builder, like me, preferred a bit higher action and the 1st owner lowered the saddle to his preference, which in this particular instrument's case was not a feasable solution. The bridge slots and holes were only cut in about halfway thru, so when the saddle was lowered the break angle across the saddle was quite weak. When you can easily slide the strings sideways while at pitch, you know not much of the string's vibration is reaching the top!
I immediately recognized the problem, as shown here:
I realized that even replacing the saddle with one just 1mm higher (to gain 1/2mm string height at the 12th fret) might not be enough to fully realize the potential, and i really didn't want to go much higher than that to keep playabilty fairly easy.
I thought about 2 possible solutions to drastically increase string break angle at the saddle. I could convert this to a "string thru the bridge" method of stringing by drilling holes just behind the saddle. This would surely create plenty of break angle, but i thought it would look as an "add on" because the string slots in the bridge would still be present.
I chose the 2nd option, although it was much more work and had to be done carefully. After protecting the top with taped on cardboard, i used my Foredom flex shaft machine with a fine tapered cylinder bit to increase the length of the string slots toward the saddle. I also had to deepen the knot holes a little, which was done with a long hand file with a rounded cylindrical tip. This was a REAL pain with the bridge mounted! I wished the slots and knot holes had been given "extra" length when made, but that was not the case here.
After carefully reworking the bridge, i decided that in addition to the extra height i would make the new saddle, i would also add a scalloped design to it. I have come to like this look, and it makes individual string height adjustments a breeze should that be necessary. Some have said it directs the strings vibrations in a direct manner down into the top. Note sure if that can be proven, but it looks really nice imo, and the individual string height adjustment ease is worth the effort alone.
Here is the bridge after the work was completed:
As you can see, a substantial break angle was added by both increasing the length of the slots and knot holes, in addition to making the new saddle 1mm taller.
A great start,......more to follow......
Last edited: