New Tenor by Tom Guy / Bluegrass Ukuleles

More pictures at BlugrassUkes.com

Tenor Ukulele with Rosewood fretboard and Koa Accents

Includes padded soft case
16 frets to the body, 19 frets total
24" overall Length
1 1/2" wide at the nut
Maple / black rosette
Koa stringers in neck and heel
Rosewood fretboard
Koa bridge
Curly Koa and ebony head stock face
Highest quality 14 - 1 Gotoh geared tuners, Chrome with Mother of Pearl buttons
White Corian nut and Bone Saddle
Redwood Body
White MOP inlay fret markers on face and side of freboard
Aquilla Strings with LOW G
Satin Finish

Here is a link to Bluegrass Ukuleles where the ukulele is shown:

http://www.bluegrassukes.com/tenor-ukulele-with-koa-accents/

Tom and his father make some very nice playing and sounding ukuleles.

Nice arrangement. Bluegrass make some good looking instruments.

Thanks Sandra! Here is a larger picture:

Hey Tom!

Nice looking uke. I notice that you seem to be moving away from your older bridge style towards one that seems to be un-compensated.

Are you going to do this across the board? I hope you do, so that it will be easier to string up your ukes re-entrant rather than only low-g.

I can't slide anything past you guys without you noticing !

The answer is YES, on our Box ukuleles. You will also notice I am doing a "string thru" bridge now as well. Reasons are:

String thru bridge:
1. We are hearing increased sustain and volume with the string thru bridge. This is because we are getting a slightly better break on the string behind the saddle, and the knot of the string is resting right on the bridge plate. PM me if you are interested in details.

2. We have had a couple instances where a uke was left in a hot car in the sun all day, and it actually caused the bridge to pull up, even with the bridge pins. Anchoring the strings behind the bridge plate eliminates any chance of that.

3. It is easier to string up.

Un-compensated saddle:
1. Even with a Low G string, the intonation is still near perfect with the uncompensated saddle on our ukes.

2. As you said, it is more compatible with High G string. Although, if you haven't tried a low G, you are missing out! A low G string gives a fuller sound and will expand your range of songs you can arrange on the uke.

3. We have been getting more and more requests from Lefty's!

For standard body Tenors, not sure yet. We know there are perfectionists out there who will want to see a compensated bridge on their $900 uke, including my father, Tom Guy Sr! NOTE: The uke at the top of this thread is not representative of our new bridge design. The picture below is a better representation of the new design. Note the carved away wood behind the saddle for a better break on the string. The bridge and saddle is one of the most important components in a uke or guitar, and its design will still be argued 100 years from now.

Looks great, Tom. Thanks for all the juicy details.

I knew that I was missing out on the low-g string when I had my Bluegrass uke strung gCEA....

So, I just got some Southcoast strings on and tuned the whole thing down to eAC#F#! I get all that low g (or low a....close enough) richness, and I don't have to mess around with adapting my high-g music to a low-g instrument.

Btw, even though i've got a compensated bridge on mine, I don't that the high g (or in my case, high e) string is particularly out of tune.


All, I can say is "Please don't put your uncompensated bridges on any new traditionally shaped ukes, 'cause I don't have the money to buy another...!"

As an owner of the Bluegrass cigarbox ukulele and a Bluegrass walnut tenor I can honestly say I love them both. You guys are putting out some great ukes. Keep up the good work.

I second the quality of Tom's ukes. I have a beautiful cigar uke made by Tom. It is hard to believe that you can get that kind of sound out of a repurposed box!