Top, bottom, front, back?

Ken W · Mar 17, 2012

Maybe its the sunshine outside today or maybe its the heated but passionate and thoughtful posts that have dominated the forum in the past couple of weeks, but I feel that it might be time for a more light hearted, but serious question. Here goes:

Most things that have a top also have a bottom (think two-piece swimsuit or floors of a building) and most things that have a front also have a back (think doors or lawns of a house). So...why does a uke (and guitar for that matter, but a guitar is not a uke) have a top and a back?

Pete Howlett · Mar 17, 2012

Beats me? Don't the Spanish call the top/front the 'plantilla'? Also does it matter? I think wierd names for the neck (where does that come from) are amusing but equally without 'sense' - I'm thinking 'arm' and 'handle'.... Here's hoping for humorous replies

ukulian · Mar 17, 2012

Pete Howlett said:
Here's hoping for humorous replies

I'm splitting my sides!!

Let's face it, with the shape of a Uke (or that other instrument), if you called it a bottom, it would probably get X-rated

BR Ukuleles · Mar 17, 2012

One of my students from a few years ago kept referring to the neck as the handle. He'd ask me a question about the handle, and I kept stumbling trying to figure out what the heck he was talking about.

Sven · Mar 17, 2012

English is a second language to me so I might be disqualified. But I'd say the top is mounted at the front. It works in a different way and the sides and back form the structure on which the top is mounted. At the front.

In Swedish we call it lid. And a lid sits on a jar, it's not one of the sides of the jar.

(No intentional humour, but feel free to laugh anyway...)

Pete Howlett · Mar 17, 2012

Scandinavia has it right - English is taught mainly as a second language and is spoken well by most of the population. Most Finns i know absolutely despised their compulsory Swedish lessons and yet...

Liam Ryan · Mar 18, 2012

I've got a bottom half way up me but no top....................

maclay · Mar 18, 2012

This Matsuda uke doesn't have a back or bottom or sides for that matter.
I think it belongs in a museum....beautiful piece

\http://www.fretboardjournal.com/blog/michihiro-matsudas-experimental-ukulele

Top, bottom, front, back?

Ken W

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Pete Howlett

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ukulian

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BR Ukuleles

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Sven

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Pete Howlett

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Liam Ryan

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maclay

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