8 Striing Tenor Neck

Kevin Waldron · Oct 12, 2012

Any of you guys that have built tenor ukulele 8 string instruments care to share what width at the nut and width at the body connection you have used? If you know the neck depth at the 1st fret I'd like to confirm that we are in the ball park.

Also are you using truss rod or carbon fiber for the 8 strings?

We have also finished our cuatro design and neck and may attempt to design a uke around the neck.. here is a photo of the finished cut neck.

Thanks for your help.

Blessings,

Kevin

ukulian · Oct 12, 2012

Nut = 40mm, outside strings at 37mm. At the 15th fret the outer strings are 42mm. Neck is stiffened but no truss rod.

My Cuatro is Venezuelan and I use the same neck for Bass uke!

HIH

ksquine · Oct 12, 2012

Now that's an impressive headstock!
Martin's taropatch listed as 1.5" nut width. I don't have one to measure though

tonewood · Oct 12, 2012

Yeah Kevin, that is a sweet looking headstock design.Really nice looking work.

Kevin Waldron · Oct 13, 2012

Thanks guys, for the complement. ( this neck is cut 90% with the cnc ... hand.. band-saw the blank, fixture drill the the tuner peg holes, fixture cut the initial tenon prior to instrument fitting.... but if our cad file isn't right neck want be either.... takes about 5 minutes of hand sanding to clean the neck up after cnc and the cnc takes about 50 minutes to get it this clean. )

Thank you for the measurements on the 8 string neck..... we were already close but just wanted to confirm. Are you guys doing anything different on the bridge for an eight string? ( like... side to side strings or back/front like a 12 string or an 8 string octave baritone guitar ) We get all this worked out we may offer a 8 string tenor kit in the future.

Blessings,

Kevin

Kevin Waldron · Oct 22, 2012

We have now finished the actual 8 string neck with the cnc. Enclosing some photo's.

In addition we have also finished the acrylic Peg Head templates. ( They are based on A style mandolin tuner sets others could be used .... we thought that this was the best choice. Conventional style could still be used. )

Working on a actual bridge but not finished yet.

Blessings,

Kevin

Kevin Waldron · Oct 28, 2012

Today we finished drawing one 8 string bridge ( going to do several more ). We will attempt to make this next week.... thought you might want to see what we have thus far.

Blessings,

Kevin

anthonyg · Oct 28, 2012

Nice work. I play an 8 string tenor and I've just seen this thread so I thought I would put in my two bobs worth. I'm a picker and I don't like 8 strings that have the highest pitched string (of the octave pairs) above the lower pitched strings. As a picker I wan't a solid bass sound on the 3rd and 4th strings with the higher string ringing sympathetically. Mind you, the strummers might like it with the higher octave strings on top.

Is there a reason for it? I suggest you consider in what order you are going to string it when cutting the nut.

Anthony

BlackBearUkes · Oct 28, 2012

If this is going to be tie bridge, like a classical guitar bridge, then I would suggest making the tie block wider than what the drawing shows. The pull of 8 strings on a tenor scale is going to be great. You might consider a string through type bridge, it could save repair work down the road.

ukulian · Oct 28, 2012

BlackBearUkes said:
If this is going to be tie bridge, like a classical guitar bridge, then I would suggest making the tie block wider than what the drawing shows. The pull of 8 strings on a tenor scale is going to be great. You might consider a string through type bridge, it could save repair work down the road.

You might also consider reversing the pyramids on the ends of the bridge so that the high point is in line with the groove in front of the tie-block rather than in line with the saddle. That is a weak point on this style of bridge. (Guess how I know!)

Kevin Waldron · Oct 28, 2012

Guys,

Thanks for all the comments.

What we had came from a photo of a Taro-Patch 1920's instrument that we saw ...... we would like to think that we have improved somewhat on designs in almost 100 years..... we will take all of what you guys have suggested and adjust the bridge accordingly. Had some time this afternoon and we think we incorporated your suggestions, please check it out. ( We increased the top bar of the string bar by .16" which makes the bridge 1" wide, also flipped the mounds to the back side which also almost makes them symmetrical but for sure puts more meat in the shallow part of the bridge. )

By chance do any of you guys have original sizes and scales for 1916 "Taro-Patch -Fiddles" ( the ones that were bigger than a standard uke )

Blessings,

Kevin

8 Striing Tenor Neck

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