Tenor bridge height and action; measurements to shoot for.

Hey everyone, I'm new here so forgive me if I am transgressing any rules or conventions.

I'm making a tenor Uke of my own design (nothing outlandish, just drawing up my own plans). My instrument making experience is with Steele string guitars and other Steele string instruments. I have a good idea of how to accomplish the geometry I want there but have no experience with ukes or nylon strings in general. What action should I shoot for at the 12th fret? How tall is the typical bridge and saddle height?

On a guitar, I would shoot for string height over the soundboard around 1/2" and adjust the neck angle to give the desired action. Actually i can pretty much dial in the neck angle with the top dome. The plane of the top of the frets would intersect the bridge right at the top of the bridge; the saddle height and soundboard pull from string tension puts me right were I want to be. I suppose the low tension strings will cause much less soundboard distortin and will have a higher vibrating arc calling for higher action. . .

Hi Bryan.
It isn't much different with ukes, or a Tenor specifically, we still play with the same human fingers on all of them.
I would go thru the numbers on my ukes specifically, but I think you know how to derive the numbers.
Fingerstyle players may want a bit more height than pure strummers, but 1/2" is a good height, at the bridge.

Thanks David! I figured I see a few familiar faces around here.

Hi Bryan, more familiar faces.

David is right. It is all the same variables as in guitar making. String height at the bridge of about 1/2" and string height at the 12th fret of about 5/64".

My bridges are 7mm thick with the saddle 3.5mm above that. I think 1/2" or 12.7mm is probably at the limit if not beyond providing a lot more mass than I would like. I believe that good building is about getting details like this right and ukulele building is all about 'scale'...

Hey Bryan. Glad you finally joined the site with all the cool kids. I want to see that uke when you're done!

Thanks Kevin! Assuming I get it done in time (I'm way behind schedule) it is getting donated to a raffle we are having to raise funds for our patients who can't afford the necessities because of their cancer treatments. So I won't still have it when we meet next spring. I'll have to make sure I get good pictures. I definitely see more ukes in my future. I haven't looked around here much. Where are we supposed to post pics of finished projects?

Pete, thanks for your reply. Do you have a ballpark mass you shoot for with bridge and saddle?

My bridges are similar to Pete's in hight as well as saddle. I shoot for between 9.5 and 10.5mm from bottom of string to top of soundboard. Depending on whether there is a radius on the fret board or not.

I rarely measure weight/mass. 600 ukes and I think I have a few design aspects just about nailed.

I suppose I was speaking off hand when I answered, so I measured one of my ukes, and 10mm over the top at the front of the bridge is where I'm at, so I concede to the folks who measure in the hellish metric measure.

I like mine between 2.4 and 3mm depends on the playing style, intonation and volume of the ukulele...