No Kerfing or lining build ?

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tangimango

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Has anyone built a ukulele without lining or kerfed lining?

ive been using kerfings but notice Koaloha ukuleles never use linings and seems to stay intacted and sounds bright and loud.

i know i need linings if you are going to do purflings and bindings but for a simple build is it nessasary/recommended?

would like to hear your experience with no lining builds.

mahalos
 
the sides themselves are simply not enough to glue onto....unless you are Charles Fox who has a line of guitars that use 1/4" thick sides....
 
If you are building for yourself, you can do anything you want. If you use a thicker side wall you might not need linings. Thin side walls don't offer any strength and if the wood decides to move, it could break away from the top and back easier if there is only a thin glue line for support. Take a look at all the millions of plucked string instruments over the years, the vast majority of them have linings for a reason. It would be a warranty nightmare for all the big guitar maker out there if they didn't use some kind of linings. There are enough things that can go wrong over the years as an instrument ages, why make it worse.
 
I have some experience of building plucked stringed instruments without linings. Actually I have quite a bit of experience. They hold up well. In fact I can't remember a time when I've had a problem with a seam coming loose.
Ukuleles are pretty low tension instruments. You can't really compare them to the kind of tension that you find on a steel string Guitar, for example.
The type of instruments that I've built without linings are Vihuelas and Baroque Guitars. 2 mm thick Sides. Total string tension is around 30 Kg's and 25 Kg's respectively. Glued with HHG. No binding but a purfling half edge is frequently put on these types of soundboard.
 
Hi Michael N- Your guitars look fantastic. I love the look of romantic guitars. On no linings- it is Interesting to hear it can be, and is, done. I wouldn't have thought it possible. I stick with linings though :)

Do you use side splints?
 
Beau Hannam Ukuleles said:
Hi Michael N- Your guitars look fantastic. I love the look of romantic guitars. On no linings- it is Interesting to hear it can be, and is, done. I wouldn't have thought it possible. I stick with linings though :)

Do you use side splints?
Click to expand...

I don't know what Side splints are. I'll guess that they are the pieces of wood that go across the grain, across the width of the side? I've never used them, not even on a modern Guitar. I'm sure they do offer some insurance against side splits/cracks. . . pretty much everything associated with instruments is a compromise between strength, thickness, longevity and not upsetting the response to string vibration. Where you draw the line is part of the individual makers approach.
I use linings too, on anything after about 1750! On a Ukulele you could easily use a partial lining (from the b.block around and ending at the saddle/bridge position - which certainly would give you further assurance.
 
I wouldn't build without a lining in there. Just seems like any bump or knock could break a side loose without the extra support.
Then again....I haven't built anything without binding before
 
Though I've not seen one, I've heard that Brükos don't have linings.
The back of my Big Baby Taylor guitar has a lining around the lower bout only, nothing at the waist or upper bout.
 
Beau Hannam Ukuleles said:
the sides themselves are simply not enough to glue onto....unless you are Charles Fox who has a line of guitars that use 1/4" thick sides....
Click to expand...

He actually uses solid kerfing. Or did when I attended his school. He's all about the stiffening of sides. Typically a 25 ply snare will be much louder than a 10 ply.
 
AndrewKuker said:
He actually uses solid kerfing. Or did when I attended his school. He's all about the stiffening of sides. Typically a 25 ply snare will be much louder than a 10 ply.
Click to expand...

No such thing as "solid kerfing" :confused: if it don't have "kerfs" it's just called "linings"......Sorry about that:eek:... I'm in a "nit picking mood" due to the consumption of 3 cans of Skol Super 9% strong lager.:cheers:
 
Timbuck said:
No such thing as "solid kerfing" :confused: if it don't have "kerfs" it's just called "linings"......Sorry about that:eek:... I'm in a "nit picking mood" due to the consumption of 3 cans of Skol Super 9% strong lager.:cheers:
Click to expand...

ya, fair enough. I am no stranger to the dumbness. haha, make me jealous, me no buzz, more dumb. :cheers:
 
Ya, well it must have been 13 14 years ago and I'm sure he's experimented all over but 1/4" is a bit ridiculous. How much would that weigh?! 1/10 of an inch is thicker than most. Many of his at the time were 3 piece laminate side too, for tonal reasons, or theoretical ideas. Ya, know I just remember he didn't have solid lining, it appeared that way, he was doing a reverse kerf... but doubled so you couldn't see the kerf. Looked solid. How about that question. Kerfing..or double kerfing? We were Hawaii's dealer for R. Taylor for 3 or 4 years and they always made a big deal about it being solid. Bending lining much more labor than cutting kerf?
 
Solid linings are very nice but a bit of work. A freind at the Botany workshop in OZ uses 3 ply solid linings for his classicals and they look great but he had to buy a $80 router bit the put a chamfer on them.
Reverse kerf with side splints makes my sides as stiff as they need to be.
 
Sure, every builder finds their their ways, beliefs, comfort zone.
as far as the op's question, i believe Chuck answered it well. KoAloha went to no kerfing for production reasons. If you want to sound like a Koaloha you skip the tone bars, do a full length oversized bridge patch and a unibrace. Isn't that patented though? You could do some hard time, I suppose, maybe even end up being some dudes girlfriend, perhaps. That's allota risk for a little volume.
Tone and dynamics can be argued but players adjust to the instruments character and go right on having fun. Good ukes come in many ways.
 
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