In another thread, I mentioned an odd ten fret soprano that I made. I may have posted a pic of it in this forum already, but a search did not bring it up.
It is inspired by the Kabosy, a folk instrument from Madagascar. People make their own, out of whatever materials they can find. A Kabosy usually has a narrow rectangular box body, and often (but not always) four metal strings made from single strands unwound from old bicycle brake cables. The tuning is very variable, as is the placement of the frets. Some look extremely puzzling to European eyes.
Mine looks similar to a Kabosy, but the scale and the strings are standard soprano ukulele. I aimed to make it look "charmingly rustic", but apart from some obviously contrived crudeness of construction, my aim failed! It is too shiny and smooth. I used some mahogany which Ken Timms had rejected as too rough for his purposes.
It sounds quite pleasant, but is rather quiet owing to needing a very low bridge. This is because I did not make allowance for the lack of a fretboard when setting the neck angle.
As a tip of the hat to the Kabosy's odd fret placment, I simply left off the two top frets. If I made another, I would join the neck at the tenth fret. That would give it very unusual proportions. There is an image of the face of a Lemur burned onto the back.
Another odd feature was to work out the fret spacings according to "the rule of eighteen".
John Colter
It is inspired by the Kabosy, a folk instrument from Madagascar. People make their own, out of whatever materials they can find. A Kabosy usually has a narrow rectangular box body, and often (but not always) four metal strings made from single strands unwound from old bicycle brake cables. The tuning is very variable, as is the placement of the frets. Some look extremely puzzling to European eyes.
Mine looks similar to a Kabosy, but the scale and the strings are standard soprano ukulele. I aimed to make it look "charmingly rustic", but apart from some obviously contrived crudeness of construction, my aim failed! It is too shiny and smooth. I used some mahogany which Ken Timms had rejected as too rough for his purposes.
It sounds quite pleasant, but is rather quiet owing to needing a very low bridge. This is because I did not make allowance for the lack of a fretboard when setting the neck angle.
As a tip of the hat to the Kabosy's odd fret placment, I simply left off the two top frets. If I made another, I would join the neck at the tenth fret. That would give it very unusual proportions. There is an image of the face of a Lemur burned onto the back.
Another odd feature was to work out the fret spacings according to "the rule of eighteen".
John Colter
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