Not a longneck, but a short neck!

Uncle Rod Higuchi

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Kerry Bannister, Lynnwood, WA, shared a shortneck pineapple tenor with STRUM on Wed and I got to play it on Friday.
It seems Kerry got a hardshell overhead carry on and designed and built this shortneck pineapple to fit inside :)
It's got a tenor body with a concert scale. He designed it for low G. I requested a similar shortneck for reentrant tuning.
This could be a wonderful 'strummer's' uke!
Most likely not appropriate for you finger pickers who need access to the 12th fret and beyond.
But for us strummer's, with attachment to the body at about the 10.5 fret :))), it suits me almost perfectly...as when strumming, I rarely, if ever, need to use the frets beyond #8 :)

Anyway, something to think about!

Happy New Year!

And keep uke'in',
 
Yes, lack of frets is the only thing against such a design, but if you don't use them, then there's no loss.
But there should be a gain in volume, tone, & sustain. :)
 
Yes, my way on my personnal ukes.

But at 10.5 scale joining neck, with tenor scale, bridge should be on lower point of the table.
Far away from le largest dimension of the table.

Not the best place for vib's transmissions ...

Anyway : good to heard some guys on own way design and buiding ...


Yes, lack of frets is the only thing against such a design, but if you don't use them, then there's no loss.
But there should be a gain in volume, tone, & sustain. :)
 
Sounds interesting, at what fret does the body meet the neck?
 
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This is a short neck tenor we just finished for customer with a 15 in. concert scale on a tenor body with a 12th fret connection. We lightened the build on the body for the lighter string tension it sounded great
 
I think in the past many more ukes were built with neck/body join at the 12th fret.

what I like about Kerry's short-neck build is the join at the 10th or 10.5th fret which
removes access to the 11th and 12th frets and thereby shortens the neck allowing for
a larger body (fuller sound?) and/or a longer scale in a shorter form factor :)

I will let you know how it feels and sounds when I, hopefully, get a re-entrant model
from Kerry.

remember, Crazy G is available via a UU thread (search for 'crazy g', and look for
'rendition') with links to both a YouTube demo and a Dropbox pdf file.

I hope you guys are enjoying it.

remember, please, this is NOT a definitive rendition of Crazy G, just a rendition and a
resemblance based on what I think I remember hearing once about 50 years ago!
It is the rendition I teach my students and members of STRUM (Seattle's Totally Relaxed
Ukulele Musicians) :)

keep uke'in',
 
i suppose one drawback to a shorter necked uke, esp soprano or concert scale is with regard to
comfort of strumming motion, that is, since we typically strum around the 12th fret or where
the neck generally meets the body, having a shorter neck may create some discomfort as to
where our actual strumming will take place.

other than that, so far, I like the concept of the shorter neck, concert scale, tenor body pineapple :)
finding a case for it might be a challenge, though :)

keep uke'in', and enjoying the New Year!

RIP Ukulele Mike
 
i suppose one drawback to a shorter necked uke, esp soprano or concert scale is with regard to
comfort of strumming motion, that is, since we typically strum around the 12th fret or where
the neck generally meets the body, having a shorter neck may create some discomfort as to
where our actual strumming will take place.

other than that, so far, I like the concept of the shorter neck, concert scale, tenor body pineapple :)
finding a case for it might be a challenge, though :)

keep uke'in', and enjoying the New Year!

RIP Ukulele Mike

With a larger body for a given scale length, the luthier could keep the join at the 12th fret and have more space on the body to locate the saddle/bridge accordingly to keep the intonation right. (Unless that puts the saddle too close to the sound hole.)

And, a case for the body size would work if you don't mind the extra room at the head stock. (Extra space for a Snark tuner?)
 
actually, part of the design is to keep everything within 21" so a join at 12th fret wouldn't work for him.
he designed it to fit into a certain travel case he was using so conventional designs were off the board and
he just made what worked for him.

I like what he ended up creating and just thought a shorter neck on a concert scale, with a 10th fret join,
was very interesting. I hope I can play it more... or get one for myself - if he makes another one with
reentrant tuning :)

thanks for the interest and replies UU Ohana!

keep uke'in',
 
actually, part of the design is to keep everything within 21" so a join at 12th fret wouldn't work for him.
he designed it to fit into a certain travel case he was using so conventional designs were off the board and
he just made what worked for him.

I like what he ended up creating and just thought a shorter neck on a concert scale, with a 10th fret join,
was very interesting. I hope I can play it more... or get one for myself - if he makes another one with
reentrant tuning :)

thanks for the interest and replies UU Ohana!

keep uke'in',

Thanks for reminding me. I got all caught up with scale lengths and body sizes and for got about the carry on case.
 
The purpose of the ukulele was to fit into an old Zero Halliburton aluminum body travel case(James Bond style)..which I've stored two of for the last ten years or so.The case has a center divider panel to separate ukuleles from everything else and has enough room foir a second soprano in the "ukulele" half.It gives me extra room in the other half for music books,a music stand,repair tools,water bottle and a lot of other assorted goodies I carry sometimes to local meets .One has wheels and an a retractable handle..the other is lighter weight and both are the same size inside so the center dividers will fit either case.
The ukulele is concert in scale(martin concert scale).The neck meets the body at the 9-1/2 fret.The body is 7-1/2" wide X11-1/2" long and 2-5/8" deep..with a koa top.The rest of the body and neck is of yellow narra wood that used to be a dining table made and signed in 1921.(I use a lot of vintage wood when I can).The tuners are some old Grover Champions friction ones I had laying around.The head had to be extremely small to fit inside the case,but it is still comfortable to play.The inside of the case is about 20-1/2" wide X 12-3/4 under the center sealing aluminum seam.
Strumming..works great..Rod strums this one where he should,between the end of the 12 fret fretboard and the soundhole.I play ukulele with Rod usually once or twice a week at local meets with very rare picking and a lot of strumming.He usually plays a soprano or concert,..never larger than that..so I know what he prefers,and and how he plays.
I'm building one for Uncle Rod..same size body pretty much with the joint at the 10th fret..about 6-1/2" from the nut,should keep the bridge/saddle a little more into the sweet spot;and the head will be longer for Grover geared tuners(unless he wants otherwise)..22-1/2" long overall.
Rod uses a fiberglass tenor case for most of his local transport;so the ukulele does rest inside over the normal storage built in area for picks and tuners(on a normal hardcase..his case should be sized about the same.The 7-1/2" width does work within the waist area with about 1" of clearance around the lower bout and 4" inches of storage above the head for tuners,rubber ducks,strum buttons, and other items he normally carries.halliburtonwithukuleles.jpg
 
That is so cool. It brings new meaning to the concept of "travel ukuleles".
 
I probably could get more volume(doesn't lack for that!)..or at least the same(smaller string sizes verses the centering of the bridge in the field =??) by using a shorter around 14" scale and having the bridge more into the middle of the ukulele..but I normally don't play sopranos and prefer the larger concert fret spaces for my fatter fingers..and it is built with a similar sized/shaped body(though slightly shorter) to hold that I sometimes use on 17" and 18" scale personal lightweight instruments I play,around 16-20oz(this one is 17oz.)..Yes..definitely a travel uke..
I did a lot of head scratching to come up with a body plan to fit the case and overall length..and was originally going to make something shaped more square/weird to fit the back end into the case with a more normal length head.In the long run,I figured it wasn't worth all the effort..the bridge/saddle wouldn't sit in a good spot(triangular rear end), and went with the simple body shape but in doing so I gained room for a second soprano ukulele in using the more normal pineapple shaped body.So I can carry a high g and low g ukuleles in the single case,besides everything else.I haven't tried three sopranos..hmm,doubt it..maybe 2 and a sopranino might fit between two sopranos.The other side has the same size compartment;both about 3" deep.
These Halliburton cases used to be "carry-on size" for airplanes..24x14x9(second is probably 22x14x9..no telescoping handle and wheels on the second one and maybe 2/3rds the weight).I'm not sure any more..something I need to check on.
 
Thanks for clarifying matters, Kerry :)

Would you please post a picture of the uke you'll be bringing on Wed so our UU Ohana
Can enjoy it with me?

Mahalo, Brah!
 
took possession of the new build, short-neck, concert-scale, pineapple tenor body uke from Kerry Bannister, Luthier last night, Wed, at the Kona Kitchen Restaurant. I used it during our Song Circle and it's now being 'conditioned' via
ToneRite (vibrator) for the next few days/weeks :) I like a mellower tone and being conditioned
by the ToneRite seems to assist in the process.

anyway, i got a gig bag from Kerry (who has pictures, BTW and may post them sometime :) ) in the form
of a thin, zippered 'racket' case. I may need something more substantial eventually.

so far it sounds great. I'm hoping the 'conditioning' will also increase the volume, so we'll see.

beautiful craftsmanship (Thanks, Kerry!) and he included a low G string (I think he wants to convert me to
the dark side). I'm not opposed to low G, I just prefer reentrant for sound and the volume I need when
leading songs.

PS I also got the Enya HPL soprano from Teri in Walla Walla, WA. it just arrived this morning at my work
and I will be taking it to my uke class in Edmonds, WA tonight to take it through its paces.

Sorry, I don't mean to create any ukulele envy among the UU Ohana, but, well, there it is :)
[new syndrome? Ukulele Envy Syndrome? UES]

keep uke'in',
 
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