Experimenting

Jerryc41

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I like to experiment, and I have something in mind for a Flea or a Fluke. I'd like to replace the plastic fretboard with a wooden one myself. I had Magic Fluke replace two of them, and they did a beautiful job, but I wanted to see if I could do the swap myself.

There's one hitch: the zero fret. Generic fretboards on Amazon and eBay don't come with a zero fret, so I would have to cut a groove and insert one. Cutting the groove the right width and depth will be a challenge, and I don't plan to spend a fortune on special tools. An alternative would be to forget about the zero fret, replace the nut, and make it a non-zero fret uke. If I actually go ahead with this, I'll let you know how it turns out.
 
An alternative would be to forget about the zero fret, replace the nut, and make it a non-zero fret uke. If I actually go ahead with this, I'll let you know how it turns out.

That's what I would do...
 
I like to experiment, and I have something in mind for a Flea or a Fluke. I'd like to replace the plastic fretboard with a wooden one myself. I had Magic Fluke replace two of them, and they did a beautiful job, but I wanted to see if I could do the swap myself.

There's one hitch: the zero fret. Generic fretboards on Amazon and eBay don't come with a zero fret, so I would have to cut a groove and insert one. Cutting the groove the right width and depth will be a challenge, and I don't plan to spend a fortune on special tools. An alternative would be to forget about the zero fret, replace the nut, and make it a non-zero fret uke. If I actually go ahead with this, I'll let you know how it turns out.

Bruce Wei sells fretboards and does custom work. Contact him on ebay and ask for one with a zero fret. Shipping is free. They are inlaid, but you could ask for a plain one.
www.ebay.com/itm/Free-Shipping-Ukul...070468?hash=item4439b6ffc4:g:JOYAAOSw~CRTq7nX
 
I'm very curious to see how this project works out. I think it's a brilliant idea.
 
I'm very curious to see how this project works out. I think it's a brilliant idea.

You'd be amazed at the "brilliant" projects I've started. :D

Another idea I had was a removable top for the Flea and Fluke - not necessarily the top itself, but an overlay that would change the appearance. Of course, the strings would be in the way, but that's a minor problem. They sell watches like that, letting you change the face and the band.
 
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Generic fretboards on Amazon and eBay don't come with a zero fret, so I would have to cut a groove and insert one. Cutting the groove the right width and depth will be a challenge, and I don't plan to spend a fortune on special tools. An alternative would be to forget about the zero fret, replace the nut, and make it a non-zero fret uke. If I actually go ahead with this, I'll let you know how it turns out.
Positioning a zero fret in a slot on a fret board designed to take nut will totally throw off the the rest of the frets, making the instrument unplayable. Use a nut, many options, a Tusq Graph tech would work well.
 
I admire your sense of adventure and willingness to try stuff like this, Jerry. Good luck with it and let us know how it goes.
 
I think you should really experiment and make a fretless uke!
 
Wouldn't the distance from the zero fret to the 12th fret have to be exactly equal to the distance from the 12th fret to the saddle?

You'd also have to lower the nut (or make the slots deeper) so that the strings would be angled up to, and over, the zero fret. Otherwise the full tension wouldn't start at the zero.

If you cut a new slot for the zero fret, you'd make the distance from the zero to 1st fret too short. And as a result, as PetalumaRescuke said, throwing the mathematical measurements of the entire fretboard off.

I suppose you could make the nut a "zero fret" by replacing it with a slotless nut. Then grafting in a short piece of fretboard-height material and top it with a slotted nut to guide the strings to keep the string separation you want. Again the strings would have to be angled up from the nut (or the tuning pegs) to the zero fret. Actually, you could put four nails in to guide the strings to the zero fret as long as the string windings on the pegs were lower than the zero fret.

Interesting project.
 
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I suppose you could make the nut a "zero fret" by replacing it with a slotless nut. Then grafting in a short piece of fretboard-height material and top it with a slotted nut to guide the strings to keep the string separation you want.
Gold Tone's Zero Glide is a turnkey version of your nut/zero fret idea. It replaces the nut with a half-nut of guides and a zero-fret at the leading edge. https://goldtonemusicgroup.com/zeroglide/products/zs-19 I haven't tried it on uke. It works great on my Strat!
 
It’s late a night when I’m reading and responding, but
Could you file down the nut to crate a ‘zero fret’ and THEN
Add a new nut upstream toward the tuning pegs?
 
Positioning a zero fret in a slot on a fret board designed to take nut will totally throw off the the rest of the frets, making the instrument unplayable. Use a nut, many options, a Tusq Graph tech would work well.

A most excellent point.

If you do go the zero fret route (I love the zero fret on my Risa) you will need to move the saddle to compensate.

Tricky to do but the tone will be far more even than using a nut.

As an off the wall afterthought you may like to try to incorporate the zero fret wire in the Nut
 
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