David Hanson Kiku Build

David sent me photos of the roughed out neck, pre- and post- fretboard.

Fretboard1.jpg Fretboard2.jpg

The neck is koa, with a carbon reinforcing rod and rosewood fretboard. Koa will be a new neckwood for me. As you would expect, most of my stringed instruments have mahogany necks. One has a Spanish cedar, and two others have maple necks.
 
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From David Hanson:

"Hi Ron,
The sides are soaked , then bent on a hot pipe. They sit in the mold for a couple days to dry...you can never have too many clamps!
SidesClamped.jpg

"I am working on the neck. What are your thoughts on a neck profile? Currently it is a soft 'V' and fairly thick, but comfortable in the hand. I cant go too thin because it is a long neck and needs support."
RoughedHeadstock.jpg

And my reply: "I'm not that sensitive to neck shape; i have guitars of several kinds. I generally prefer somewhat thinner to thicker, but obviously don't want to risk damage due to being too thin. Use your judgement."
 
"I'm not that sensitive to neck shape...I generally prefer somewhat thinner to thicker,
I would have described myself exactly the same way, so I'll offer this...

I know David is reading this, and I don't want it to sound at all like a "complaint", but if I was having another neck from David, I personally would have softened the V even more. It's not a problem, and not uncomfortable, but I do notice the V-ness (if that makes sense) especially as I go up the neck. Honestly I can't think of anything else about the instrument I would change at all, that's the only reason I mention it.
 
Thanks for insight Jim. Probably most people would be more comfortable with a "C" which is more traditional on uke-type instruments. The "v-ness (or Venus) is a mandolin feature that accommodates a long narrow neck with some extra depth for support.
 
She's shaping up! The neck shape will be a C, as per Jim's suggestion. I guess i need to get on those strings.
BodyShape.jpg Outline.jpg
 
Here is a mockup of the instrument, with the neck and body posing together. The second photo shows the bracing being glued to the top and the "donut" that supports the rosette underneath. In David's words, "Here is a pic of the bracing. You can't tell from the photo, but there is a curve to the disc (known as a radius dish) that imparts a roundness to the top. It is very subtle, but necessary with a larger top like a baritone."
RoughMockUp.jpg BracingPattern.jpg
 
From David: "Here are some recent photos. Note the asymmetrical bracing. The tap-tone is astounding. Bass resonance on the bass side and treble resonance on the treble side. Tap-tuning is an art, and I am just beginning to learn it. The best advice I ever got was to strive for a tap-tone that is different in various areas of the sound board. Don't worry about pure sounds, but rather go for a variety of tones as you tap around the board...this one has it, and I cant wait to get some strings on it."
BracingPattern1.jpg BracingPattern2.jpg

Speaking of strings, i decided to go with a Uke Logic set -- his Baritone "Hard Tension" high D set with an additional 0.032" string for the re-entrant a.

Some of you may be wondering about my choice of tuning -- adGBE -- what's with two "re-entrant" strings (if that's the correct terminology when there's more than one)? Being a guitar player, i think of the a and d as octave strings. I have a guitar on which i have replaced strings 4, 5, & 6 with octave higher strings from a 12 string set, so it's tuned eadGBE (a variation of "Nashville" tuning that i refer to as "High 3" tuning). The chord fingering is the same as standard, but it has a high shimmer when playing due to the fact that virtually any chord i play has two notes of the same pitch on different strings. That works quite well on some songs. (I especially like it on "Ghost Riders in the Sky" due to the ghostly shimmer. It also works well on some of my original humorous songs.) I'm looking forward to hearing how it'll sound on the kiku.
 
eadGBE is also referred to as "Eddie Freeman Special" tuning - at least that's what Southcoast called it when they provided sets for it. I'm soon to put a variation of this on 17" guitalele - mine will be a fifth higher though, B3 for the 6th string.

I think your tuning is going to sound great on the baritone body
 
The rosewood body binding has been glued (see below). According to David, "About another week of construction, a week for the finish, then a week for things to settle in. I should have it in your hands around the 21st."

I am getting very excited; it looks great!

BindingGlued.jpg Top3.jpg Top2.jpg Top1.jpg
 
Very nice looking instrument. I like the baritone size myself. Hmmmm . . . perhaps a future personal project. Thanks for sharing.
 
From David: "All finished and strung up...sounds good. I currently have it on a Tone-Rite vibrator to break in the strings and soundboard." He expects to ship it near the end of next week. I can scarcely wait to have it in my hands and under my fingers! He sent me some tantalizing photos:
Front.jpg BackFinished.jpg RosetteFinished.jpg Headstock.jpg
 
That turned out nicely. If possible, please share a sound sample.
 
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