Resonator uke

ktuurna

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I am building resonator uke. I have Gretsch G9112 ukulele and I open it to see how it is done. There is a cone which is probably made in China. I decided to use National's cone. I could buy Chinese, it is much cheaper, but I trust National's more. When I hold them in my hand I feel the difference. National's is much lighter and thinner. I weighed them and Chinese is almost three times heavier. I belive it means a lot to sound too. I will see (or hear) it later. Do other builders have experience about that?
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I have no experience with resonator cones but I can say that the resonator on left is probably better. Resonator on right is cheap junk. Sometimes in life you get what you pay for. Go with the National.
 
Mostly I am a dobro player and I've had some experience with the Chinese cones that came in my first dobros. When I changed them out for a well made cone it made all the difference in the tone. Much, much better with the American made cones. The only cones I see for ukes are biscuit cones so a spider won't matter of course.
 
Yes, there is no spiders for ukuleles. Or I haven't seen or heard them. But after your reply I think I am in right way.
 
Have fun with the build. I converted an Enya into a resonator, and I didn't look for the most expensive components. :D

It is tricking getting the resting place for the cone right because that determines the setup. The biscuit and saddle go on top of the cone, and that whole structure sets the height of the strings. At first, I ran the strings through the holes in the metal grill, but the sharp edges broke them. I then attached a piece of mahogany to the top, and that worked out better.

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