Two Tenors

greenscoe

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Here we have 2 tenors, the first conventional tenors that I have made since August 2018. Both are made from recycled materials. One is in sapele, the other sapele with a mahogany soundboard. They have a rosette, head strip, purfling/binding in walnut and maple

The sapele came from a mantle piece, the mahogany was found in my attic, left by a previous owner more than 30 yrs ago. Both have a strip down the back because the timber wasn’t wide enough for a 2 piece back: I chose not to use a contrasting wood for this and the end grafts.

Normally I build one instrument at a time but recently I have been building instruments in parallel. The squarer box is from my original mould, the rounder one from my current mould. They were built in January and have been finished to a high gloss using Tru oil. This has required many coats, much patience ( which I lack ) and time to harden before polishing. This is a task I hate, but for a hobby maker, shellac or Tru oil seem to me to be the only choices for a decent finish.

The necks/fretboards started life in China, the necks have loose/floating tenon and bolt. I have used a zero fret for the first time on both. I have also used Der Jung machine heads for the fist time, which appear to be superior to Grovers. The ukes are strung with Seagur line with low G.

I took no photos during the builds, as these follow all my previous constructional elements: laminated linings, upper transverse brace tied to neck block, and my own system of modified fan bracing.

I am happy with the appearance of both instruments but prefer my newer more rounded soundbox (sapele/mahogany). I am also pleased with the rosettes/head decoration. Inlay work isn’t for me: this is as much bling as I can do!

Soundwise, both are similar, they are loud, mellow and have lots of sustain. The mahogany soundboard perhaps sounds better (sweeter) but maybe I am just “listening with my eyes”.

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Both look great.
My pick is the old shape (flat bottom) … it is just that little bit different.
Very nice work.

Did you cut the slot and install the zero fret or was it supplied as is?
I received a small batch of pre-fretted boards that were made to zero fret length (with no zero slot or fret installed), and no mention of it in the specs.
They did not look quite right, but were not obviously wrong either. They would have never intonated correctly if installed the way they were.
 
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bazuku asked: "Did you cut the slot and install the zero fret or was it supplied as is?"

Chinese fretboards often arrive 2 or 3mm too long. I usually trim them but this time decided I'd try the zero fret option. Many, especially in the guitar world, seem to think its a good option. I don't know and since I'm not very musically I doubt that I will notice any difference soundwise. It's also a bit fiddly. I used a taller narrower fret wire too as this is what I've read on some forums. I probably wont do it again!

Members of this forum will no doubt have opinions about zero frets on ukes.
 
Greenscoe,
Thanks for that insight. These were the first ready-made boards that I had bought, and as I said they didn't look quite right.
The scale length shown in the specs was fictitious (probably a cut and paste from another listing). After much head scratching and eventually comparing them to a few scale rulers, I deduced that the first fret spacing was 2.15mm too long.
I can now assume that they may have been made that way to provide for a zero fret option.
A visit to the S-M calculator and a bit of reverse engineering confirmed that the spacing for the first fret had to be reduced by that amount, so I lopped it off and all was well.
Digital calipers showed that the other boards varied by a few points of a millimetre either way.
The boards were IR and otherwise well made, with nice colour and attractive grain patterns.

Guitarists seem to have love/hate opinions on zero frets, but I have always appreciated the theory behind them.
 
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