greenscoe
Well-known member
After reading Ken Franklin’s post, I am reminded of the Tahitian ukulele, which has a thin wood top, floating bridge and tail piece.
Brad
Brad, thanks for your responses. I was vaguely aware of the Tahitian uke but your last post prompted me to take a look at some build videos on Youtube and to hear the instrument being played. I would encourage others to do the same! Here's one example:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v3zXX-pYaNc
I sort of liken it to an 8 string banjo uke with a small wooden soundboard instead of a taut skin. Because the soundboard is small it has a bright sound. I like a deeper sound hence low G tenors are my instrument of choice. So my take from this instrument is that a 4 string version with a much larger and suitably lightly braced soundboard might be worth making.
Several posts have pointed out that a rocking bridge attached to the soundboard results in a more interesting sound than that of a soundboard which largely only moves up and down when the strings are not attached to the bridge. That is probably the answer to my original question.
I am aware of the fact that a floating bridge can be moved to obtain perfect intonation. However I see this as a problem. Whenever I come across someone who has acquired a banjo uke, they have no idea of correct bridge placement and cant understand why their instrument plays out of tune.