BuzzBD
Well-known member
Around the end of January, my old thread on building an archtop ukulele got a bump. That got me motivated to revisit the process as it has been a while since I have made an archtop instrument. I wanted to start the process by reviewing my old books on the subject, but most of my books are in Oregon. This worked out well however, as both Robert Benedetto (guitar) and Roger Siminoff ( mandolin) have recently released revised editions of their books. So I happily got them and studied them again. The Siminoff book in particular has been updated considerably. The landscape around nylon string archtop instruments has grown considerably since I last explored things. Searching the Web revealed a number of people offering both nylon string archtop guitars and ukuleles. I also discovered that the current thinking in steel string archtop guitar construction has evolved a lot over the last several years. Led by names like Ken Parker, Tom Ribbecke, Steve Grimes and Steve Andersen, the trend seems to be moving to lighter and more rounded instruments than their predecessors. Armed with a number of new ideas and concepts, I have designed and built a tenor archtop ukulele. I will be documenting the process and sharing my ideas in this new thread. Hopefully it will stimulate some conversation and sharing of ideas. More to follow.
Brad
Brad