I need help with something crazy.

As an avid guitarist visiting Hawaii, I decided to purchase a Ukulele since my friend taught me a little. I got a Kala uke, soprano size, with what appears to be walnut or stained maple, doesn't seem too crazy, right? It wasn't, so I sat down for a while, about 4 hours, and I begin to feel pain on the bottom of my arm, and I looked and saw it was bleeding. The corner of the bridge I was resting it on scratched it, and I sat for a while thinking about what to do. Then I had the following thought process: Bridge is bad need to over it now. So now I am going to attempt to put a chrome fender bass bridge cover on my Ukulele, and I want to know if this is going to effect the tone? Some pros are that it will look sick and that it will help balance the weight, and I am just going to glue it on, not screw it on, as I don't want to damage, basically, I just want to know if my crazy idea will effect the tone of my ukulele.

TLDR: I want to put a bridge cover on my uke and to know if it will effect the tone.

Maybe you could ask this question in the luthiers' lounge forum. Good luck!

mds725 said:

Maybe you could ask this question in the luthiers' lounge forum. Good luck!

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Ok. Do you think I could get it moved? I have bad luck remaking threads and always get accused for spam

i think its a cool idea. If you end up doing it you gotta post pics on here

A couple of things:

Firstly, if you glue it on, how will you change the strings ?

Secondly, if you can find a way around the above, instead of using a chrome bridge cover, how about finding a nice wooden bowl of the right dimensions and cut it in half and use that.

Very bad idea...indeed it will affect the tone and looks...sand down the sharp edges of the bridge is all you need to do....quite easy actually.. good luck and happy strummings

mm stan said:

Very bad idea...indeed it will affect the tone and looks...sand down the sharp edges of the bridge is all you need to do....quite easy actually.. good luck and happy strummings

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Stan is right.

About two minutes with sandpaper to round the corners of the bridge will fix the problem and putting a massive hunk of metal like a tele bridge cover on the uke will definitely affect...probably destroy...the sound.

Honestly, if you hold the uke right your and wrist probably won't be rubbing the bridge, anyway. Depending on the uke size your forearm is usually under the uke or along the heel, and you hand should sort of arch over like you were pointing at the strings.

BTW, welcome to UU and the wonderful world of ukulele! Don't be too surprised if your guitars get lonely...

John

You are right on both counts. You need help and your idea is crazy.

OK, that was harsh and I couldn't resist the opening.

All seriousness aside, gluing a bridge cover to the top of a uke will most likely make the uke sound like a coronet with a mute. On top of that, it will pretty much freeze your strumming/picking technique right about where it was when you first picked up the uke.

The earlier suggestion to watch a bunch of good players is right on point. Anchoring your arm on the bridge can be both restricting to your ability to play freely and, conversely, it can apparently open up your circulatory system. . There I go again.

Thanks for the help guys, I should start thinking differently, as a bridge cover is the immediate solution on a guitar, I will use the sandpaper. Thanks for the warm welcome guys.

I'm letting my craziness get the best of me. I'm ordering a cheap route baritone uke and a tele bridge cover. I don't want to ruin my Kala, and the baritone only costs around 40 bucks. At best it will probably end up as a decoration, but whatever.

Rogue Baritone 33 bucks here....I've got 2.....http://www.musiciansfriend.com/folk-traditional-instruments/rogue-baritone-ukulele used to be 29.00 when I got them

mm stan said:

Rogue Baritone 33 bucks here....I've got 2.....http://www.musiciansfriend.com/folk-traditional-instruments/rogue-baritone-ukulele used to be 29.00 when I got them

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Reminds me of White Castle burgers.

Got my first real four- string
Played it till my fingers bled