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It's a shame... this build was looking really good and I have to scrap it.

When I started this build I did it from the Stewmac kit, and not knowing anything about tenor uke's construction I went ahead and started building. I assumed it was like sophrano ukes that had longer scale, bigger body, and 12 frets to the body. When it came time to glue the bridge on I found that I had to move the bridge almost to the bottom of the instrument, making it look really weird. I mean it does not look like the Stewmac kit at all! So I looked at the Stewmac kit page and counted the frets and realized that it was built with 14 frets at the neck body joint! So no wonder the bridge looks weird and why is it that everything seems to line up but the bridge (at the correct scale length) misses the bridge patch completely.

The body has other issues, like what sounds like knocking when I tap the body but I cannot detect any loose brace or other features inside, the fingerboard is way too thin and the frets simply do NOT want to go in at all!! The instrument is a lost cause... looks beautiful but totally unplayable and it's too much work to salvage. So I am starting this build over from scratch... good thing the Padauk I bought in this size is cheap so I am not losing too much. The bwb binding and the backstrip is a little pricey though.

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Cat-gut strings are made from kitten guts, stretched out to near breaking point and then hardened with grue saliva. As a result these give a feeling of Pain and anguish whenever played, and often end up playing themselves backwards as part of satanic rituals.

Typhoon Guitars
http://www.typhoon-guitars.com

Doesn't look so bad to me.

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"Act your age, not your shoe size" - Prince

Like I said, it looks great until you actually string it up and play it... the scale/bridge location is wrong

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Cat-gut strings are made from kitten guts, stretched out to near breaking point and then hardened with grue saliva. As a result these give a feeling of Pain and anguish whenever played, and often end up playing themselves backwards as part of satanic rituals.

Typhoon Guitars
http://www.typhoon-guitars.com

Pull the fretboard.
Measure from the nut to were you want the bridge = your new scale length.
Make new fret board. String it up and play.

Simple eh.

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Audiences and dispensations on Thursdays ~ by appointment only.


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It's too much work considering the job... I mean there are other issues too, like the body is lopsided (not symmetrical) because the form slipped. There may be a crack or a loose brace in the back that I can't seem to find. I think I would like to start over from scratch given that I have already built this instrument too light and I felt I will sell it as wall hanging.

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Cat-gut strings are made from kitten guts, stretched out to near breaking point and then hardened with grue saliva. As a result these give a feeling of Pain and anguish whenever played, and often end up playing themselves backwards as part of satanic rituals.

Typhoon Guitars
http://www.typhoon-guitars.com

It looks good. Leave it on the wall of your shop and tell people it is a testing bed for ideas you want to try. Looks too good to burn and it might start a conversation about an ukulele build.

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http://www.CostaGuitars.com
PMoMC

Pity....looks nice in the photo. Should make a nice wall hanger anyway

Padma has great idea.
Come on, Tai- a little bit of extra work and it's done. Such a shame to wreck a good looking instrument and you never know how it's going to sound.
Finish it, man.

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We are all in the gutter but some of us are looking at guitars.

Indeed. Heck, just leave it fretless and glue the bridge wherever you want if you really don't feel like doing any more work on it

And even if it's just going to hang on the wall, if you think it's built too light, get some strings on it so you can check back in a year and see how it deforms. Chances are it will survive just fine, and either way you'll have an improved feel for where the line between life and death is. Watching an instrument or two die of underbracing is very educational

If that is the final bridge position it doesn't look anywhere far enough south to be much of a problem IMO. Baroque Guitars/Vihuelas have bridges that are placed very low in the bout. They tend to be bright sounding instruments. If it was a Classical Guitar I might be worried. It's a Ukulele. Rather like a Baroque Guitar they don't do bass. It actually might be in an ideal position!

I can't grasp why it would not play. If you measured the scale (nut to saddle) correctly, it will play.

Bob

Tai,
I have an artist friend who is very famous and collectible. He says: "I hate about half of my paintings. But someone else always likes them." My friend has a great attitude about his art work. Apply the same philosophy to your uke. Don't worry about the symmetry of the thing. Just finish it. Run down the sound issues as best you can. If you can't figure that out, put the thing on the market anyway...at a price you think is fair, but don't sell yourself short. But FINISH it, and don't look back.
After that, whenever you hit a snag, just move on. Don't get bogged down in things you consider failures. It should be obvious from these responses that these posters don't consider your uke a failure. It's only a challenge waiting to be finished.

Truth be told, Tai, I don't think you would have posted your "failed uke" here if you didn't want to be talked out of scrapping it.
You'd have privately burned it if you were truly embarrassed by it, and you never would have told us about it. But, thankfully, you didn't do that. Now, fix the issues to the best of your ability and move forward. So, there you have my opinion and my recommendation about what to do next. I'll chime in from time to time on other threads from you, but I'm not going to argue the merits of this particular uke any further. I think it's worth finishing and that's my best advice about it.

Patrick

I have to agree with a lot of the opinions here. If the picture shows the bridge position dictated by the 12 fret neck, it doesn't look too far back. Seems just a bit farther south than a 12 fret guitar. I'm currently making a tenor uke of my own design and I designed it to be a 12 fret. The bridge position is not much different than your picture.

As for the bridge plate being out of position, who cares? You are not using a bin Ed bridge with ball end strings anyway. This is a nylon strung uke so the tension isn't monstrous. Think of your bridge plate as another brace in an experimental position. Don't miss out on the opportunity to see how it sounds. As Bill Cosby used to say, "if you're not careful, you just might learn something".

You got something loose I. There somewhere. So go find it. You've torn guitars PRt and remade them. The only thing keeping you from finding and fixing this is you being down in the dumps about how it is turni g out. I'll let you in on a secret, at at least one point in every one of my projects, I have absolutely hated it and been convinced I have no business making instruments. But, I always finish it. And, I'm always glad I did.

What's a little asymmetry between friends. All that means is it won't fit back in the mold. . . I once made an instrument where I dropped the rim and shattered it in three peices. I couldn't figure out how to clamp it in the mold, so I glued it back together free form. It was badly asymmetrical. I didn't dare stress the rim, so I put the linings in the way it was. Watch this: Hey everyone who has seen my wood top banjo at the Gateway Area Luthiers Shows, you know the violin shaped one in my avatar. I know there are several of you here. Did any of you notice how embarrassingly badly out of alignment the rim is! Seriously speak up if you noticed.

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Bryan Bear PMoMC

Take care of your feet, and your feet will take care of you.

I've poked around inside the box with a palette knife, which is difficult due to the body size, and I cannot find a single loose brace or other feature so I can't for the life of me figure out what could possibly be loose.

You're right, I do feel undervalued at time because it feels like I can make the best looking instrument in the world and nobody would buy it in perfect playing condition, everything aligned correctly for 30 dollars. I really have an inclination to just smash the instruments I make to pieces, because people around me would tell me how good it sounds and look, they'd never put the money where their mouth is. I'm making really little doing repairs already and this failure almost feels like nails in the coffin.

Those Stellas I restored were badly damaged and any loose braces/feature was immediately obvious. However when a crack is hairline and I can't even tell them from the outside or poking around inside with a palette knife, then the job becomes hard. I already failed one handmade guitar where I failed to find the loose brace because the guitar looked perfect it was impossible for me to tell that there was anything wrong with the guitar to begin with!

_________________
Cat-gut strings are made from kitten guts, stretched out to near breaking point and then hardened with grue saliva. As a result these give a feeling of Pain and anguish whenever played, and often end up playing themselves backwards as part of satanic rituals.

Typhoon Guitars
http://www.typhoon-guitars.com

I'm going to tell you something my high school wresting coach taught me that has helped me over the last 20+ years. You see, I was not the best technical wrestler. I started in the sport years later than most of the kids who around me who had begun in junior high. I was on a team with way more kids than spots on the team, many of whom were state championship contending caliber. He and I both knew that there really wasn't any chance of me ever cracking g the starting squad considering who was on the team at my weight class. We had a deal. As long as I was still Interested In being a part of the sport, there was a place for me on the team. I could come to practice every day and take the same beatings he would give out to the rest of the team In the weight room, on the track and on the mat. If I did that, he would find exhibition matches for me whenever he could. His practices were designed to push us all to the limit physically and mentally. It was perfectly acceptable for your body to give out but it was not okay for your mind to give up.

As long as you choose to do something, give it your all. It may take a long time to realize the reward for your efforts, through him I learned that one of the rewards IS your efforts.

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Bryan Bear PMoMC

Take care of your feet, and your feet will take care of you.

Finish it Tai. I just made a tenor with no bridge plate at all so yours will be fine structurally.You can deepen the fret slots in 15 minutes.
if you are that vexed with it you can always walk away from it and in a couple of months you will finish it pronto. even if it isn't your best work that size makes a perfect instrument for a child who will love it for years

if i reached that stage, i'd just have to string it up and see what happened, just for giggles. resaw the slots and fill the old ones. or saw in some weird dulcimer/eastern scale. play with it. just eyeballing it, it seems like the bridge as pictured is indeed is in the right position- somehow you screwed up underneath

I'm going to string it up and see how it goes...

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Cat-gut strings are made from kitten guts, stretched out to near breaking point and then hardened with grue saliva. As a result these give a feeling of Pain and anguish whenever played, and often end up playing themselves backwards as part of satanic rituals.

Typhoon Guitars
http://www.typhoon-guitars.com

Ok, I strung it up, and the C string is causing the rattle to really come out. I loosened the string and poked around inside and I absolutely cannot determine where the heck is the loose brace. I muted the back and the rattling would go away, but when I try to stick anything between the back brace (where the suspected looseness is) I just cannot get anything into the joint, no matter how thin the item is, so it looks like the glue joint is intact. This is driving me crazy, I hate hidden defects!!!

_________________
Cat-gut strings are made from kitten guts, stretched out to near breaking point and then hardened with grue saliva. As a result these give a feeling of Pain and anguish whenever played, and often end up playing themselves backwards as part of satanic rituals.

Typhoon Guitars
http://www.typhoon-guitars.com

Tai, do you think that there might be a cracked or loose lining causing the rattling?

Alex

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"Indecision is the key to flexibility" .... Bumper sticker

After reading enough stories about it online, I am very thankful that I have never had to chase down a rattle or buzz. Keep looking Tai. You will find it.

_________________
http://www.CostaGuitars.com
PMoMC

It sounds like it has some flaws, but its still a beautiful instrument! Plus, you made it with your own two hands! after all of the work that you have done so far, there would not be much that you need to do to finish it. I think you can save it! -Alex

The best way to find a loose back brace is to push on the back with your thumb in numerous places and look through the soundhole to see if a brace is moving off the back opening up a gap.

I did that, still couldnt find any looseness. I added water to the joint and for some reason it lessened.

_________________
Cat-gut strings are made from kitten guts, stretched out to near breaking point and then hardened with grue saliva. As a result these give a feeling of Pain and anguish whenever played, and often end up playing themselves backwards as part of satanic rituals.

Typhoon Guitars
http://www.typhoon-guitars.com

Well there it is. Sounds like the joint came loose. Work some glue in there.