Official Luthiers Forum!

I am considering building a Concert Size Ukulele. Dose anyone no the distance from the nut to the edge of the body? Also is the Spanish Heel neck side join a good choice? If there are any Ukulele builders out there, any building tips?

Thanks for looking

Cheers

Alan

Alan, I suggest you look at the hanalima.com site for all kinds of info, plans, materials for ukes. Also my site likekestrings.com has progress notes in my journal on construction of ukes.

_________________
A higher purpose for wood.
Rich Smith
Issaquah, WA

Hi Alan,
I am midway through my second uke, and only have experience with sopranos, so I can't offer much beyond encouragement. There is some interesting stuff at uketalk.com, and I second the hana lima recommendation. Their book is really an assembly manual for their kit, but still informative. Also, David Hurd has a nice site with a wealth of information (http://www.ukuleles.com)
Mike.

Hi Alan,
I have built 2 concert ukes -- one with the 12th fret at the body and the other with the 14th. The 14 fret one has a dovetail body joint. The 12 fret one has a bolt-on neck which I wouldn't recommend, at least from my experience. The parts are so small. Although you could build one with a Spanish heel (I could be wrong here, so someone correct me), it might be a little overkill. I have a nice set of plans I drew up for each and will send you a high res PDF of which ever one you would like. Just PM me. Here's a couple of views that I posted here recently.
Craig S.

All my ukes are built with Spanish heel per the plans from Hanalima. You can see them at http://www.likekestrings.com

_________________
A higher purpose for wood.
Rich Smith
Issaquah, WA

Alan,
I built 1 concert Uke based on plans I got from a friend that is a copy of a 1929 Martin 5k. I didn't follow the plans closely, as I used a bolt on neck. I thought it was really easy to use a bolt on neck. Only 1 bolt is needed on a butt jointed neck.

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Tracy
http://www.luthiersuppliers.com

When in doubt, draw it. Start with a straight line, and draw from the side...that's the string. Mark the position of nut and saddle. Everything drops into place from that. The big mistake most people make is to try to draw an instrument first from the top/face view. That's not where the important geometry is. It's all from the side. That's where scale length, 12th fret, frets to body, and the all important fingerboard/fret top-to-body geometry is. You'll never really understand guitars, ukes, or setups without going through this exercise yourself. Forget someone else's plans...you learn little or nothing from them, and they lull you into thinking that you know what you're doing. If you don't draw it yourself, you'll not know what you're doing yourself.