Hi everyone! I am making ukuleles these days,but I wanted to know how to make an acoustic version louder. There isn't much volume,due to the box thickness, without putting a pickup in it.
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I use fishing line and find that for concert and tenorish lengths say up to 400 mm or 17 inches I get by with a 50 80 60 40 lb line recipe and for a slightly shorter scale lengths, say 330 mm or 13 inches I up the string weight to 60 100 80 50 all standard gCEA tuning
For sopranino tuning dGBE (octaves above guitar) I have 275mm or 11 inch scale. I use 40 60 50 and 35 lb line.
Using a too light string will give you a duller sound.
I use the cheapest nylon fishing line I can buy, four spools of which cost a touch less than a set of aquilla strings from a musical instrument store.
Samuel, click on Rob Uker's photos and videos and you will see he is expert on ukes.
I also agree with Wayfinder. Aquilla strings make a huge difference.
I build a lot of ukuleles and have found that sometimes you have to make a choice between making them pretty or making them sound good. This is what I've experienced.
The back of the box is usually thinner wood and sounds better then the front. But the front is usually a lot better looking. On an Arturo Fuente for example, the front is thick masonite and the back is 1/8 inch plywood. That being said I still sometimes use the front because it is so good looking.
Put the sound hole close to the neck joint , centered between the sides( the traditional spot). There's a reason most professional builders do it this way.
Make sure the bridge isn't right on the end. Look at your favorite uke and design yours to roughly meet the same specifications.
Don't run the wood straight through the body.
Of course I've broken all of my own rules numerous times because making unique one of a kind instruments is what attracted me to building my own instrument.
Hi Rob! what is the best size for the sound hole? I hear smaller holes make for a louder instrument.
Samuel, my fret skills are not what I would like them to be. The shorter the scale, the more precision is a necessity. So for me, a concert or tenor scale is more achievable.
I regard Rob Uker as one of the top - if not the top- cigar box uke makers. I will ask him to chip in here.
Thanks! I appreciate all your help.
Lots of good suggestions here. I vote for the Aquila strings and I like them in low G, so the 4th string is lower and more guitar like. But many would say that makes it less uke like. A bigger box and going concert or tenor size helps too.
I just posted a video 'White Dove'. I am using metal strings, the 4 small strings off a standard guitar on a concert sized uke and tuned low G-CAE. Pretty good volume.
I put a home made reso cone on one and was really suprised at the increased volume. The cone vibrates much more easily than the top will.
All good suggestions. There are limits to how loud a cb uke can get. Never as loud as standard uke. If you are willing to think outside the box, so to speak, consider longer than tenor scale as CB John said, and try baritone 19 inch scale, tunings of adf#b or dgbe, or even longer guitar scale up to 25.5 inch, with same variation of uke tuning. Adf#b with 2345 strings, dgbe with 1234 strings.
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