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Ukulele String Spacing

Posted by John Sawyer on November 28, 2017 at 9:24pm in Building Secrets, Tips, Advice, Discussion

So... I have fallen in love with Tenor scale ukes... happy sounding like you'd expect an Uke to be, but big enough to play...

SO... I bought a couple necks, as a test to see how I like a more traditional (non-1x2 stick) neck...  I had a bridge from an earlier purchase, so off I went...    The result?  

and in keeping witth my lack of skill, I tuned it FCfa  Sounds AWESOME!

Now it seemed I lucked out, as the string spacing on the bridge is 14.x mm... as I search for other bridges to buy, most are 12.3mm - ideal for a concert or soprano scale uke.   I figure the tighter spacing would look odd on a tenor...  the strings would not be parallel to the neck as above...

But, before I started making (yech) bridges, I thought I would get some input from those here that make Ukes..   

Thoughts?

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Replies

  • Kigar November 30, 2017 at 9:40pm

    If you make a floating bridge it is a lot easier to make, and it can be any spacing you want, and you can adjust intonation as well.

    306657059?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024

    • John Sawyer > Kigar December 1, 2017 at 1:09am

      Thanks.   I like the look and simplicity of the commercial bridge.  I've been using floating bridges on most of my guitars...  Nice looking uke!

      Here's the latest...

      306657956?profile=original

      • Kigar > John Sawyer December 1, 2017 at 5:32pm
        Nice! Did you make the bridge? Haven't seen one with offsets for a uke before.
        • John Sawyer > Kigar December 1, 2017 at 5:46pm
          I make my bridges out of hardwood scraps left over from making fretboards. I make them on my belt sander, hollow the bottom on the rollers, cut grooves and then finish them with superglue...
          • Kigar > John Sawyer December 2, 2017 at 3:24pm
            I do pretty much the same. How do you determine the offset for each string?
            • John Sawyer > Kigar December 4, 2017 at 9:39pm

              I use the TLAR method:  "That Looks About Right"   well, I cheated... a commercial compensated saddle was about 1/8" off.  The others are tapered forward to about the same position.   Since this is a floating bridge, I get pretty darn close to perfect and then glue it in place.

  • Diglydog November 29, 2017 at 9:09am

    Measuring string spacing at the bridge on commercially-built tenor ukes, my Mahalo is 13mm and the Kala is a tiny bit less - 38.5mm across strings 1-4.  Both are just under 9mm at the nut - 26.5mm across strings 1-4.  I hope that this helps.

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