To taper or not to taper, that is the question.

Posted by Bluesheart on March 23, 2011 at 7:08pm
I'm doing my first Uke and wonder what the opinions are about using a straight neck, like a piece of 1x2, vs. using a tapered neck like a "real" uke would have. It is going to be a soprano, so I'm concerned about not having enough room on the fingerboard with a simple straight neck. What do you think?

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Replies

  • econnofoot March 28, 2011 at 8:24am
    i've built soprano, tenor, and baritone ukes using 1.5" for then entire neck length,my finger boards have a slight taper widening at where I join the neck to the body.  It works ok for me as I have pretty big hands and don't notice the slight edge on soprano or tenor builds,on the baritone with it's pretty good scale length it is rather noticeable and I think my next one will be done with a proper taper.  I'm not set up to do a large amount of shaping however, so mostlikely will have that neck made.
  • Don Thompson March 24, 2011 at 12:42pm
    Many necks go from 1.75 at the body down to 1.38 at the nut.
  • Bluesheart March 24, 2011 at 11:45am
    Thanks for the replies. So Don, you would start at 1.5" and taper down from that? Doesn't seem like there will be much left for 4 strings at the nut?
  • DrByte March 23, 2011 at 10:30pm
    I've made both, my last a soprano with straight neck. I'm no expert but don't see much difference. A really good player might not like it as well though.
  • Don Thompson March 23, 2011 at 8:17pm

    My tapered necks are about 1.5" at the body so it's fine. I have always tapered but I was willing to spend the time to do it. It's not really needed.

    Don

  • Bluesheart March 23, 2011 at 7:19pm
    ps, it seems like a LOT of extra work to make the neck taper for just a few mm of extra string spacing at the bridge so I'm trying to determine if it is worth the extra effort.Thanks.
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