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Ukulele String Spacing

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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Permalink Reply by Diglydog on November 29, 2017 at 3:09am

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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Permalink Reply by Kigar on November 30, 2017 at 3:40pm

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.

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Permalink Reply by John Sawyer on November 30, 2017 at 7:09pm

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...

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Permalink Reply by Kigar on December 1, 2017 at 11:32am

Nice! Did you make the bridge? Haven't seen one with offsets for a uke before.

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Permalink Reply by John Sawyer on December 1, 2017 at 11:46am

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...

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Permalink Reply by Kigar on December 2, 2017 at 9:24am

I do pretty much the same. How do you determine the offset for each string?

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Permalink Reply by John Sawyer on December 4, 2017 at 3:39pm

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.