Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Fergus Morris on March 1, 2010 at 10:03am

I think this is a bit unconventional for ukuleles, but a bolt on neck like this worked for me:

Simple and leaves the neck angle adjustable. Maybe having the bolt on inside the box would be more elegant though........

Permalink Reply by Yellowbelly Flatt on March 1, 2010 at 11:08am

Well, the "proper" way is to construct a proper neck joint, but I have used large screws from the inside of a box that had additional blocks added to the inside in order to strenthen the joint and I have used a special bolt thingy that is used on some banjos that has a screw on one end that screws into the neck and a bolt on the other that bolts the screw to the body. This, together with a locating dowel, seems to do the job.

A small amount of angle for the neck/body and a headstock angle of perhaps 20 degrees?

Permalink Reply by John Hopper on March 1, 2010 at 3:46pm

Hello from Colorado. Well, I am new to this also. Take a look at my Ukulele 009 photo and you can see my method. Although mine is mounted on the corner, the concept is the same. Just glue in a block on the inside, start your pilot holes, line up the neck and drill through the holes in the block and on into the neck. Good luck and post some pics.

Permalink Reply by Mark Werner on March 2, 2010 at 5:07am

I used bolt-on necks for both my mandola and my uke. The front end of the box is reinforced with a piece of 1/4" oak, and then I use either furniture inserts or "screw bolts" to secure the neck through holes drilled in same.
Furniture inserts are coarse-threaded inserts which are tapped internally for a standard bolt. You drill a hole in the heel of the neck, screw in the insert (you use an allen wrench) and then run a bolt through the guitar body.
Same with the screw-bolts. Those have half the length threaded as a coarse wood screw, and half with fine threads for standard nuts.
Screw the wood-screw part into the neck-heel by "double nutting", and then line up and drill holes for the protruding threaded part. Nuts go on the inside of the instrument.
Both mine show no sign of loosening, and the mandola has 8 steel strings.

Permalink Reply by smojo on March 2, 2010 at 9:10am

Thanks guys. Fergus, I like the fact you can adjust the angle of the neck but how is the short stubby piece attached to the inside of the body though?

John I love the design of the box truned around and the simple approach appeals.

Mark and Yellowbelly thanks too for your suggestions, I need to experiment now.

What dimensions would you suggest for the width of neck at nut and at body please.

Permalink Reply by Yellowbelly Flatt on March 2, 2010 at 11:24am

A standard ukulele nut is 35mm wide and I use a string spacing of 40mm at the bridge. This suits me fine. Depending on the length of the body and the neck this would lead to a neck width (at body joint ) of about 37mm depending on personal choice.

My electric baritone ukulele has a wider string spacing at the saddle giving a neck width of 45mm, this is also the case with my tenor ukulele. My slide guitars (ukulele size) have similar string spacings but a thinner neck.

Permalink Reply by smojo on March 2, 2010 at 10:01pm

Thanks Yellowbelly. What about scale lengths, I believe there are 4 sizes of uke and someone suggested longer scale lengths work better on cigar boxes because of the extra tension needed, drives the soundboard better. I don't want it too big so I'm thinking maybe concert size 37cm would be good.

Permalink Reply by Yellowbelly Flatt on March 2, 2010 at 10:42pm

Soprano scale tends to be about 14 inches, concert about 15 inches, tenor around 17 inches and baritone about 20 inches.

For playing purposes I find the tenor and baritone sizes are the easier to play, especially if you are used to playing guitar as the soprano and concert always seem too small for me although I can play them.

If you are using ukulele strings, the tension tends to be lighter than a guitar, so woods seem to need to be light. If you want tension, use Aquila strings. If you want to be able to bend notes, try Martin strings. Try not to use 'cheap' strings. Don't forget that traditionally ukuleles use re-entrant tuning. I personally prefer tuning with a low 4th string. Both styles of strings are readily available.

smojo said:

Thanks Yellowbelly. What about scale lengths, I believe there are 4 sizes of uke and someone suggested longer scale lengths work better on cigar boxes because of the extra tension needed, drives the soundboard better. I don't want it too big so I'm thinking maybe concert size 37cm would be good.