howdy all, this is my first uke, ive been having fun with my first jumping flea.  i usually build cbg's so i set the bridge tune slide the bridge forward or backward to intonate.  with the uke the bridge is tied into the strings . so how is the prefered method or technique of intonation for you cats here on the site. any ideas or individual techniques would be nice. my thoughts are light clamp, set tune pitch intonate , mark. remove strings . glue. restring, tune play and enjoy. ?     also, can anyone let me know how to tie the loops at the end of the strings , im a dunce but i thought they came that way. Thanks in advance

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The distance between the nut and the saddle from the 12th fret should be the same.  Fine tuning can be done by "compensating" the saddle.  Here's a discussion on the matter from Ukulele Underground with some other ideas:  http://forum.ukuleleunderground.com/showthread.php?20323-Ukulele-Br...

Antonio,

Welcome to the Uke side of the force! Rise my Son!

Yes, I've got few tips for you. 1st, this piece of advice is specific to a Soprano Uke scale. I'm not exactly sure if it relates to a Concert scale & above, so proceed with caution. Regarding the bridge, I've always been told for proper intonation, the saddle MUST be equal distance from the 12th fret, as the nut is to the 12th fret. So measure: nut to 12th fret, 12th fret to the saddle. I hope this makes sense. No need for the "light clamp, set tune pitch intonate, mark. remove strings" step. Just remember, it's the distance to the SADDLE not the BRIDGE, & you should be able to just measure, center the bridge, mark & glue the bridge. 

I'm certainly no seasoned veteran when it come to building homemade instruments, but I'm no noob either. I've built less than 10 ukes, all ukes no CBG's. But I will say this, that nut to 12th fret-12th fret to saddle rule hasn't done me wrong yet. I'm not sure what you'll be making all the parts out of, but I use Grizzly Uke Kits, & they work great. Getting all the parts, pre-fabbed for $30, you can't go wrong. All my CBU's (with 1 exception, not because of the bridge placement) have turned out fine & play great. Check out my page when you get a second.

Regarding the strings, I don't know how to tie those fancy, store-bought, loops either. I just tie a knot (or multiple knots for the G & A string) and feed it through the hole! It seems to work just fine! I recommend Aquila strings. They're all I'll use. They'll make a cheap or homemade uke sound great. I hope this long winded message will aid you in your future CBU endeavors! Keep me posted with some pictures, I'd love to see how they turn out. Oh & BTW, that's a wire haired dachshund on your photo right?! This is mine, his name is Kaiser! That's his brother from another mother Martini! Aren't they just the best dogs?! Love em!

Doesn't matter whether it's a soprano, concert, or tenor

A few of points about intonation:

1. It's always a compromise. The way most guitars are intonated, you get the correct note on an open string, and at the 12th fret. Fret anywhere else on the fretboard and the intonation will be off (probably not noticeably, but off nonetheless!) Just a fact of life (and physics!)

2. The shorter the instrument scale and the lighter the strings. The less intonation compensation is needed. A uke is a short scale instrument with relatively light strings.

3. Because a ukulele is tuned reentrantly (the top G string is higher pitched than the C and E strings) you can't really just use the slightly tilted saddle you typically see on an acoustic guitar (which is still just a compromise!)

3. Part of the charm of the sound of the ukulele is that the intonation isn't perfect! If you get them pretty close... they sound pretty good!

So... you can spend hours trying to intonate a uke perfectly if you want to... I'd rather just build 'em and play 'em!

Jim

The stewmac  site fret calculator will give you an approximately good intonation compensation for any scale length.

Man you guys ROCK.  thanks for all the tips.  It just uccured to me that i had been posting my uke build pics but not on the uke group ?  so let me get a couple pics up so you all can see what im up too.  I dont want to make my uke harder than it seems . Ill take er to 12 and nail er down. I like the idea of compensating at the saddle. easy enough.  and I really like the idea of just string er up and play.           Yo  Rich, my other dog is named  Keiser von moosenstein  we just call him moose. hes a regular hair all black. racer. hes won all the regonal races and qualified for the semis in Buta texas but we arent into all that just fun and bbq.  But whiskers mc gee my wirehair she is the bomb.  I rescued her from the milldog rescue .   she aint as elegant lookin as your guy. shes a rough and toumble ranch gal. but you are right awesome dogs. Ill have at least one the rest of my life.

Antonio,

I'm loving the idea of you rescuing Whiskers McGee from the puppy mill. I've seen a documentary about them, & the conditions the dogs live in are a f-in horror show. My hats off to you. Whiskers is cute as hell, she has that unmistakable face only a wirehair dachshund owner would recognize! When I'm out with Kaiser I always hear "what is he mixed with", or "it's a weiner/terrier mix". I wish Kaiser had a ranch to run around, but he's living the suburban Cali life. Oh, & my wife just text me saying you're reply is great & it made her cry a little :)

Back to the uke, what are you using for your neck & fretboard? Making them yourself or pre-fabbed? If you're making them from scratch, you should check out Daniel Hulbert & his blog, circuitsandstrings.wordpress.com. He's also on this site as well. He can make a uke out of ANYTHING & he does. Check out his Youtube channel. He posts free plans to some of his builds, including fretboard templates you can print, tape to the wood & cut out with a mitre box. Very useful. Best of luck, shoot over some pics of your finished products.

"For Those About To Uke, We Salute You!"

based on Stew Mac, you do need to compensate for intonation. For 15 inch scale uke, the saddle should be 383.25 mm from nut. This is 15.0885". String height/action will also affect the intonation, so you could add the suggested 0.03" or .762mm for a total nut to bridge measurement of 384mmm. Remember, the 12th fret on 15" is still 7.5". But the bridge/saddle should not be left at 15" from nut. It is not charming to have a uke out of intonation. Sorry.

thanks scottie ive got to go back to the fret calculator at stew mac, when i made my fret board i converted it to mm to make it easier to transfer, hard doing inch decimals etc.  so ill head that way and nail it down tomorrow.  i spent the last couple days setting tile.  No kinda fun there . but im back on retirement status so its back to the fun stuff. Ive also got a new saw so i spent the remainder of the day making a scarf angle fixture for my new table saw. and of course scarfing every neck stick i had laying around. thanks again, thanks to all you fellas!    Rich, you are right about mill dogs they live a horrible life man. I work volunteer at the nmdr, sometimes and also for the cattle dog rescue as a retrainer. but the milldogs  man ,   when i got whiskers , she lived her whole 6 years in a cage 2x2 x2  drank out of a haampster water bottle and never had touched anything but the cage floor. so they had to pull about half her teeth cause without water to moisen the tooth the dogs teeth rot. and believe me the mills do nothing but breed em. I still heve her number string. its a piece of hay string with a brass number tag on it . no name no nothing .  she had to learn to walk on grass and cement go up and down stairs all that . I also had to have surgery done on her back knee tendons . i guess cause of no excercise for 6 years they just atropheid to the point they disconected from the legs.  she is good to go now though. loves life and never lookin back . rowdy as heck and 100%   weenie dog. wire hair to the bone.

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