Making instruments there is the odd dichotomy between how and instrument looks and how it sounds. We like to have beautiful things, and indeed, instruments often sell because of the way they look. However, the real purpose of an instrument is to sound great, regardless of how it looks. (For example, curly wood adds nothing to the sound, only the looks.) Inlay, fancy wood, etc. is just ‘decoration’, and not the real purpose, which is the sound. I find myself in a bit of a tug-of-war between these two facets of building. (It does not help that it is far easier to post and compare nice pictures than really good sound samples.)
Seen and not heard:
With the new rosette cutter I made, it is easy to create off-center asymmetric rosettes. I have some really nice pink abalone pearl which has a lot of pink highlights which goes really well with the redwood tops. (It is very hard to take a picture of iridescent pearl!) This is still ‘decoration’ however, nice to look at but not part of the sound.
Heard and not seen
The bracing on the top has a very large influence on both the structural stability of the instrument, as well as on the sound. The bracing is however completely hidden from view unless you get out a small inspection mirror and go in through the sound hole. On this set of ukuleles I am building 3 tenors, all with redwood tops, and am trying out three different bracing styles.
- – A more traditional fan brace, using 2 tall thin fans that I have used with great success in the past.
- – An ‘X’ brace style, based on a Kala uke that I repaired, and which had a rather nice sound when I was done. (It got sat on, and the top crushed, so I replaced the top, replicating the ‘X’ bracing I found.)
- A more radical ‘fulcate’ style bracing, which uses thin laminated curved braces. These are very stiff and light and open up a large area in the lower bout to vibrate. Should be interesting.
