Gore/Gilet/ Concepts & Falcate Bracing in a Uke Build

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Clancy
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Re: Gore/Gilet/ Concepts & Falcate Bracing in a Uke Build

Post by Clancy » Mon Mar 04, 2013 9:07 pm

Glad you enjoyed it Jim.

Since you re-birthed the thread, and since I've had a few queries, here's a bit of where I've gone to with all this.

Btw, as I'm essentailly a lazy git, the following is almost directly copied from a reply to a PM from Paul (Ozwood).

After a while of playing the falcate uke I decided that the top was braced too tight.
I got inside it by breaking the end off a hacksaw blade and putting a long, thin bolt through the hole.
Using this I thinned the main falcate braces a bit, in the area between the bridge & the sound hole.

I think it now sounds great and have recieved many comments as such.
I regularly get told that it doesn't have as bright a sound as a regular uke, more a sweeter sound that leans towards a guitar tone. (The fact that I use a Low G probably adds to this perception).
But it doesn't lose anything in volume, with it holding it's own ground at my uke club nights against around 35 other ukes played at once.

I have made 4 more falcate concert uke tops using what I learned from the first instrument.
Of these, two ukes have now been completed.

The top resonance of the original uke was 318Hz.
After re-working the bracing it's now 313Hz.
The top resonance of the second uke is 304Hz.
The top resonance of the third uke is 293Hz.
But to the ear they sound identical to the original, which is my main aim.

The differences between the original and the new tops are
- I did not use a bridge patch.
- I did not put cf rove on/under the little horizontal braces so I could sand them down or remove them completely if I wanted (but I haven't)
- I didn't put cf rove on top of the secondary falcates
- I made the main falcate braces less stiff between the bridge & the soundhole

And because we all love pictures, and because we all love Tim's Tiger Myrtle, here's how I made use of one of his 'special sales' on the third falcate uke.

Cheers all.
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Craig
I'm not the sharpest tool in my shed

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Trevor Gore
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Re: Gore/Gilet/ Concepts & Falcate Bracing in a Uke Build

Post by Trevor Gore » Mon Mar 04, 2013 10:00 pm

Nice, Craig.

Thanks for posting the resonance data. All up, it sounds like it's been a pretty interesting journey!

blackalex1952
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Re: Gore/Gilet/ Concepts & Falcate Bracing in a Uke Build

Post by blackalex1952 » Mon Dec 04, 2017 12:55 pm

What a great thread...don't loose this, guys! Is there a 2017 progress report on your builds, Clancy?
"Everything I say on the topic is based solely upon inexperience and assumption!"

blackalex1952
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Re: Gore/Gilet/ Concepts & Falcate Bracing in a Uke Build

Post by blackalex1952 » Mon Dec 17, 2018 10:21 pm

A great thread..thanks for resurrecting it. Only two questions:
It's hard to get my 8yr old son's attention with anything these days.
But when I showed him the video of the herbs 'dancing' on the uke, he said "Cooool. Where do you get those dancing herbs?"
Yes...where did you get those dancing herbs, and were you smoking them? :mrgreen: Cheers! Ross
"Everything I say on the topic is based solely upon inexperience and assumption!"

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Clancy
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Re: Gore/Gilet/ Concepts & Falcate Bracing in a Uke Build

Post by Clancy » Thu Feb 07, 2019 1:27 pm

Well my 8 year old son is now over 15 years old!
I had thought that as your kids get older you gain more personal (read workshop) time.
Unfortunately it appears to be the total opposite :(

I still manage to get a uke or two built each year - I've pretty much stuck to the falcate braced design of that first uke.
Modifying the bracing with the broken hacksaw blade really made a difference then and the uke still sounds great today.
I incorporated that change into every uke since.

Glad people are still enjoying, and getting something out of, this thread :cl :cl
Craig
I'm not the sharpest tool in my shed

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ebhsbill
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Re: Gore/Gilet/ Concepts & Falcate Bracing in a Uke Build

Post by ebhsbill » Mon Mar 30, 2020 12:32 pm

Clancy, I read your journey with interest. Thanks for posting. It give me some ideas. Being stuck at home with to wait out the Covid 19 Virus it seems like a good time to experiment. I've found enough tonewood lying around to make 5 ukuleles. Unfortunately because of the shapes of the pieces I am using for the tops, it will be very difficult to get any original data to calculate Youngs modulus and thickness, so I will just have to see what happens.

Bill Biddle

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