1920s Oscar Schmidt Taropatch Ukulele

Taropatch ukes are concert-sized oddities from the "uke boom" era that have 8 strings in paired courses and tuned in unison. They have a sweet, watery, rich sound that gives a seasoned uke player a full voice for strumming with. Modern 8-string tenor/baritone ukes and 6-string concert/tenor ukes are variations on the idea, though most of those have octaved courses (like on a 12 string guitar) which gives an entirely different, jangly sound. True "taropatch" ukes have more of a "shimmery" voice instead.

This is a customer's instrument and came in for work. When I first saw pictures of it in email I figured it was one of the several 20s Harmony-made taropatch models I was familiar with from past work, but when it came in the Oscar Schmidt design elements were very clear -- square kerfing, neck shape, wide nut, fret type, binding and rosette details, neck joint -- the whole nine yards. It even has the very last leavings of the usual "big square" OS label inside.

This taropatch had some work done on it before me -- a neck reset, bridge glue, and some crack repairs. There was also a half-hearted attempt to repair a headstock crack. My work on it included regluing both main braces at the soundhole, adding a bridge plate, a very light fret level/dress, re-repair of the headstock crack, bridge shave, and install of 8 new Gotoh "UPT" 4:1 geared uke pegs.

It's come out playing perfectly which is just what you want out of a taropatch -- otherwise the doubled strings start feeling like a liability rather than an enhancement.

Aside from the new tuners, everything is original -- including the bone nut. This has a 14 3/4" scale length which puts it in the "concert size" zone, even though the body is slightly smaller than your average modern concert uke.

The original bridge used a curious "through hole" string-mount method a little like a classical guitar tie-block. I've worked on one other OS taropatch and I'm guessing this was to counter the fact that most uke bridges chip-out and get broken slots if you put two of the "usual" string-mount slots next to one another.

At any rate, I had to shave the bridge down and so I also added a different string-mount choice by drilling tiny holes through the top in the middle of these slots. I then passed the string into the inside through the hole, pulled it up out of the soundhole and knotted it... then pulled it back up to the headstock. This makes a "pinless pin bridge" mounting -- and while it's slightly more time consuming at first -- is much more stable and adds less wear-and-tear to the bridge and top of the instrument.

I also don't know about you, but unless I hate the tone of the strings, I leave my uke strings on until they start wearing out too much from the bottom of the frets -- which can be a process that takes 2-5 years for me.

The uke is all solid mahogany throughout.

Aren't those UPTs snazzy? They're made from aluminum and have "off white" buttons which are a "more or less" good match for the cream buttons on the original Champion uke pegs. Speaking of those Champions... these tuners are actually about 2/3 the weight of the originals even though they're geared, planetary pegs. I think the owner will be exceedingly happy about upgrading to these. I have them on all of my ukes because they're simply so nice to use.

The headstock had a repaired crack along the line of the tuners, but when I took off the old tuners I noticed that it was actually flexing and more-or-less wide open. So -- I glued it up again and reinforced it with tiny 1/16" dowels. Fortunately these are on the treble side of the headstock so the player won't notice them.

Let's admit it: we all like endstrips.