Traveling wave ultrasonic motors mainly consist of a stator and rotor. Piezoelectric actuator is the vibration source for generating the traveling wave on the stator. Dynamic responses of the piezoelectric stator systems with two configurations (i.e., actuators placed at mid-span or near boundaries) were investigated and compared. Both analytical and finite element results demonstrate similar vibration characteristics of the traveling wave behavior and also reveal effective locations of actuator patches. One of the two case studies suggests that the configuration of partially bonded piezoelectric actuators near the stator supports can generate effective traveling waves. Thus, this configuration is an alternative design to the fully laminated piezoelectric actuators. This study provides important design knowledge of using partially laminated actuators instead of using fully laminated piezoelectric actuators on the ultrasonic motors. The stator/motor system, although with less actuator patches, can still generate effective traveling waves driving the motor. Consequently, the new partially laminated stator/motor system would be lighter, easier maintenance, needs fewer components, cheaper, and requires less power consumption.