Build-along, my first build!

cml

cml

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Build-along, my first acoustic build!

EDIT:
Some hopefully useful links from my build so far:
DIY Dremel router base:
http://forum.ukuleleunderground.com/showthread.php?121895-DIY-Dremel-router-base

Well kind of, as some of you may know I built an electric uke earlier this year. Slippery slope from there...

Anyway, first off I want to thank all of you who hang out here in the lounge and share your knowledge. This is a truly wonderful place, this forum and the rest of forums as well.
I hope this could be a fun read for you lot, if only to see where I mess up ;).

Right now I'm in the planning stages, as is evident from my questions popping up here and there. I hope you'll bear with me, remember you gotta start somewhere! Without your help and knowledge, I'd be lost :).

Status so far is that I'm working on some simple jigs, building a router base for my dremel (which I probably wont need for the bindings as I've acquired a router). Will be good for inlay and rosette and sound hole cutting though, so I still need to finish it!
I'm also working on a simple mold, in the style of the suggested mold to build had one purchased a Stew-Mac kit. There's some other jigs etc to build, but it's nice because it allows me to keep momentum up while waiting the 2-3 weeks for my wood and supplies to arrive from the states!
 
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Btw this is the set I plan to use, spalted curly maple:
1468961977961-1994218968.jpeg

And the top, western red cedar:
146422371366549663680.jpeg

I've also bought some extras should I mess things up so much that it isnt salvageable (a set of bird's eye maple), and also got some scrap side wood to practice on.

(Not my pictures but used with permission, from Adirondack Tonewood)
 
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Interesting wood and pretty. However, a note of caution. Spalted wood is actually partially rotted wood. Those pretty veins are caused by bacteria or fungus and can be unstable. I love the look of spalted wood, but bending it can be problematic. Also curly maple is by definition one big grain run out. That said I have never had a problem bending unspalted curly maple (well maybe once or twice). Don't mean to be negative, just approach slowly and very carefully like you would a rabid wild cat and everything will be fine. Pretty wood. Look forward to seeing the result.
 
"Rabid wild cat" :D, love that description!
 
Some moderate progress today...
The mold is ready now, it's a simple design based on the stew-mac instructions for their tenor kit:
20160805_192043_resized.jpg
While waiting for some stuff that was gluing I built a prototype thickness sander from a belt sander. The idea is to clamp the whole thing with the extension rig in a vise.
20160805_194717_resized.jpg
As seen below it's at 2mm thickness, but it can go lower or higher as well. Didnt have the time to try it out so I dont know if it's gonna work or not, but everything is dead straight and at 90deg angles, so it SHOULD work. Reality is a different ball game though so we'll see. Biggest issue I see is that it can only take roughly 80mm at a time, so even if it does work out, I'd have to thickness sand before joining the two parts of the top or back so I could flip 'em over. Would that work or would I be better of using a cabinet maker I found? He's agreed to help me with a drum sander if I want it.
20160805_194712_resized.jpg

I'll likely take a couple of days break from building stuff now, my ever patient wife is starting to get a little annoyed at tools on the kitchen table etc, so best break it off for a few days ;). Happy wife, happy life!
 
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Best of luck with the build!

I'll be following along, as I want to eventually build a chambered solid-body nylon-string electric uke with a cedar top, in a Les Paul shape, and this uke with also eventually have the GraphTech Ghost piezo saddles, related preamp and MIDI converter built-in. But this is going to be a long way off for me, because time, tools, and money will be lacking until after I move, so it may not be until a year or more from now that I can get started.

alas but to dream....
 
Interesting take on a homemade thickness sander. Really cool idea to the the perennial problem of making wood thinner. I think you are going to have fun with this ukulele making thing. Remember, you don't have to get final thickness with your contraption. Just get it close and you can take the final wood off with a sander or even by hand by sand paper. All you gotta do is get within spitting distance and you are good to go.
 
Cheers Sequoia, I look forward to trying it (tomorrow perhaps?). No building today, so I am in heavy withdrawal. Thank god for youtube, here's a very nice series I found.

Stephen McLean, building a ukulele in 19? parts.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IAd1cd-JZNg
Another fantastic channel is Obrien Guitars, you can find almost anything here:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvdnXN3z_66jPTJBXMD9QIA
Good for us new fledging builders :), I know there's some more of you lurking here in the lounge!
 
Some very moderate progress today as well, but progress is progress :D!
My new alu pipe arrived by mail today, I had been looking all over visiting 3 hardware stores, 2 plumbers, 1 mechanic and one boatyard and NONE had any scrap pipes with a diameter of roughly 2". So I ordered one from Germany on ebay, about 14$ with shipping. The little articulating vise was another 15$. I already had a heat gun so that totals up to about 29$ for a bending pipe, not too bad eh?
20160807_200550_resized.jpg

Bonus today is a quick video from my home built prototype thickness sander....and it works! Not perfect yet, because if you bend the wood slightly up or down you get inconsistencies, so I need to add a guide for the wood to ride on. Then it should work just as intended. Note to self: "Dont try to sand off too much in one go, that will rip the sand paper band in pieces, keep it at around 0.5mm"

Warning, some extremely bad video quality as I filmed with my cellphone and sent it in a text message to my mail.
 
Today was all about testing, I've tried my DIY Router base for cutting out the rosette channel and soundhole, and I tried my router for binding channels. Success on both fronts!
In the pic below, I dry fitted the abalone and just painted the channel black with a marker pen to get a feel for how it'd look. I'm either going with one wider black line as in the photo, or 3 thin lines BWB. What do you guys think?
20160814_133558_resized.jpg20160814_135435_resized.jpg20160814_141325_HDR_resized.jpg
 
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Hmm...I'm considering using my other set first (bird's eye maple), rather than the spalted curly maple. The "wild rabid cat" comment makes me a bit wary (in a good way though), perhaps I ought to save the pretty spalted curly maple for #3 instead, so that I've done at least one acoustic first?

That's not to say that the bird's eye maple isnt pretty, because it is :).
14672963933772135071392.jpeg


I have two western red cedar tops coming in as well and one spruce. I was planning on going with WRC as I've been curious about cedar as a tonewood, but with the bird's eye, I think a spruce top would match better aesthetically.

All these things spin round and round and round in my head right now, likely because I dont have the stuff here yet. At least my first shipment from stewmac cleared customs today and should be with me in a day or two tops. Mostly tools, some bits and bobs and one spruce sound board.
Still waiting for the majority of the wood to clear customs though, but it SHOULD come through this week.

To be determined later this week when the stuff is actually here...
 
cml said:
All these things spin round and round and round in my head right now, likely because I dont have the stuff here yet
Click to expand...

As a hobbyist builder, I find that all part of the fun. The challenge is making an instrument you see only in your mind a reality. I love seeing a package sitting next to my mailbox with some expensive piece of wood or some over priced tool I just have to have. It's like Christmas!
 
It is a bit like Christmas, isn't it?

EDIT:
VERY much like Christmas, I got my first delivery of two today! The stuff from Stew Mac arrived...tuners, fretwire, saddles, nuts etc etc and a spruce soundboard. It looks absolutely lovely :D! Going to run it through the contraption and hopefully join it today/tomorrow...
 
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Alright, today was a really good day! I've finished my new thickness sander, courtesy of Pete's design (found here) and I've been testing it out!

I've actually got a thicknessed spruce top now, even if it's my practice piece it feels good. Here's a video of it in action, it's dedicated to you Rrgramps :p.

It works great, albeit a bit slow. I can definetly see this a very very useful thing to have in your shop. I'd probably want to add a Safe-T-planer as well though, to get it down to roughly the right thickness first.

Will likely try to do a rosette cutout on it tonight when my daughter has fallen asleep, until then I have the conn while my wife rests ;).
 
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Here's my practice top with the rosette dry fitted, with very thin black lines on the outside of the abalone.
20160821_204228.jpg
 
Looking pretty good. The thin black line is always a good look if you ask me. Nice ab. Did you get that in Sweden? Do they have abalone in Sweden? Here we have more abalone than we know what to do with but is illegal to sell (red abalone). The main use here is nailing the shells to trees to use as reflectors showing the entrance to your drive way. Kind of sad. I can't use a local resource and have to buy the stuff from half way around the world from Asia. On the other hand, we still have plenty of ab and it hasn't been fished out.
 
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