Oak & spruce soprano

Yes, Michael and sequoia, that's the idea. Good to know that this can work and that someone else has done it like this before.
 
It is a known method, not well known but there are a few people who use it. I thought I was the only person doing it that way until I came across another maker who mentioned it. The big advantage that I've found is that you get a very tight joint between binding and the sides. I never get any gaps, not even the slightest. You still need to make sure that the lining projection is pretty even all the way around the side and clean out any glue overspill.
 
OK, this method still intrigues me. What method do you use to accurately square up the edge of the top with the lining?

Bob
 
Chisel (very carefully) takes off the majority. Thumb plane, file and 'nail file' - bendy abrasive. I glue abrasive to very thin ply.
 
Today, while I'm still waiting for the binding material, I made the bridge. I noticed something that I had not paid much attention to before - string spacing at the saddle. Looking at my other three sopranos, they are actually quite different, I measured 40mm, 45mm and 46mm. Now that I know that, I can actually see the strings fanning out more from nut to saddle on the two instruments with larger spacing by looking at them.
Is there any consensus on this? 6mm difference at the saddle are 3mm difference at the 12th fret, considering that the string spacing at the nut is the same. That's significant in my opinion from a players perspective.
How does this compare to classic soprano designs from Martin or Hawaiian made instruments like Kamaka? Opinions and insight is appreciated.
BTW, my bridge has 40mm string spacing and is currently 2mm higher than it probably needs to be, will adjust this before I glue it on later on.
rosewood bridge.jpg
 
I have also pondered this question before I cut my string holes in the bridge. From what I gather, it is not critical and a matter of taste in string spacing. Not critical of course within reason. The one thing that would be bad is to set the spacing so wide that the string slips off the side of the fretboard while playing. Not good! I just copied standard sting spacing off of tenor ukes and I forget what it is for a tenor. I just have a little square piece of wood with 4 holes drilled in it as a jig. Works great. Below is a diagram from Stew Macs site reproduced without permission that gives some idea. I don't use the suggested spacing for tenor, but that is just me. A place to start.

Fullscreen capture 942017 100541 PM.jpg
 
Alright, the binding is on. Took a looooong time doing it by hand. Roughly 2 hours cutting top and back edges back and cleaning the binding channel with chisel, then 2 hours taping on the binding with masking tape and glueing it in with superglue. Finally, 2 hours scraping and sanding it flush.
While not perfect, it looks good I think. No gaps.

binding on.jpg

Feels fairly light and when tapped it sounds like a uke. :D:D
 
Looks pretty darn good from what I can see. I have never done binding channel cutting by hand, but I can appreciated the time and elbow grease it would take. Two hours sounds pretty quick to me. I could spend an entire afternoon sharpening, setting, cutting, etc... Even with a router it takes me time. I go slow with a lot of nibbling and looking. By the way, this is one operation where things can go bad in a hurry with a router if you are a hobbyist or don't do a lot of it. Has never happened to me yet. Yet. I can see the potential though for mucking things up majorly. The pros can do in minutes with no anxiety. Zip, zip, zip. What's so hard?

Good on you for doing it by hand. Now go out and get yourself a router. Much less work. Probably cleaner too.
 
Thanks for the kind words sequoia.
I think that the overall time for the binding work by hand could be less with more experience and probably better suited tools, I already know a few things now that I would do differently next time. In any case, I'm not in a hurry.
Out of curiosity I put the uke body on my kitchen scale, this is what I got:

uke body weight.jpg
 
In the last days I prepared the prefab (not that great actually) neck for joining to the body. Work done includes flattening the profile to my liking, producing a flatter profile and also a flatter taper to higher frets, removing 3mm off the back of the headstock (9mm thick now at pointed end), narrowing headstock by 6mm to make it less heavy, removing edges close to the nut position to produce smooth feel, planing width to fretboard width, shaping curved heel end where it joins the uke body, and making heel shape much less clunky.
Making one from scratch would have taken almost the same time, I think.

shaped neck.jpg

Added some new tools to the box, a few f-clamps and a half-round/flat rasp with no handle. Works a treat for neck shaping.

Today I glued the neck to the body with a simple dowel joint using two 6mm dowels.

glueing neck.jpg
 
My guess is that the clamp serves as an improvised stop.
 
Hi guys,

It's finished !!! ;):D
I've finally found the time to complete the uke.
Here are some images. A classic beauty, I think.

uke 1.jpg uke 2.jpg

Finish is pure tung oil, 7 coats, took me 3 weeks ...
The grommets of the Gotoh UKB's were too small for the predrilled holes in the headstock, had to find a work around, mixing and matching parts from a couple old tuners I had lying around - works well. Total weight strung is 267 grams, it is lighter than all my other ukes and very resonant. Sound is really nice. The spruce makes for a very immediate and precise response with good dynamic range.
It's currently strung with d'Addario black nylon with a Fremont fluoro low g string. My favorite combo I have on two other ukes.
Total building time I estimate at 35 hours or so. Worth it? Yes, absolutely, in my opinion.

Full specs:
Model: JBS 1 uke
Construction: spruce blocks, basswood lining, bamboo bridge plate, 2 dowel neck joint
Body size: soprano ukulele
Bracing pattern: standard soprano
Brace material: spruce
Back and side material: white oak
Top material: spruce
Neck material: okoume
Neck profile: flat D shape
Nut material: bone
Nut string spacing: 28mm
Headplate: khaya
Fingerboard material: rosewood
Scale length: 346mm
Number of frets: 15, joined at 12th
Fingerboard width at nut: 34mm
Fingerboard width at 12th fret: 43mm
Fingerboard position inlays: 5th, 7th, 10th, 12th, 15th
Bridge material: rosewood
Bridge string spacing: 40mm
Saddle material: bone
Binding material: white ABS
Finish: tung oil
Tuners: Gotoh UKB friction tuners with white buttons
Strings: d’Addario black nylon strings, Fremont black fluorocarbon low G string
String height at 12th fret: 2mm
Weight: 267g
 
Thanks guys.
I greatly prefer the special sound and humble attitude of a good soprano (I only have sopranos), so no flashy tenor for me.

I'll see if I can somehow record it, maybe side by side with my KTS-7 for comparison.
 
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