What's happening in your shed?

Titchtheclown said:
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View attachment 139880

This fish uke was requested as a make what the spirit leads you request.
I loosely based the work on this Portuguese Rajão from the late 19th Century made by Augusto Merciano da Costa.
https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/503738
Ever since I first saw it I've fancied making my own version.

The body is Meranti using a bandsawn bowl technique. The fretboard is spotted gum and the fret dots are recycled from leftover ABS guitar binding. The bridge is Tasmanian blackwood. The fish on the 5th fret is just engraved in with a usb rotary tool back filled with a white filler.
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Great link to the Met collection. If you search “Ukulele” in the search box you can see three wonderful old ukes from the collection, in addition to that rajao. Mouth-watering!
 
Howdee,
I'm about half way through building 4 concert ukes and this mornings project was cutting the string slopes for the slotted headstocks. I'm not sure how everybody else goes about it but this was a method that I came up that works a treat. Sort of a variation on the sanding stick idea. The tuners that will eventually be fitted are gotoh stealths which unfortunately have been discontinued. I got some of the last ones in the wild from Rob at the Southern Ukulele Store who was a pleasure to deal with. There is a recent post here about issues with them but nothing else comes close to their diminutive dimensions. This is the second time that I have used them and the first time there was a bit of backlash in the adjustment which I think was caused by the 6mm holes in the headstock being a bit too snug. This time I have made the holes 7mm and plan to sleave them with 6mm/7mm teflon tube.
cheers
Paula.jpgb.jpgc.jpgd.jpge.jpg
 
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First cookie tin banjo build. Remembering to cross check all measurements before gluing up I took the cookie tin banjo fretboard I had just cut for the 648mm banjo scale length and compared how it lined up on my neck and cookie tin. All looked nice till I measured my 12th fret distance which turned out to be about 306mm. Those of you with a basic understanding of maths will notice that twice 306 isn't 648. Why is the fretboard I use as a template 1 fret shorter than the nice table of measurements I have stuck to my wall? It turns out I did my measuring on the "spare" fret template I spent an hour looking for, which is identical except is a fret longer. Luckily I have plenty of spotted gum and the short board can be cut down for a ubass or tenor build easily enough.
 
Titchtheclown said:
First cookie tin banjo build. Remembering to cross check all measurements before gluing up I took the cookie tin banjo fretboard I had just cut for the 648mm banjo scale length and compared how it lined up on my neck and cookie tin. All looked nice till I measured my 12th fret distance which turned out to be about 306mm. Those of you with a basic understanding of maths will notice that twice 306 isn't 648. Why is the fretboard I use as a template 1 fret shorter than the nice table of measurements I have stuck to my wall? It turns out I did my measuring on the "spare" fret template I spent an hour looking for, which is identical except is a fret longer. Luckily I have plenty of spotted gum and the short board can be cut down for a ubass or tenor build easily enough.
Click to expand...
I do not see the problem it being a banjo, you place the bridge which is "free floating" at 612mm.
 
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Adventures in home torrefaction. I'm just starting a new project, a 20" scale guitalele, with a baritone size body and tuned A-A. Other current ukulele projects use some locally harvested Osage Orange for their fretboards and bridges. To advance the darkening of those parts, they were placed in a fumigation box with a jar lid full of ammonia in the bottom. After a month they were a nice cinnamon brown. This time I wanted to go a bit faster, so I tried a technique I read about in another instrument forum. After sanding the parts to thickness on my drum sander, I wrapped them in aluminum foil and baked them at 350F for an hour. They had barely began to turn color, so I stuck them back in the oven for another couple of hours. After cooling, I examined them to find they had darkened nicely. I plan to seal them with Sealcoat and spray lacquer before gluing them on the instrument (not the gluing surfaces!). I just hope The Boss doesn't notice the slight toasty smell permeating the kitchen.

osage1.jpg
osage2.jpg
 
humblej said:
I do not see the problem it being a banjo, you place the bridge which is "free floating" at 612mm.
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That would put the bridge not where the macaw's perch is. Just too close to center on an 8 inch biscuit tin too. Yes I know what are the odds of the macaw's perch on an Arnotts biscuit tin being in the right place too.
Also doesn't explain why Mr Arnott had a Mexican macaw or why he used it as his logo on his Australian biscuit company when Australian parrots are both plentiful and attractive.
 
A bit more on the guitalele project. Here I'm dry fitting the final back brace and checking the squareness and alignment of the fretboard and neck prior to drilling holes for the alignment pins and slotting and tapering the fretboard. I am always struck by just how many small, critical steps are involved in the making of an instrument.
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Haven't worked on this uke for a long time but I found some time to do the binding, make a fretboard and get the neck set. Decided to use a different kind of joint since I hate how long it takes to fit the neck with sandpaper for a doweled joint. This probably took as long but I like the results a lot more, would've been much faster and easier if I did it before I put the back on.
F089A8F2-1C72-479F-B288-FC6D2F5EAA28.jpg170021E1-2393-4519-A985-EDAC66D0ADF4.jpg
 
Gluing the curly Redwood top halves for the guitalele. Even with this method, I always find the seam isn't completely flat, so I glue them before any thickness sanding, and let the glue set for 30-60 minutes before scraping off the squeeze-out and re-clamping. I've had success so far with the glue line being virtually invisible. The bees wing Black Cherry sides are in the background. All of the trim is going to be Black Walnut.

guitalele top 050101.jpg
 
tonyturley said:
I always find the seam isn't completely flat, so I glue them before any thickness sanding, and let the glue set for 30-60 minutes before scraping off the squeeze-out and re-clamping.

View attachment 140397
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Yes, perfectly flat at glue-up is tough, but since the plates are glued together before thickness sanding, it doesn't really matter and any unevenness gets sanded away. Also, I don't bother scraping any excess squeeze out because that will be sanded away too.
 
sequoia said:
Yes, perfectly flat at glue-up is tough, but since the plates are glued together before thickness sanding, it doesn't really matter and any unevenness gets sanded away. Also, I don't bother scraping any excess squeeze out because that will be sanded away too.
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I scrape off the excess because I figure it's less chance of loading up the sandpaper.
 
20220524_154834_copy_465x1008.jpgMy previous mermaid uke had a lopsided tail so it wouldn't stand up like this. I particularly like how the ends are symmetric to the centre line but the tail is still asymmetric and organic looking. I also forgot to give my last one her own ukulele so she can play along.
This one has a pine body made using the bandsawn bowl technique with X bracing and a red box eucalyptus fretboard with star shaped shell inlays. Painted with artist acrylics and gel ink pen for the gold.
The frangiapani flower in the hair was a last minute idea of the requester. I think it really adds just that little extra that makes her even more fun.
 
Spending Friday evening using a scraper to thin a piece of Rosewood for sound hole and bridge patches. It would have been quicker to pull out the drum sander and dust collector, but the garage was hot and muggy and this was a lot quieter and more relaxing.

DSCF4618.JPG
 
Titchtheclown said:
View attachment 140829My previous mermaid uke had a lopsided tail so it wouldn't stand up like this. I particularly like how the ends are symmetric to the centre line but the tail is still asymmetric and organic looking. I also forgot to give my last one her own ukulele so she can play along.
This one has a pine body made using the bandsawn bowl technique with X bracing and a red box eucalyptus fretboard with star shaped shell inlays. Painted with artist acrylics and gel ink pen for the gold.
The frangiapani flower in the hair was a last minute idea of the requester. I think it really adds just that little extra that makes her even more fun.
Click to expand...

You do have a talent for creating unusual ukes.
 
A pair of Redwood tops under construction. 17" tenor and 20" baritone scale guilele/guitalele/guitarlele . . . ummm, 6 string.

DD1F0319.JPG
 
The workshop elves have been working overtime. I think they may be sneaking downstairs while I'm asleep. Shown are parts for a 17" tenor, 20" baritone, and 20" baritone-ish 6-string.

DD1F0321.JPG
 
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