Claro Walnut Long Neck Tenor Build

little timber

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I just finished a long neck, extended scale length tenor, that I had been working on for a while. here is basically the entire build, in pictures. I welcome comments, or if you see an easier or better way of doing things, i'd listen. I'm going to not overly describe things here since I figure most of those who read this already know what the process is, but if anyone does want any more details I can provide them in future posts.

this uke has:
19.5" scale
solid claro walnut back, sides, head-plate and soundboard
walnut neck
ebony fingerboard (curly maple on 5th & 12th frets), bridge, & end graff
bone nut and saddle
zebra wood bindings
ablam shell rosette and faux abalone (celluloid) purflings.

here comes some pictures...
the sides fresh from my side bending jig, the bindings ready for bending, the top and back glued and ready for thicknessing
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back braces are glued in place, the end graff is prepared and installed, as are the kerfed linings. the bindings are bent on the same jig that I use to bend the sides.
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for this uke I used walnut as the neck and heel blocks, and the sides are tapered towards the neck by 1/2" from the waist. the back braces are cut with a 20' radius to give the back a slight dome
 
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next was the rosette. I use the stewmac circle cutter and dremmel routing base for this.

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the scarf joint for the neck is cut with this simple jig that holds the wood at a 15 degree angle to the bandsaw blade and runs in the miter gauge slot

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and ready for the glue-up

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the back is then joined to the sides
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I had to extend the fretboard with a couple of pieces of maple because my ebony was too short for the scale length. here it is with the fret slots cut
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I didn't use a pattern or anything for my bracing, just a basic x brace I guess. the bridge plate is walnut, maybe 2mm thick. the braces are walnut, no radiusing on the top bracing.
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the top is then attached
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binding and purfling channels are routed. I use the cutter and bearing set from LMI
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bindings installed. I use CA glue for this... see pic in next post
 
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next, I shape the neck, cut the fretboard to follow the taper of the neck, bind and fret the fretboard before gluing it to the neck

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on this uke I pore filled with CA glue and loved it compared to other pore fillers I have tried. it did a great job and I could start finishing it the same day. I finished it in TruOil, 4 thin coats and then buffed it.

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as suggested in another post, I then routed off the bit of finish under the neck and bridge with the dremmel prior to gluing the bridge in place. note the smaller bridge than on my other ukes. better?

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the nut and saddle are cut and shaped, the holes for the tuners are finally drilled, and then everything gets put together into the finished ukulele

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it is strung with Aquila baritone strings, tuned GCEA. I think it sounds great! it is pretty bright but still very warm and way more resonant than the rest I have built... maybe the bridge size helped that. thank you all for reading this and for the past and future comments

erik
 
Very pretty walnut. I like the maple extensions in the fingerboard....nice way to stretch the materials
 
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