ukulele parts

i'm thinking of building a couple of instruments. of what's out there a kanilea concert and baritone would be good choices. on the other hand a load of ash is coming into the shop this summer, so the minimal wood content would be essentially free, and it would remain to source the parts of which i have only a dim idea.
your recommendations for tuners, they could be gotoh, or they could be a good grade open geared tuner, or a premium grade open geared tuner, then there is fret wire, hopefully parts made in countries with labor standards. also your recommendations for the vendor.

I'm no expert on ukulele building, and you may want to post in the luthier's forum if you want to hear from people who actually build ukuleles.

I have built two instruments: one guitar and one bass, both fretted scratch builds starting with raw lumber. I made a lot of mistakes.

Parts suppliers - easier now than ever.
- Stewart McDonald is a great source for everything instrument making. www.stewmac.com
- Amazon has nearly everything at every quality level. You can get lower quality tools if you plan to build one or two, then upgrade to the good stuff from StewMac.com once you decide to build many instruments with higher quality.
- eBay has nearly everything. Maybe not today, but eventually. Keep looking, bid and bid again. Watch out for parts that ship from the far east - you may wait a while for shipping. Or go back to Amazon and StewMac and just buy it already.

I hope that helps.

Where are you getting your ukulele plans? Mostly I'm concerned about top bracing.

I've been entertaining a wild thought - why not build a ukulele from locally or upper-midwest grown lumber? I have some cherry from my brother-in-law that is air dried that may make in interesting instrument. I have some Norway spruce grown about 5 miles west of my house that is ready to use for tops as well. I may have a few scraps of black maple that has been really pretty in a bass guitar neck. And I can get all the hickory I want (blown down) from the other brother-in-law that will be ready a year or so after I get it cut, stacked and stickered.

Crazy talk, right?

pbagley

well i am a career tradesman and woodworker. don't be afraid to use local product. my only concerns would be for the softwood soundboards that people go to. i would want the most durable between the choices. that would be about it. the hickory sounds fine. it would be an interesting looking instrument and would likely play very well and it would be something others don't do which is the best reason to give it a shot. the type of work i do from fancier to mundane is all of the same character, well proportioned, whatever it is it's 'one in the world' of that type of item. the hickory sounds great. allow your heart and intuition to select the exact boards, the inner mind picks up on things that are hard to express.
i don't need much for plans, likely make them simply in balalaika style as with the fluke. i could copy someone's bracing plans, perhaps joe souza's. ash is a particular favorite of mine, i'm in the northeast, and as the hawaiian is in use i couldn't go too far wrong. i would cut out of particular phases and positions of wood growth that i have used successfully albeit for solid wood kitchen counters. walnut binding would set things off.

Thanks. I've used some local sourced wood in my bass and guitar builds. I think I may have the only tamerak bodied guitar in existence.

I'll second Stewmac for parts.
As for tuning machines, I'm very partial to these: http://www.stewmac.com/Hardware_and...s/Ukulele/Grover_Ukulele_Tuning_Machines.html
There's also a long string post version of those for thicker than typical uke headstocks.
You can also get fret-wire there and other supplies.