uk wood suppliers.... need some!

hiya all the uk guys,

my ebay guy is going on his travels so will not be running his wood shop anymore. was wondering if the uk builders on here could list a few good wood suppliers if they would like to that is!




thanks,

r

David Dyke is a good one Robin. http://www.luthierssupplies.co.uk

I have used Keystone Tonewoods a fair bit and been satisfied so far. Also Timberline exotic hardwoods.

Hi Robin. I've just stocked up from the same ebay source I suspect you have been using - well worth contacting him directly at the moment! I have recently bought ukulele wood (English walnut) from a guy called Andrew Prime who operates as Prime Timber somewhere down South - his website may say "out of stock" but still worth contacting him. Ukulele sized wood seems more difficult to come by from the mainstream suppliers such as Touchstone Tonewoods, Tonetech in Stockport and Exotic Hardwoods in Chapel-En-Le Frith. However Exotic can't be too far away from you and might be worth a phone call or visit, as I believe they do have the capability to cut from stock. There are also suppliers like Madinter and Maderas Barber in Spain - you need to buy enough to dilute (or qualify for free) postage charges but the wood is much cheaper than UK sources.

I can supply small quantities for one - off projects. What are you after?

hiya rob thanks,

I will use the few bits I ve got to complete another uke then have I think.

trying to think forward thats all.

I guess the fret board darker wood colour will be needing at some point but Have enough so far for this uke... work in progress pic

not as yet made any sort of fretboard jig.. in fact on my first uke I ended up holding an engineers square to the wood and using that to rest the saw against which worked okay! but maybe will consider either making or buying some sort of mitre box type thing...... how do others do this part if I may ask? is it a stewmac thing required?

thanks,

r

robinashby said:

hiya rob thanks,

I will use the few bits I ve got to complete another uke then have I think.

trying to think forward thats all.

I guess the fret board darker wood colour will be needing at some point but Have enough so far for this uke... work in progress picView attachment 90218View attachment 90219

not as yet made any sort of fretboard jig.. in fact on my first uke I ended up holding an engineers square to the wood and using that to rest the saw against which worked okay! but maybe will consider either making or buying some sort of mitre box type thing...... how do others do this part if I may ask? is it a stewmac thing required?

thanks,

r

Click to expand...

You could buy a ready slotted fretboard and rip it straight down the middle, two pieces. Use it for making a mitre box.

robinashby said:

hiya rob thanks,

I will use the few bits I ve got to complete another uke then have I think.

trying to think forward thats all.

I guess the fret board darker wood colour will be needing at some point but Have enough so far for this uke... work in progress picView attachment 90218View attachment 90219

not as yet made any sort of fretboard jig.. in fact on my first uke I ended up holding an engineers square to the wood and using that to rest the saw against which worked okay! but maybe will consider either making or buying some sort of mitre box type thing...... how do others do this part if I may ask? is it a stewmac thing required?

thanks,

r

Click to expand...

It's quite simple to make a mitre box and I lay down a fretboard printed template in the box. Tape it down and move the fretboard down a fret at a time, cut then re-align the end with the next slot line on the print out, cut etc.....

these pics were from when I was making some banjos, but the same box can be used. Just a couple of strips of mdf glued to a piece of ply and a slot cut in the end.

Go to my club page on Facebook and see Tommy using a simple safe machine I made. Use your CNC to make the template...

I use a fret board duplicating jig similar to this one.
http://sixgunguitars.com/fret_slotting_jig.html

not been on here for a few days now.

thanks guys food for thought here..... do you attached something to the saw to control the depth of cut you guys or go by eye?

not looked at petes yet will go searching for that now,

thanks,

Hi Robin. If you use the sixgun guitars style fret slot duplicating jig as Titch posted, then assuming your fretting saw has a back spine parallel to the teeth you can use packing strips on the top of the jig to control the depth of cut. i.e. you saw until the saw spine contacts the top of the jig and won't cut any deeper. That also ensures an even depth across the slot. You just need to make sure your fretboard blanks are the same thickness each time. If not, simple enough to adjust the packing pieces (or pack up the fretboard with thin card etc). I lined my saw slot with ebony for durability, made the two sides of the saw guide fully adjustable for squareness and width of saw slot (furniture style barrel nuts & bolts) and used thin acrylic sheet on the top of the height adjustment packers for a smooth surface. I also cut myself a 12 mm thick master base template rather than use an actual slotted fretboard, plus I use quick action clamps to make sure the board doesn't move about whilst sawing.

I did need to play around a bit with the relative height of the various components (and bevel the underside of the saw guide) to make sure the template plus fretboard could disengage the indexing blade without fouling anything.

robinashby said:

not been on here for a few days now.

thanks guys food for thought here..... do you attached something to the saw to control the depth of cut you guys or go by eye?

not looked at petes yet will go searching for that now,

thanks,

Click to expand...

Robin, if you look at fret saws such as the one on the Stewmac site, there is an optional depth stop guide. I made one very similar from a thin strip of wood, a couple of screws and plastic nuts. This rides on the top of my jig slot. Mike.

Titchtheclown... I used that same method as sixgunguitars uses but adjusted my mitrebox from Stewmac to use serviced fretboards as templates. LMII serviced the fbs and I have them as my templates.. I know you can buy metal templates from Stewmac that fit their mitrebox but I was running low on denaro at the time..
The wooden fretboards work great..

This is the homemade jig that I use.



Difficult to see but when the jig is flipped over there's another mitre box scale length on the other side. I made the slots but there's no reason why a commercial slotted board can't be bought and it fabricated from that. The saw is a Japanese x-cut from Axminster, depth stop has just been superglued on. The saw gives a wider kerf than the norm but I glue frets in with HHG. It also means that the frets can be tapped in with the handle of a chisel. I don't but it gives an idea of just how easy the frets do go in. I get very little backbow after fretting. When I first made this I was a bit concerned that the slots would lose accuracy. I'm up to around 25 boards each side and it's still perfectly fine. If I get another 25 I'll be happy enough. I'll then just probably buy a slotted commercial board and cut it up so that it forms the guide slots.
It's not as fast as a powered saw but there's probably only a matter of a few minutes in it. The good thing about the Japanese saw is that it doesn't bind in ebony.

ahh okay hey lots of variations on a theme.... I am getting some ideas together now and have started something of my own now.

I will perhaps take a picy of when its done to show how you guys have assisted me on my quest for perfect cutting.

thanks,

r