Builds 2,3 aand 4 finally completed. Cherry, Makore and Mahogany

It's been a long damp winter and I've had problem after problem due to humidity, which has slowed me down. I was getting a little bit fed up with these builds, but I'm very pleased to say they are done. Just over a year ago Pete Howlett very kindly gave me a cherry set to practice side bending after he had given me a few pointers on bending, so thanks Pete, here's the finished cherry tenor. I also bought a makore set from Pete, so here's a makore tenor. Once again, thanks Pete. The Mahogany build was built from bits of mahogany I had lying around.



P.s. In my earlier post, I said I had problems uploading images , so for the first time, I've had to install an image resizer program to do this . Still don't know why this has changed.

due to 5 image limit, here's more.

Congrats on completing these instruments which look good. I tend to semi-hibernate in cold damp weather rather than spending time in the workshop, so I understand your frustration with the weather.

Are you happy with the way they sound? Every instrument has its own sound depending on the timber used, thickness of soundboard, bracing.... etc. Have you been able to evaluate and learn anything from building these 3 together to help you with the next one?

greenscoe said:

Congrats on completing these instruments which look good. I tend to semi-hibernate in cold damp weather rather than spending time in the workshop, so I understand your frustration with the weather.

Are you happy with the way they sound? Every instrument has its own sound depending on the timber used, thickness of soundboard, bracing.... etc. Have you been able to evaluate and learn anything from building these 3 together to help you with the next one?

Click to expand...

I've learned a hell of a lot, especially in dealing with the weather, and I agree with your idea about hibernating. Think I'll leave it alone next winter. The ukes all sound very different as you might expect, the cherry bright sounding, mahogany mellow but quite loud and the makore somewhere in between. I think next time I'll be brave, and experiment a bit more with the bracing. I'm not a player but can play a few basic chords to test them. I'm waiting for my brother to try them and give me his opnion, as he does play. The mahogany one gave me the most trouble, due to humidity. And when I came to seal the body with shellac before final sanding for truoil, the shellac dried like milk. I didn't realise at the time that it was due to humidity, so eventually decided to sand it all off again. I'm not sure, but I think this may have contributed to it sounding louder, as the top was thinner than intended. Learning curve?

Congratulations Mike - they all look great. I've got a Makore tenor set from Pete as well, but every time I get close to using it I get a request to build something entirely different! Hope it looks as nice as yours when I do eventually manage to use it.

Wildestcat said:

Congratulations Mike - they all look great. I've got a Makore tenor set from Pete as well, but every time I get close to using it I get a request to build something entirely different! Hope it looks as nice as yours when I do eventually manage to use it.

Click to expand...

Thanks Paul, good luck on your Makore build. It's a strange wood and looks different from every angle . It sounds good too. It's a lot more porous than I expected. I chose not to grain fill because I wanted that natural look, but if I used it again, I'd try filling the grain for a different look. Mike

I've just completed a course build where we had 4 makore tenors completed - all sounded consistently loud and sweet with plenty of sustain. You just cannot go wrong with this stuff which is still reasonably priced. I have sets for sale...

They look mighty fine to me!

mikeyb2 said:

due to 5 image limit, here's more.
View attachment 98426View attachment 98427View attachment 98428

Click to expand...

Nice! That middle one is particularly striking.

Nice work Mike. I like the variety of headstocks.

Thanks for the comments everyone.

They are ALL really really nice... but I like the one in the middle the best... Very cool patterns in the wood..and the rosette... Congrats on the builds!!