Hello everyone,
I've been an avid reader of this forum for the last three years since I started playing uke. I also bought a uke here recently from some nice folks. I currently have three good sopranos in mahogany, Australian blackwood and mango, which all have their individual and distinct voice. I like them all. For a while now I have been looking for a spruce-topped instrument for the sake of tonewood diversity, as I've heard a few really nice ones being played by other people.
Long story short, instead of buying one, I decided to build one myself . On my kitchen table. Step by step. I have no prior experience in this, so let's see how it goes. I have to add that basic woodworking chops exist, though they have been dormant for many years.
I have a pretty limited tool selection available at the moment as seen below, no major sawing possible and no fret work. So I went and bought some pre-cut wood sheets, blanks and strips, a prefab neck (okoume?, needs some reshaping) and fretboard (rosewood) and an inexpensive very simple electrical bending iron.
This is how far I've gotten in the last ten days (an hour or so a day in the evening). The top seen in the image below is 2mm spruce, which will be thinned down a little later on. The sides were bent from 1.5mm thick White Oak sheets cut to size. Bending was easier than I thought, I guess oak is a 'friendly' wood for bending. I just quickly splashed some water on the wood and bent it step by step, rewetting frequently until I got the shape right. The bent sides were rested and dried in an improvised cardboard mould to keep the shape for 2 days.
Neck and tail blocks, braces were cut from spruce and shaped. Bridge plate is a piece of bamboo (this is what I had available and it looked just fine for the purpose ...). The lining is basswood.
The curved back is also oak, which I've already cut, glued and braced. Currently I'm waiting for some basic white ABS binding material, that I've ordered, so I can bind the front before glueing on the back (therefore the offset lining, hope this will work out ...).
Most used tools so far have been utility knife (used to cut wood sheets, instead of sawing them, slightly tricky for hard oak but doable), mini plane, and scraper. Slow-paced manual woodwork with sharp blades has something satisfying to it, especially if you see your endeavour taking shape gradually.
BTW, my work bench size is 20 by 40 cm ... .
Will keep you posted on the next steps.
Cheers,
Jan
I've been an avid reader of this forum for the last three years since I started playing uke. I also bought a uke here recently from some nice folks. I currently have three good sopranos in mahogany, Australian blackwood and mango, which all have their individual and distinct voice. I like them all. For a while now I have been looking for a spruce-topped instrument for the sake of tonewood diversity, as I've heard a few really nice ones being played by other people.
Long story short, instead of buying one, I decided to build one myself . On my kitchen table. Step by step. I have no prior experience in this, so let's see how it goes. I have to add that basic woodworking chops exist, though they have been dormant for many years.
I have a pretty limited tool selection available at the moment as seen below, no major sawing possible and no fret work. So I went and bought some pre-cut wood sheets, blanks and strips, a prefab neck (okoume?, needs some reshaping) and fretboard (rosewood) and an inexpensive very simple electrical bending iron.
This is how far I've gotten in the last ten days (an hour or so a day in the evening). The top seen in the image below is 2mm spruce, which will be thinned down a little later on. The sides were bent from 1.5mm thick White Oak sheets cut to size. Bending was easier than I thought, I guess oak is a 'friendly' wood for bending. I just quickly splashed some water on the wood and bent it step by step, rewetting frequently until I got the shape right. The bent sides were rested and dried in an improvised cardboard mould to keep the shape for 2 days.
Neck and tail blocks, braces were cut from spruce and shaped. Bridge plate is a piece of bamboo (this is what I had available and it looked just fine for the purpose ...). The lining is basswood.
The curved back is also oak, which I've already cut, glued and braced. Currently I'm waiting for some basic white ABS binding material, that I've ordered, so I can bind the front before glueing on the back (therefore the offset lining, hope this will work out ...).
Most used tools so far have been utility knife (used to cut wood sheets, instead of sawing them, slightly tricky for hard oak but doable), mini plane, and scraper. Slow-paced manual woodwork with sharp blades has something satisfying to it, especially if you see your endeavour taking shape gradually.
BTW, my work bench size is 20 by 40 cm ... .
Will keep you posted on the next steps.
Cheers,
Jan