Cbu #0002

Matt Clara

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Long awaited (by me), mostly due to a bad neck I had to scrap and start over on, not to mention the holidays. This one is a concert scale, with sitka spruce top, single piece cherry neck, and cocobolo bridge and fretboard. I cut the neck shorter than I intended, so the bridge is a tad lower than I intended, and even though it's a concert scale, it meets the body at the 12th fret. I slotted the fingerboard myself (in fact, I resawed the cocobolo from a larger piece board, so the whole bit is home built, with more to come--not counting my time, these fretboards will cost me about $4 a piece). I was worried about the intonation, even though I used a LMI fret template and a stewmac miter box to make the cuts, but it seems to be fine. It sounds pretty good, with better volume than I had hoped for. Right now I have it strung with some D'Adario (however you spell that) black nylon strings, and I'm not used to them, so I don't particularly care for them--they seem to lack the richness of the aquila's, but I'll leave them on for a while. I built this one along side another, that only needs some finish work and then final assembly, so that one should be finished soon, too. That one has an image on the soundboard, so I'm anxious to see how it sounds. It already looks cool, and it was hard to stay excited about this one at times, but I persevered. I think I'll give it to my 7 year old nephew.

For larger images you can go to my site.

CBU02aTH.jpg CBU02bTH.jpgCBU02cTH.jpg CBU02dTH.jpg

I also got my bending pipe back from the machine shop last night. They took their sweet time, but didn't charge me a thing to weld my aluminum pipe to an L bracket so I can clamp it to my bench, as well as to weld one end shut to keep in the heat. Looks sweet, and works well. Bent some scrap last night. Maybe I'll post some pics of that later.

Thanks for looking.
Matt
 
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Matt, I love it. Really beutiful work. I especially like the bridge, the neck and headstock, the way the tip of the fingerboard penetrates the sound hole, the lovely neck and topwood... really just everything about it. Congrats.
 
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Hey Matt,
Wonderful job on this uke...I like the bridge and neck as well.

I'm also not a big fan of the D'Adario (however you spell it) strings. I put Aquila's on one of my soprano's and it's a huge difference. I also like the Martin uke strings.
 
Wow, Matt, really nice! Love the peghead shape. Also, it has such a well balanced look both in shape and color. Awesome
 
Dang Matt, that's one sweet freaking uke. Lovin' that headstock and bridge. I think I know what you mean about the strings, I've got ten packs of GHS because I've used them on my electrics for years now, but I can tell just by listening to the Aquilas on videos that they give a much more "buttery" sound. Again, really nice CBU there Matt.
 
Thanks for all the comments, guys--I'm having lots of fun with this stuff. The D'addarios seem nice for picking, but don't have a lot of tonal depth to them. If that means anything. Not as well rounded, is perhaps a better way to put it. There are differences in materials, too, as this is my only spruce top. My CBU #1 has been my main player since I built it. It has Aquilas and a western red cedar top.
 
So very cool. Keep it up.

I am fascinated by CBUs. Last summer. I was in an old hardware shop in rural Minnesota. It was clear that the shop owner was a cigar smoker and a collector of many things. I inquired if he might have some cigar boxes. He did indeed have several, but I could not talk him into parting with one. I even offered to buy one. Oh, well. My attempt to build a CBU will have to wait. Guess I'll have to concentrate on actually learning how to play the uke I have.
 
So very cool. Keep it up.

I am fascinated by CBUs. Last summer. I was in an old hardware shop in rural Minnesota. It was clear that the shop owner was a cigar smoker and a collector of many things. I inquired if he might have some cigar boxes. He did indeed have several, but I could not talk him into parting with one. I even offered to buy one. Oh, well. My attempt to build a CBU will have to wait. Guess I'll have to concentrate on actually learning how to play the uke I have.

You can buy them off ebay. There's a thread here on the Luthier's Lounge about picking out a good one.
 
I'm also not a big fan of the D'Adario (however you spell it) strings. I put Aquila's on one of my soprano's and it's a huge difference. I also like the Martin uke strings.

You have to wonder why Jake S. endorses D'Addario strings... According to their website he uses EJ46 strings, which are actually high-tension guitar strings. We have used guitar strings on a uke at times, in a pinch, but normally I would agree it's best to go with good uke strings, like Aquilas, Worths, Martins...
 
Very nice, normally I don't care so much for CBU's, but this one looks really nice as the bridge, peg-head, and fret board all seem to compliment each other. I've been buying cigar boxes from local cigar shop and using them for storage, you may have just convinced me to use one for other purposes...

-darrel
 
That is sweet looking, Matt. Can't wait to see what you do next.
 
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