Uke building

Does anyone know how to build a uke from wood. I have an interest in woodworking and ukes and i want to see if i can build one,but i will need l little help of course. What type of wood should I start with and how do I space the frets? I can buy some of the parts like the bridge and the tuners but I am probably going to make most of it. And one question that allways baffeled me is how do you space the frets???? I have no idea how you do that, I always used to think that they had a programmed robot that always does that!!


P.S. Any suggestions would be nice.


,king

Hey King,

Lots of good info here in this board. You might want to start by looking at Pete Howlett's wonderful instuctional videos on Youtube, and browse the instructions for the uke kits (and catalog) on stewmac.com.

Read and view alot before you start. That my 2 cents.

You will also find that Mr Google will barrage you with more information than you can digest for months on this topic. There are many kits out there, as well, if you want to get started easily.

I have heard that hana lima has a good book and a lot of info on there site.

I'd start by reading the construction manual in the Stew Mac uke kits and their guitar kits. You can download it for free and they're really good primers. I have the hana lima book but its just ok.....not alot of techniques or insights. If you really want to read a book then get the Guitar making book by Cumpiano. Its very thorough and translates to uke well.
Stew mac also has a fret calculator or you can get a program that will print the scale at the MIMF forum. I prefer to buy pre-slotted fretboards when I can though

can I get a link because I cant find it.

Here's the link to the tenor kit. They also have a soprano kit.

http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Kits/Ukulele_Kits/Tenor_Ukulele_Kit.html

ksquine; is the DVD worth the extra twenty bucks?

I contradict - ignore the Cumpiano book - spend your time and energy on Youtube where there are hundreds of brilliant luthiers sharing their work...