My first build (of anything!)

D

droo

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Here's a picture of my work-in-progress solid body concert uke. The neck is from a Lanikai Kohala C that arrived damaged at the music store where I work. The body design is a tribute to Brian May's Red Special guitar. I have a bit more work to do on the body before I attempt the finish, which is the part I'm dreading. Still plenty of opportunity to screw it up, in other words!
ukefull.jpg
 
Sweet curves! I've not built a solid body, but I imagine routing out space for the pickups, etc. comes next?
 
Yeah, I think that's next on the agenda. The cavity will be covered by a pickguard. It's going to be a nylon string uke with a piezo under the saddle and a transducer under the bridge. I'm debating whether to include magnetic pickups so I can use steel strings occasionally, but three pickup systems in such a small area seems a bit excessive ...
 
Like the body shape. Also like the head stock shape cause it will position the tuners in a straight line over the nut.
What piezo are you planning to use? Assume you will route a channel from the back?
Will be interested in seeing what you do for a bridge.
 
fahrner said:
Like the body shape. Also like the head stock shape cause it will position the tuners in a straight line over the nut.
What piezo are you planning to use? Assume you will route a channel from the back?
Will be interested in seeing what you do for a bridge.
Click to expand...

I might just use the bridge from the Kohala C, since it would be easy, but I've seen some really cool bridge ideas on this forum. The piezo will be a Dean Markley Sweet Spot guitar pickup with some modifications through a Barcus Berry preamp (both the piezo and transducer will go thru the preamp, but can be switched on and off independantly with slider switches ala Brian May's guitar). The piezo wire will go through the bridge and into the channel where the transducer will live. With any luck, all these things will get along together.
 
That's so freaking cool. I love Brian May's guitar work/sound. I read a couple of articles years ago on his electronics... dunno if I understood them all but I know you got your work cut out for you. What a great project.
 
Moore Bettah Ukuleles said:
Uhmmm............
Man I hate to post this and I hope it's just an illusion.
Where's the bridge going to go? With the 12th fret connection you have it looks like the bridge may actually have to be off the body!
Click to expand...

It's actually a 15" concert scale, so the bridge fits pretty low on the body. If it were a more faithful reproduction, the bridge should be more in the middle, but at that scale the body looked huge to me. So this was my compromise.
 
Moore Bettah Ukuleles said:
Uhmmm............
Man I hate to post this and I hope it's just an illusion.
Where's the bridge going to go? With the 12th fret connection you have it looks like the bridge may actually have to be off the body!
Click to expand...

Oh, sorry! I see what you're saying now, and it is an illusion. The body looks kind of foreshortend in the photo, but not in person.
 
Hi, sorry I've been away for a long time. I did finish the uke (apart from a couple of details) and put it in a video I did for Celestion Speakers. They're giving away a Deacy replica amp (the one John Deacon built for Brian May) and you have to make a video playing a Brian May riff or solo. I've replaced the piano parts with acoustic uke and the main guitar solo with my electric uke (other than the parts that go lower than the uke does, in which case it's a guitar).



 
Thanks, Tom. I've learned a lot from this first build. I've got another one just started and can avoid tons of mistakes on this one!
 
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