UncleElvis
Well-known member
So, I've been messing around with the idea of building a cigar-box ukulele for a long time now. It's the reason I got into the ukulele in the first place.
Much as I love the instrument, it IS pretty silly and I love the ridiculousness of such a silly instrument sounding so good.
A few weeks ago, I was at the local cigar shop and the owner quite happily passed on an all wood (laminate, sadly) Partagas box (the nice thing about living outside the states... you can get Cubans here!).
Not ready to make my own neck, fretboard, etc., I bought a cheap $42 Chinese jobbie and chopped the neck off.
I wanted to make it even more ridiculous (and cool), so I got some inlay laminate stuff from InlayUSA.com (the super thin stuff) and designed the "Sacre Coeur Tattoo" soundhole.
The Crown of Thorns is Abalone, just stuck directly on the wood, then sanded down. It's not flush, but it's close. The flames are Mother of Pearl and ARE inlaid (went a bit too deep on the body, but it's ok). A note or two to those that are thinking about the InlayUSA stuff.
a) DO put painters tape (the blue stuff worked quite well) on top and maybe even on the bottom, while cutting.
b) Stick it down (I just put the painters tape over it to hold it down) to a hard surface. The Crown of thorns was cut on cardboard and did crack along the edges. Even the Mother of Pearl chipped on the edges, but I think that was more about the seams of the inlay and the intricacy of the points of the flames than anything else.
c) Go slow. REAL slow. I used an xacto knife to cut it and, in my impatience, went too fast, which also caused some jagged edges. The more intricate stuff, I did 5, 6, sometimes 10 passes with the knife, and it gave a MUCH smoother edge.
d) DO rout out the space, even if it's just a little. On a practice piece, I traced around the inlay with the xacto knife (a #1, by the way. Nice small point), then deepened the lines. On a whim, I sort of whittled the inside, just to the lines, so the edges of the inlay would be flush.
It wasn't perfect, but a couple of layers of sealer, sanding with 250 then 500 between, then, of course, going over with steel wool, to buff out the little scratches, and it's close enough that it's barely noticeable when you run your finger over it.
e) yeah, it's $15 or so per sheet, but DO order more than you intend to use. I had planned to fake up purfling on the edges in Abalone (there was a strip of the laminate that had come off, so I said bugger it and routed out the edges), but had run out. My brain and back are thankful for this, but I think it would have looked amazing.
As for the actual box? Seal seal seal seal and sand sand sand sand.
I still have to do the final polish and stuff on it, but my final sand on the top, I went down to bare wood. When I sealed it again, it went on SO smooth, with no grain, no nothing. I polished a little bit of it with some wax and it gleamed like glass.
It also hardened the wood quite nicely, so I don't get dings in it at all.
I love it, even though it didn't come out exactly how I expected it to.
But it WAS an amazing experience and I learned TONNES.
Big thanks to Pete Howlett, and the rest of you crazy folks, for just being there and doing it.
I would never have had the confidence to attempt this if not for you guys just... well... doing it.
Pete, especially, helped, just for having the videos. I'm not sure how much of what I learned from him was used in this, but I REALLY got an overview into where my head should be at for this project.
The next one is going to be MENTAL! *grin*
Now I just gotta learn how to play the darn thing!
I'm getting there, but still... not terribly good.
Much as I love the instrument, it IS pretty silly and I love the ridiculousness of such a silly instrument sounding so good.
A few weeks ago, I was at the local cigar shop and the owner quite happily passed on an all wood (laminate, sadly) Partagas box (the nice thing about living outside the states... you can get Cubans here!).
Not ready to make my own neck, fretboard, etc., I bought a cheap $42 Chinese jobbie and chopped the neck off.
I wanted to make it even more ridiculous (and cool), so I got some inlay laminate stuff from InlayUSA.com (the super thin stuff) and designed the "Sacre Coeur Tattoo" soundhole.
The Crown of Thorns is Abalone, just stuck directly on the wood, then sanded down. It's not flush, but it's close. The flames are Mother of Pearl and ARE inlaid (went a bit too deep on the body, but it's ok). A note or two to those that are thinking about the InlayUSA stuff.
a) DO put painters tape (the blue stuff worked quite well) on top and maybe even on the bottom, while cutting.
b) Stick it down (I just put the painters tape over it to hold it down) to a hard surface. The Crown of thorns was cut on cardboard and did crack along the edges. Even the Mother of Pearl chipped on the edges, but I think that was more about the seams of the inlay and the intricacy of the points of the flames than anything else.
c) Go slow. REAL slow. I used an xacto knife to cut it and, in my impatience, went too fast, which also caused some jagged edges. The more intricate stuff, I did 5, 6, sometimes 10 passes with the knife, and it gave a MUCH smoother edge.
d) DO rout out the space, even if it's just a little. On a practice piece, I traced around the inlay with the xacto knife (a #1, by the way. Nice small point), then deepened the lines. On a whim, I sort of whittled the inside, just to the lines, so the edges of the inlay would be flush.
It wasn't perfect, but a couple of layers of sealer, sanding with 250 then 500 between, then, of course, going over with steel wool, to buff out the little scratches, and it's close enough that it's barely noticeable when you run your finger over it.
e) yeah, it's $15 or so per sheet, but DO order more than you intend to use. I had planned to fake up purfling on the edges in Abalone (there was a strip of the laminate that had come off, so I said bugger it and routed out the edges), but had run out. My brain and back are thankful for this, but I think it would have looked amazing.
As for the actual box? Seal seal seal seal and sand sand sand sand.
I still have to do the final polish and stuff on it, but my final sand on the top, I went down to bare wood. When I sealed it again, it went on SO smooth, with no grain, no nothing. I polished a little bit of it with some wax and it gleamed like glass.
It also hardened the wood quite nicely, so I don't get dings in it at all.
I love it, even though it didn't come out exactly how I expected it to.
But it WAS an amazing experience and I learned TONNES.
Big thanks to Pete Howlett, and the rest of you crazy folks, for just being there and doing it.
I would never have had the confidence to attempt this if not for you guys just... well... doing it.
Pete, especially, helped, just for having the videos. I'm not sure how much of what I learned from him was used in this, but I REALLY got an overview into where my head should be at for this project.
The next one is going to be MENTAL! *grin*
Now I just gotta learn how to play the darn thing!
I'm getting there, but still... not terribly good.
