Long Time Ukulele Addict - Beginning Luthier - Where to start?

4 years ago I moved to New Zealand from Oregon and wanted to pick up a new instrument. Being a bass player I wanted something that was extremely portable and fit my location so I picked up the ukulele and haven't looked back. I can say nothing bad about the instruments. Even the cheap ones are astonishingly fun.

Skip ahead 4 years and I am living back in the states and just acquired a fully kitted out wood shop from a friend without storage. Band saw, planer, jointer, scroll saw, table saw, and a raft of other power and hand tools.

Something that will get me into woodworking and keep it fun would be to build ukuleles. As a novice woodworker and with no experience building instruments where should I start? I did some searches for books but found that most of them were rated poorly and not recommended. I don't mind making mistakes and learning but I just need the initial plans or push to get going in the right direction. Full detailed instructions would be much better though.

Where should I go from here?

Thanks in advance for your help.

Greetings and salutations kingnerd! Do you have a Sceptre?

You might want to start with a kit to get your feet wet before diving into a scratch build. The Stew-Mac kits are good for learning basic assembly, with sides already bent, neck carved and quite a lot of other work already done for you. Tool requirements are minimal. The Hana Lima kits require much more work. They essentially supply the plans, wood and various parts. You do the cutting, routing and shaping. Hope this helps.

My first was a kit with pre-bent sides. From there I went on to the Hana Lima tenor plan and their very useful instruction book. It's for building with a spanish heel, but going to bolt-on necks was not a problem. My blog is not very instructional, but maybe you can find stuff there. Address in signature.

There are great vids on Youtube as well. Check mr Howlett out.

Good luck / Sven

My first was a kit with pre-bent sides. From there I went on to the Hana Lima tenor plan and their very useful instruction book. It's for building with a spanish heel, but going to bolt-on necks was not a problem. My blog is not very instructional, but maybe you can find stuff there. Address in signature.

There are great vids on Youtube as well. Check mr Howlett out.

Good luck / Sven

Sorry, what is a Sceptre?

kingnerd said:

Sorry, what is a Sceptre?

Click to expand...

My apologies, the Sceptre is a very beautiful ukulele, definitely suited for royalty... since you are kingnerd.
Good luck and enjoy!

Sources for info...
-The kit instructions for the Stew Mac kits....free downloads and lots of info.
-The best book I've seen is Cumpiano's "Gutarmaking Tradition and Technology"
-Ukulele Underground forum
-Online Luthier Forum
Then get a set of plans and follow them exactly. Then go to it!

Ah, I am a humble dictator. But the one I am building might have a jewel or two at the top.

cletus said:

My apologies, the Sceptre is a very beautiful ukulele, definitely suited for royalty... since you are kingnerd.
Good luck and enjoy!

Click to expand...

kingnerd said:

Ah, I am a humble dictator. But the one I am building might have a jewel or two at the top.

Click to expand...

I'm looking forward to that one. Thanks!

Hey there Kingnerd. Building an Uke is great fun. Ive tried it once, like you without having any experience. You can see the result here:

http://www.ukuleleunderground.com/forum/showthread.php?17895-Diary-of-a-first-build

Maybe it will help you a bit. I found the 2 books I stated in the thread quite helpful.

Check out the excellant videos by Pete Howlett on You tube. I would start out with a kit from Stewart MacDonald.

Thanks

Thanks for all the help in this thread. I have decided to go with the Stewmac kit to start with. It sounds like a good introduction to building ukes. From there I hope to transition to building an entire uke from scratch as my second instrument.

Thanks again.

Stew Mac always good stuff, albeit expensive on occasion...ran across these on another forum...

http://www.hanalimastore.com/servlet/the-Ukulele-Kits/Categories