first 5 ukes

S

santacruzer

Member
Joined
Dec 18, 2009
Messages
19
Reaction score
0
Here is a picture of my first 5 ukes. All have one piece sides and bindings. 4 different shapes, 4 different woods for back and sides, and 3 different string lengths.4 have spruce tops cut by Rich Turner from an aircraft spar, 1 is cedar I resawed myself. All ukes are my own design. I'd like to thank all the generous people in this forum for thier inspiration and helpful ideas that helped in making these ukes possible. John
 

Attachments

  • uke building 070.jpg
    uke building 070.jpg
    99.2 KB · Views: 160
  • uke building 068.jpg
    uke building 068.jpg
    99.4 KB · Views: 120
Last edited:
Aloha santacruzer, wow you did a really great job on those ukes. They look awesome, bet they sound sweet too. Thanks for sharing.
 
wow...John,
these are very very nice work. You must love pineapple a lot.
I would like to build a pineapple next.

When you said that these are your design, did you mean that you draw the plans?
 
I just made 4 different forms for the body shapes I wanted to try to make. I use light weight bracing. The lining on all of them are solid. I'll probably spend the rest of my life working on fine tuning the aesthetics. John
 
santacruzer said:
I just made 4 different forms for the body shapes I wanted to try to make. I use light weight bracing. The lining on all of them are solid. I'll probably spend the rest of my life working on fine tuning the aesthetics. John
Click to expand...

Those look great santacruzer. I would suggest spending time on getting optimum sound. I see a lot of beginner builders craft some incredible looking instruments that fall short in the sound department. You have a lot of opportunities to learn where you are.
Keep it up and have fun.
 
Aloha John,
They look awesome..how do they sound...Wow are you selling them??? Thanks for sharing...MM Stan..
 
mm stan said:
Aloha John,
They look awesome..how do they sound...Wow are you selling them??? Thanks for sharing...MM Stan..
Click to expand...

hi John. They are beautiful looking pineapples. Congratulations on the builds. Stan's question was mine also: were you going to sell them?
 
Stan and Eugene,
It will be a while before I would sell any. IMHO 4 out of 5 sound very good. Intonation on all is also good. The 2nd uke I made had the bridge and plate too close to the butt plate which decreases the volume a bit. Its part of the learning curve. I am going to donate uke #5 to a school in the Puna District. Thanks for your interest. John
 
uke building 084.jpguke building 069.jpghere is the headstocks and some of the rosettes. All I still see are my mistakes. John
 
santacruzer said:
View attachment 18168View attachment 18167here is the headstocks and some of the rosettes. All I still see are my mistakes. John
Click to expand...

That critical voice is always so loud. But if you have to point out any mistakes, then it's not a mistake, it's there to make it unique and interesting. It can teach us how to deal with an imperfect self in an imperfect world. (Unless it effects intonation/playability.) Then as Chuck suggest work on getting optimum sound. Couldn't help myself.

They are beautiful, all five of them. You did an incredible job.
 
Hey Bluesuke,
Top and bottom are glued on top of the sides and solid linings with either Titebond or LMI glue. The press to hold them in place while drying is based on the Dave G. of Waverly Street design. The routing of the bindings is done with the StewMac Dremel Binding Router Guide installed through the bottom of a 3/4 inch plywood base via a 1 1/8" hole so it creates a small router table and with a small notch in the plywood top where the adjustment screw is, to make the binding cutter the same height as the plywood table. So far, it has worked good on ukes with flat tops and bottoms. The bindings are lace wood, bamboo, a mystery wood that was sold as mahogany and the last one used plastic bindings from LMI. The thickness of the bindings was from about .058" to .062" and scraped or sanded to final thickness. (Bamboo and plastic both bent without having to be pre-formed.) John
 
Uke #5 is a sapelle mohogany body and side, with Western red cedar top, with rosette out of 4 woods. As of earlier this year, the charter school in Puna, on the Big Island now has a ukulele class taught by Andy Andrews. I'm just helping out. John
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Wildjoy
Enya mahogany ukes
Replies
15
Views
327
KohanMike
KohanMike
B
  • Poll
How many ukes have you got? (expanded poll)
2
Replies
21
Views
508
dr_mitch
dr_mitch
Captain Simian
Rock musicians who collect ukes
Replies
10
Views
489
Slooky
Slooky
J
User Reviews for Woody Howard's Hybrid Woody Lele Ukes
Replies
0
Views
47
jprovince
J
Uke with Smitty
Looks like Eastman ukes are back
2
Replies
20
Views
751
Eggs_n_Ham
Eggs_n_Ham
Top Bottom