Builder returns!

I have been without a reliable broadband gateway for about 3 months - hence my lack of presence here. I hope you haven't missed me

In that time I have sustained nerve damage which is affecting my left arm, shoulder and back, cut the sensitive tip of my left hand thumb trimming masking tape (don't ask), sliced the knuckle on my ring finger right hand (must be the pain killers I'm on) and have built goodness knows how many kits for Christmas and still I can't get the overdraft down!

However the build courses are receiving much attention... Some videos will be posted later today along with Part 1 coming very soon of a series which I have had many requests for - build your own ukulele luthier style. The first section will detail essential tools and equipment along with my method of form making. I'll be demonstrating building a tenor and will focus a lot on hand skills. It will be a storyboard for the 'real' thing whenever I get round to doing it but please watch this space if you have been waiting for a detailed series on how one builder (and remember that this will be MY way and not THE way) does it. Of interest I suppose will be how to process the build with just a bunch of hand-tools and a bandsaw, router and pedestal drill. I'll show you how to make vacuum chucks and a simple thickness sander that fits into the drill and how a set of easily made router jigs makes building braces and carving necks easy...

Glad you're back. Watch those fingers.

Hey Pete. Welcome back and yes...you were missed. Looking forward to the new videos and hope that they show all of your fingers intact.

Welcome bacK! Do try to keep the hands intact(spoken by the man who lost a finger making a Mandolin fingerboard)
Really looking forward to you videos. Your current ones have helped a lot.

Aloha Pete,
Glad to have you back, was wondering what happened to you...missed your expertise in the luthiers section....Sorry to hear about the finger accident, sounds like a bad one, I hope it's gettting better...Thanks
for all the video's and sharing your experience with us...we enjoy and learn from them sooo much....Take Care and Happy Holidays to you and your family!! MM Stan..

Wot the others said - you were missed.

Sven

Dang Pete, sorry to hear about the injuries. Hoping you get back on track soon.

I was wondering what had happened to you, Pete. Glad you're back and hope everything heals.
Doug

Sorry to hear about your injuries, Pete. Hope you're on the mend. Excited to hear about the new ideas and videos.

Pete, glad you're back!

If I can be so bold as to make a suggestion regarding the videos, it might be a good idea to take stock of what you've got in the channel already, and perhaps organize them into a sequential playlist that covers as much as the building process as possible before starting over once again?

For example, I started following the videos titled "Ukulele Building Course", which was very helpful for parts 1-4, and then part 5 was a video of removing the twine from a box that had already been closed off-camera (as far as I can tell this series was abandoned after that). You have several videos on closing the box, but they're using an outer mold instead of a solera. Similarly, I was looking for information on neck carving, and found that you've got several videos that duplicate information about the rough profiling of the neck using a router and the finishing using a spokeshave, but nothing that shows the intermediate step of shaping the heel.

I'm not saying this out of any feeling of entitlement or ungratefulness, only in the hope that you won't burn yourself out making videos on things that you've covered (sometimes multiple times) in the past if your aim is truly to show uke construction from start to finish. I think for the average learner it's not as important that each step is demonstrated on the same instrument, just that each step is fully covered by some piece of your curriculum. You could easily make an index page for your kit buyers that points to the appropriate video for each building step even if their instrument might not look like the one on screen.

Thanks again for all that you do!

I purged the videos every year so download the ones you need in the next 4 weeks. The only videos I will be shooting this year will be The Storyboard - A Year in a Ukulele Maker's Shop...

Welcome back Pete. Take care of yourself, don't overdo those pain meds, they can be a hazard. Can't wait to see the new stuff.

Pete Howlett said:

I purged the videos every year so download the ones you need in the next 4 weeks. The only videos I will be shooting this year will be The Storyboard - A Year in a Ukulele Maker's Shop...

Click to expand...

I used to have a firefox add on to save youtube vids. I'll have to check around. Thanks for the tip. I would not want to lose some of them.

Careful Pete! Being without UU appears to be hazardous to your health!

(Welcome back! You HAVE been missed!)

Pete, you were dearly missed. We'll be needing you around here for a long time to come, so take care of yourself