darned near time for an intervention

so......

been reading in prep for the first uke build..up all hours on the net....digging through every bodies shop, barn, shed, out house, dog house and chicken coop looking for wood...repeatedly measuring my current ukes....asking strange questions to my wood worker friends...laying in bed wondering and planning about the build... find myself tapping random wooden surfaces....cant stop @3#%$$ obsessing about it.....

i think i am going mad....

IS THIS NORMAL??????

is there a twelve step program for this????

if i dont make it back tell the wife i love her....

You'll make a great builder.

This sounds like Chapter One:uhoh: of a great story.
Looking forward to hearing and seeing more.

Don't forget the most important step in becoming a builder: You have to actually build something. The quest for knowledge can become a stumbling block in itself. At some point you have to realize that you have enough information (and materials) to successfully build an instrument. So what if there are several methods you haven't fully explored yet, as long as you have one or two ( or 3, 4, or 5) workable solutions. Like Nike says, "Just Do It!" Work it out as you go. There's plenty of help and advice available along the way.
Good Luck!

Alan "Dammit Jim, I'm a doctor, not Chuck Moore!"

At the end of the day, it's just wood, and you have to commit to putting some glue to pieces of it and putting them together. Don't worry about building the best damn uke, guitar, violin or what not that was ever built because you wont ever get to that point. Theres always room for improvement. That's what so addictive about this.

Plan on making mistakes. That's good, because you'll learn far more from the failures than the successes, at least in your first 20 instruments.

And work out your stories well ahead of time about all that wood coming to you in the post every week. Be creative, and always remember. Resistance is futile. You will be assimilated.

Don't forget the most important step in becoming a builder: You have to actually build something.

Click to expand...

Dang eor they found us hiding in a forum on the Internet! :uhoh:
I have been thinking that it is going to be tough to build something without all the right power tools, Then my neighbor said I could use his. Then I thought, "Well I really need a band saw to do what I want to do", and my other neighbor called me last night and said that he has no room for his band saw, and can he store it in my garage.

You have to actually build something.

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Hi eor,
I'm Steve and I'm an ukaholic. Welcome to UU and our 12 fret program. Your story sounds VERY familiar. Sorry to say, it only gets worse once you put tools to wood.

Allen said:

Plan on making mistakes. That's good, because you'll learn far more from the failures than the successes, at least in your first 20 instruments.

And work out your stories well ahead of time about all that wood coming to you in the post every week. Be creative, and always remember. Resistance is futile. You will be assimilated.

Click to expand...

Allen, I may never have read truer words, especially about the wood coming.

Even after all the research, all the imaginings, all the planning, etc., my first build left me with a lot more questions than answers........Really, that thin?!?!?, or even after making a TON of improvements to the plans it still doesn't look/sound right. How come? I thought the neck would naturally lie straight in all three axis, what happened?

After digesting all the information I could, until I plopped one out on the workbench I didn't hardly know what questions to ask. So good luck and get ye to the bench, and above all...HAVE FUN!

Steve

funaddict said:

Don't forget the most important step in becoming a builder: You have to actually build something. The quest for knowledge can become a stumbling block in itself. At some point you have to realize that you have enough information (and materials) to successfully build an instrument. !"

Click to expand...

I have always found the research a big part of the fun of doing something. for some reason i am obsessing about this project a bit more than i usually do.

i am looking forward to getting enough supplies to get started.


i grew up pre internet and its amazing how much access to info folk have nowadays.

its milder the last couple of days but it was - 35 to -38 deg c with the wind chill for the past week or so. good weather to make some moose meat chili , stoke up the wood stove , open a bottle of home made red and surf the net.

thx eor

These great posts come at a perfect time for me. I'm in the same boat. I've read everything I could get my hands on, spoken with luthiers and cabinet makers, anyone with woodworking experience. Drooled over the fine instruments made by regular posters to this forum as well as others.

Now, I have actually started building. Fortunately, I have a few friends who can help me. Alas, most of what I make at the moment are mistakes. It is encouraging to read that making mistakes is essential to the process. I'm learning a lot from them.
Haven't made the same mistake twice...yet.