School Project Uke

B

Bradford

Well-known member
Joined
Mar 5, 2009
Messages
924
Reaction score
3
Location
Cannon Beach, OR
Three days ago, TCK asked for some help in starting a school ukulele program. The main issue is getting ukes in the hands of kids with little or no resources. I decided to try and help by designing and building a uke that can be build with tools found in a modest woodworking shop, by people with just basic woodworking skills, with the cost of materials less than $10. My thought is that if anyone wanting to start a kid's program can find a shop and a couple of volunteers with some woodworking skills, they can build some kits that can be put together on the kitchen table with some glue, a drill and a screwdriver. The last couple of days have been an interesting exercise. I started off with a trip to Home Depot, buying everything I thought I would need for around nine dollars (except strings). The first hurdle was designing friction tuners that could be assembled from common hardware. The list of materials for this is one 12" piece of 8-32 allthread, some 8-32 aluminum spacers, and some nuts and washers. The knobs are fashioned from scrap wood. Here are some pics of what I have so far.
 

Attachments

  • SP1 014.jpg
    SP1 014.jpg
    95.5 KB · Views: 307
  • SP1 007.jpg
    SP1 007.jpg
    95.6 KB · Views: 254
  • SP1 008.jpg
    SP1 008.jpg
    96.5 KB · Views: 244
  • SP1 011.jpg
    SP1 011.jpg
    95.7 KB · Views: 261
Thanks Brad. I've got a fellow from the ANZLF who is in the very far north of Australia working in an Aboriginal community that is wanting to start up just such a project. I'm going to point him at this thread for some ideas.
 
Very cool.
 
Cool idea! I'd be interested in doing a project with my GATE class for next school year. Please keep us posted on the progress of this project. Thanks!

Mason671
 
I have it finished and strung up. It sounds very nice, I may have discovered a new tonewood, western hemlock. To simplify the neck, it is one piece with the peghead in the same plane as the frets. The fret slots are cut directly into the neck. It has a zero fret, with an inverted nut to apply downward pressure to the strings at the zero fret. The neck attachment is a simple screw/glue joint. I am going to take some time and analyze the design, see what I can improve and simplify, and then draw up some plans and instructions for it. Oh, I have dubbed it the Youthalele. I'll do a video sound sample when the strings have quit stretching.

Brad
 

Attachments

  • SP2 006.jpg
    SP2 006.jpg
    94.2 KB · Views: 239
  • SP2 005.jpg
    SP2 005.jpg
    94.5 KB · Views: 262
  • SP1 015.jpg
    SP1 015.jpg
    95 KB · Views: 235
  • SP1 017.jpg
    SP1 017.jpg
    95.2 KB · Views: 223
  • SP2 003.jpg
    SP2 003.jpg
    95.8 KB · Views: 240
Brad,

You might be able to simplify the construction and shave a few pennies by using wooden tuning pegs. I can buy ukulele pegs here in the Uk for 15 pence each (25 cents or so). My reamer is asplit peg with a piece of hacksaw blade glued in the slit and filed down until it protrudes 0.5mm each side. Works quite well.
 
Love the design.. reminds me a little of the wolfalele kit that Pippen wrote of in the magazine and a little like a flea.. Can't wait to here it...
 
Hey ProChris, wooden tuning pegs are certainly an option. A major part of this project design is to be as flexible as possible in terms of materials, if the resources are available, they may buy commercial friction tuners and if keeping the cost to an absolute minimum is important, then wooden pegs can come into play. One thing is apparent already, you do not need much wood to build this, and wood is pretty cheap so the design can be improved by using a harder wood for the neck. I built everything out of the western hemlock but it is pretty soft for the neck. The next set of my fabricated tuners will look nicer, they do work quite well.

Brad
 
Way cool Brad! I'm very impressed, I was also thinking along the lines of violin type wooden pegs my Kumalae has them and they work quite well. I've also gotten some cheap friction tuners off eBay that work well.
 
Last edited:
boat_mainland_sm.jpg
It reminds me of the discontinued Boat Uke from Mainland. I like the design, since you can get to the higher frets easier.

How do the tuners work? I would like to see a close up of them in use.

I have 9 sets of uke strings that came stock on my Makala Dolphin Xmas gifts. I changed them all out to Aquilas. If anyone wants these for one of these economical projects, let me know.

–Lori
 
Bradford said:
Hey ProChris, wooden tuning pegs are certainly an option. A major part of this project design is to be as flexible as possible in terms of materials, if the resources are available, they may buy commercial friction tuners and if keeping the cost to an absolute minimum is important, then wooden pegs can come into play. One thing is apparent already, you do not need much wood to build this, and wood is pretty cheap so the design can be improved by using a harder wood for the neck. I built everything out of the western hemlock but it is pretty soft for the neck. The next set of my fabricated tuners will look nicer, they do work quite well.

Brad
Click to expand...

Ah - hemlock is not something we see in the UK. If it's soft it really won't do for friction pegs. I built a banjo uke out of non-luthier wood, because that's all I had available at the time. Pine neck with a plywood reinforcement to make the skunk stripe. I put wooden pegs on it but they soon compressed the wood of the head and started slipping. Swapped them for cheap frictions and all was then fine.

Daves BU finished 002.jpg

BTW, I've just ordered some very basic friction tuners from Hong Kong (eBay) for about $5 a set inc shipping. More expensive than your home made frictions but less work!
 
It looks great- originally missed the posting with all the excitement of the school year winding down- gotta go watch the video on this one, but I am pretty sure me and my army can do this! Brad, you are the best.
 
Saw the video- you are an amazement. Very cool thing you have made there, and cool that it will be in many hands before you are done. Thanks again!
 
Brad - just found the video. As always, your stuff is innovative and sounds great! I still want the specs we discussed ;), but that school uke really sounds great!
 
I'm not gonna lie, I wasn't expecting it to sound very good, but it honestly sounded as good or better than my Makala Dolphin. I'd love to get some instructions on how to make one of these Youthalele's. I think it's really good how you're wanting to help people who can't afford a conventional ukulele. The world needs more good-hearted people like you.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

A
School ukulele project
Replies
9
Views
955
arpie
A
G
6 String Ukulele Painting for school project
Replies
0
Views
288
gubbyitss
G
W
Doing this for a school project because my email wasnt working.
Replies
2
Views
389
Weeza
W
ukeCANjam
School Project?
Replies
7
Views
753
thistle3585
T
jmerchant
Uku school project
2
Replies
31
Views
2K
MisoHappy
MisoHappy
Top Bottom