First Two Builds

My wife took ukulele lessons a year or so back and it has been fun for the family. I'm an aerospace engineer who always needs a project and her cheap uke just can't hold a note. We both play a little (she's better than I) and I thought I'd make us each one over the summer.

I found Steve at Colonial Tonewoods within driving distance from my house and he was great. We went up over Father's Day weekend and snagged all the wood we'd need for both ukes. I'm only familiar with what woods I've read about on the forum here, but here's the list of what we came home with:

- 2 Koa concert sets
- 1 Honduran rosewood fingerboard and bridge blank
- 1 Bird's eye maple fingerboard and bridge blank
- Walnut and maple bindings
- 2 Honduran mahogany neck blanks (one big chunk to cut two solid necks)

Along with that he essentially sent us home with free internals (bracing, kerfing, and tail block). Again, Steve was great to work with and seemed just as excited about us selecting our wood out as we were.

I don't have many tools, but do have a table saw, router, belt sander, and a Dremel. I found a friend of a friend who let me use his band saw and I've managed to start cutting out some jig pieces, roughed out (very rough) the necks, and joined the top and bottom for the first uke. It'll be a slow project I think as I can only moonlight as a uke maker. In any case, I plan on posting my progress here for those who are interested (and to seek help should I need it). The first few pics are included here. I look forward to any comments or suggestions you with experience have for me.

JPWhite

Wow!! You picked beautiful pieces of wood. Look forward to watching your progress.

I can absolutely recommend Steve from Colonial Tonewoods. The nicest sets in my stash have come from him. I haven't met him (little bit far to drive ) but his service is as good if not better than any I've had.

Slow Progress

I only get a few hours a week to work on things so I sure don't seem to be getting very far, but my bender is about done and both sets of tops and bottoms are joined and I've done a bit of sanding on them. I've cut the sides to width and thankfully have a few scraps to practice bending on before I do the real deal. I hope to have my bender done this week and get the practice sides bent over next weekend. In any case here are the two sets as they stand now and a sot that shows my bender. I made it wide enough to bend both sides at once. I can say that if I do any more of ukes I'll get a plane for joining the tops/backs. Sanding them for as good of a fit as I want seems like black magic, but maybe that's just me and my approach.

Its been a while since I've posted some progress so here we go. I've made progress with some mistakes due to no experience and lack of tools (I'd probably be booted from the forum if it were known how much I've used my Dremel on this Uke). I've had to stuff a few marks with sawdust and glue in an effort to save the thing, but I like how it is looking so far.

I managed to get my side bender done and working. I had to go with a 300 W bulb to get it hot enough. My boys said it looks like a car with blasters and guns. That's cook enough for me.

I first tried a small scrap in the hip just to see if I could get it to go and it worked fine just sprayed and foiled... no metal sheets above or below. I tried a full bend on a spare piece, sprayed, foiled with aluminum flashing above and below. I didn't like that I couldn't feel the wood and didn't know what it was doing between the aluminum. I thought I had that one but it was cracked when I pulled it out. I think I just went to fast with it.

I bent my first official sets sprayed and foiled again where I felt like I had more control over it. The bender is wide enough for both sides at once. I was happy to see, or rather, not see any cracks and it held its form well enough.

I've now taken care of the neck as well and have it attached to the sides. The binding on the back side is drying as I type. It is fun to make some progress finally.

Bent sides in my holding form...

A couple of the neck..

And here's a the neck and sides joined. (Sorry for the weird angle)



And how it sits now with the back binding drying...



So that's where it stands now. I went out and cut up some of the bracewood tonight too. If anyone has any process advice for me or comments I'd love to hear them.

JPWhite

One Down

So much for regular updates. After five months (at a few hours a week) I managed to get the first one done. Here is some of the progress as it went.

This batch shows my bracing for both top and bottom and getting them attached and trimmed. The last one should show the edge routed out for the binding.

That binding actually was a setback. The first binding I had I didn't think much about it's thickness. I routed out to its depth then went to bend it. Well, turns out it cracked all over the place because it was over 0.125 thick. Maybe someone with more skill could have bent it, but I destroyed it. I ended up going back to Steve at Colonial Tonewoods and got some more, thinner binding. He sanded them down to 0.06 I believe. But the edge was still routed to about 0.1. So (and I'll add the photos in the next post) I ended up doing a double binding. Inner walnut and outer maple. I think it turned out well enough.

One Down

So here I have my double binding all attached. It was a little work to get it flush, but I ended up getting a scraper that worked pretty well for that. Really, it was amazing using the scraper. The problem is now I don't know how to put the edge back on it. So that is on my to do list.

These also show my fretboard before shaping it. I slotted it by hand with a flush cut saw, which worked out well. And I liked the walnut maple contrast so I slapped a strip of walnut binding down the middle of it. It matches some work I did on the end, also shown. Then of course, my highly sophisticated approach to attach the fretboard.

One Down

So here is the semi-grand finale (I have one more to build for the grand finale). I masked off the bridge placement and fretboard and went to work with the Tru Oil (sealer/filler and oil). It is amazing to see how much that brings out the figure in the wood. I'm very pleased with how the end product works. I just got it strung up (haven't trimmed the strings yet, as you can see) and have played it a bit. It was funny to see how quickly they stretched when putting them on. Picking the string I could hear it get lower and lower. In any case, I'm about to clip the strings and keep on playing. I'm really no good at playing, but it's fun.

The second one is another Koa set. Where the first one is contrasted to light (maple), the second will be contrasted to dark. I'm excited to see it come along as well. The neck is about finished for it, the sides already bent and it's just waiting to be ready to fit them together. I'll get some pictures of it up here sometime as well. My methods are pretty crude due to lack of tools and experience so any advice and comments are welcome. Thanks for looking.

Wow ... great job! Can't wait to hear a sound clip (hint hint)

That is a very hansom first build.

I noticed your bindings were proud of your sides during your build. I find it very difficult to get even bindings when scraped and sanded that way. I like to make my sides a little thick and set the binding ever so slightly below the side thickness and bring the side down to meet the binding. When I set the bindings proud of the sides I have problems.

Hi JPWhite, nice looking uke.
Check your PM box.

Bill

Very nice job

WOW!! Using the Aussie Vernacular .... FAN-bloody-TASTIC!!!

Likewise, can't wait to hear it too!!

Roberta

Yes, I imagine I'll have a sound bite out sometime soon. I honestly don't know what a good uke should sound like. The only one I've ever played or heard in person is the $30 Hilo my wife bought for her uke lessons a couple of years ago. It'll be interesting to have some more seasoned ears provide feedback.

The bindings were proud on the sides and it was kind of a bugger to get them flush, or as flush as they are. You can still feel a seem, but I don't think it's too noticeable. I used my scraper, when it had some edge, and that worked pretty well to get it down some. I'd be worried that leaving thicker sides would just lead me to crack them on bending, but I suppose experience can resolve that problem somewhat.

Thanks everyone for looking and for the comments.

Wow its beautiful... I hope you enjoy playing it. Can't wait to hear sound clips...

Nice job for a first build. I would lightly suggest that the bridge size could be a bit smaller for any future ukes.

If on the bridge you're speaking of it's height, I believe you are right. When I made it, it seemed rather large, but It is mostly in consequence of my fretboard. I believe I made it a bit thick as well, requiring a bit higher bridge, or so my thought was. But I agree, on this second one I plan on keeping things on the smaller side. Build and learn...

JPWhite

Looks great!! I really like the matching finger board and bridge