Dük Aphid Build Thread

Tudorp

Big guy with a lil' uke..
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This will be the Dük Aphid build thread. So, all feedback & updates will go here for Dük Aphid #0001. Today, started cutting out the wood for #0001. I was 1st planning to build the first one from Mahogany, but decided to go with Koa instead. So, the journey begins. As always, feedback & advice always welcome.

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A little bug, a concept, a ball in motion.

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Forms and templates built from wood, and PVC.

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Wood being cut for the body rough pieces. As said above, decided to go with Koa for Aphid #0001.

To come, forming the sides, and building a neck.
 
Cool! I need some size reference in the pictures, though. Can you put a quarter next to it give me idea how big (small) it is?
thx
 
Moving this thread from Uke Talk to Ukulele Building/Luthier's Lounge . . .
 
Here are the body parts with a regular bic pen. The wood is cut oversized so it can be sanded and smoothed down as a whole once the body is together. The white PVC template shows the finished size (red outline) once it is all trimmed and sanded to final size after assembly of the body.

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Not quite understanding the solid wood block version of the body. Are you building this violin-style with an inside mold?

Also, we find it much easier to get all the wood down to within about ten thousandths of final thickness before cutting out the final shapes. Drum sander? Wide belt sander? They can have a tendency to roll over edges a bit more than you'd like unless you have a hard roller or platen. Hence sanding oversized...

Also, the sound hole looks to be a bit on the large side which will emphasize the midrange and roll off the low end. It's worth checking out Roger Siminoff's "Tap Tuning" book or some of the work done by Alan Carruth on this Helmholz tuning issue.
 
BTW, we're working tops and backs on tenors down to about .075" (just under 2 mm) plus or minus a bit depending on the wood. Sides at about .065" (just about 1.5 mm)...
 
Actually, they moved this thread in here. I'm not a Lutheir, and now, kinda intimidated with this project with the pros. lol.. This is my first ever actual scratch build, so there is allot for me to learn. The block was intended to be a form to form the sides. I am planning to steam them, and wrap them around the form with bands. I have a belt sander I am thinking the top/bottom/sides with. The hole in the pattern is bigger than the hole in the actual top. The hole in the top is about 2.5cm, and the one in the template is 3cm. Should I keep that as it is at 2.5cm?

The rolling, yeah, I noticed that on the one sander I was using, so I stopped, and will be finishing it with one with a platen.
 
Steam bending may work, but hardly anyone uses that method with instrument building.

I use half-forms that have two half patterns with the shape of the instrument wrapped on the patterns in stainless steel sheet metal. With one or more 150 Watt light bulbs inside and a heating blanket on the outside, we can do a pretty fair job with a pair of sides. It's a simplified version of the Doolin bending machine design, and an improvement on the Fox benders sold by LMI and Blues Creek. Then the bent sides go into an outside mold for assembly of the body. It's fairly standard modern small shop lutherie technique with a couple of twists. I prefer the Doolin style because you can reference to the butt of the sides as opposed to the Fox where the reference is sketchy. We are constantly looking to improve side bending, and I think the ultimate will use two heating blankets and four layers of sheet metal...steel, blanket, steel, wood, steel, blanket, steel. This will require making the form enough smaller than the desired final bent sides to allow for the heating blanket and second steel slat. I use .012" spring stainless that I get from McMaster Carr. No big deal.
 
I actually do use two heating blankets with four spring steel slats. The wood side itself is placed within a canvas envelope which has been wetted, effectively steam bending the side. This makes the entire sandwich close to 1/4" thick. I've bent several hundred sides with this method and I very rarely get a kink or a crack even on cutaways with the most extreme curl. Some may think this is overkill but curly koa is too expensive to take chances with.
 
I tried pure steam bending for my first set of sides. After drying they sprang back about 50% of the way. I think you need the greater heat from the blanket or bending iron to make a bend which stays put.
 
Well, I just bought a silicone heat blanket to apply some heat. I also cut a new two sided form to try that to heat and clamp it. Think I will go that route.

Thanks for the input and advice.
 
Well, I just bought a silicone heat blanket to apply some heat. I also cut a new two sided form to try that to heat and clamp it. Think I will go that route.

Thanks for the input and advice.

First key step when bending sides with an electric heat blanket: I don't care how attentive or responsible you are, put a timer on that thing!
Good luck.
 
A timer as far as bending the wood? Or a timer for the heater itself? You mean so it isn't left on? Or isn't left on the wood as long (using the timer as a thermostate kinda?). I am thinking of getting an adjustable thermalcoupler for it...
 
A timer as far as bending the wood? Or a timer for the heater itself? You mean so it isn't left on?.
Maybe all of the above. It doesn't take long for a heat blanket to scorch or burn your sides, but more importantly, people have left their bender blankets on while admiring the beautiful uke sides they have just created, forgot about turning the thing off, and and started fires in their workshops. Be safe!
 
Built a rough neck today while I am waiting for my silicone heat blanket to get here. Mahogany neck, rosewood fretboard. Laid out the fret locations for the 6.5" scale.

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Ok.. I think I messed up. On the above picture. Does that look like Mahogany? I had cut it from a scrap sent to me that looked like a roughed out fretboard. After looking at it more, and that I have not seen rough rosewood, I think it looks like mahogany, not rosewood. Is a mahogany fretboard a common thing? Why would these be roughed out tapered like a fretboard? What does it look like to you that has seen rosewood in the rough, to you?
 
It's mahogany. Maybe for your Aphid scale uke this would be a dense enough wood. I would think if you glued-in the frets in would work fine. It looks nice with your neck!
 
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