First Treefrog SopranO

mketom · Jul 10, 2011

Thanks for all the great information here for the new uke builder. Many of you share valuable trade secrets along with your kind advice. You are awesome people!

Not a kit, but I had help with this. This is based on Christophe Grellier's free plan for a Martin O-style soprano (and some peeking inside my MBU soprano). Kevin Murray of Blue Mountain Acoustics made me a bending form and building mold from my drawing and bent these sides. The neck is a LMI pre-carved unit. I wanted to understand how a bolt-on neck worked. Bolted on perfectly straight!

mahogany top and bottom glued, sanded, cut and a somewhat over-sized abalone rosette...

sides in the mold, endblocks glued...

lining glued on - note hi-tech clamps...

they actually worked really nice...

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mketom · Jul 10, 2011

this may well be the most fun part - making tiny curls of spruce...

top glued on...

inside of top, final shaping of bracing...

bottom lining installed...

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mketom · Jul 10, 2011

almost ready to shape bottom, new sandpaper on a 15' radius dish...

looking good enough to put my name on, so...

neck fitted...

skipped ahead a bit, added fretboard, more shiny stuff, finished with TruOil,
bridge glued in place. Final pics later today!

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Tudorp · Jul 10, 2011

Is there any links, or pictures of your progress?

Doug · Jul 10, 2011

Looks real good so far. Your radius dish looks just like mine except my sandpaper is black. They fit on a shelf real well with straight sides.
Good luck.

mketom · Jul 10, 2011

Thanks! I did forget one picture. And a link to plans - http://www.grellier.fr/plans.php?lang=en

I'm working on a go-bar deck but for now here's how I got the back dished after gluing on the seam reinforcement bits.
I left it this way for 2 days and the dish stayed after putting the nickels back in the piggy bank.
This was on the 4th of July so I'll call it American inventiveness! See what a few nickels can do...

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mketom · Jul 10, 2011

Needs setting up but here's some almost done pics. Sounds pretty nice already...

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mketom · Jul 10, 2011

more...

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Gmoney · Jul 10, 2011

Lovely! Love the step by step... and... where did you get those bridge clamps? I've had a hard time locating clamps that will reach the bridge AND fit in the hole & body to begin with!

mketom · Jul 10, 2011

Gmoney said:
where did you get those bridge clamps?

Tru-Value hardware store. $3.99 ea. 3' reach.

Rick Turner · Jul 10, 2011

I'm not seeing any photos at all...

mketom · Jul 10, 2011

Rick Turner said:
I'm not seeing any photos at all...

Not sure why. I added some individual links (pic 1 - pic 20) at the bottom of each post. I will learn how to do thumbnail,s etc. soon...

2:20 PM fixed. Dang Firefox doesn't tolerate errors in URLs. WTF ...

Nixon · Jul 10, 2011

Lovely first uke, especially the headstock inlay.

UkeforJC · Jul 10, 2011

mketom said:
Tru-Value hardware store. $3.99 ea. 3' reach.

wow..mketom, that is your first build? awesome man...
The inlay is impressive for the first build.

I have a couple questions for you or anyone who would like to share.
(1) about your bridge clamping method.
I have always thought that those metal clamps are so heavy. I am afraid that I might damage the top if I use a couple of these clamps.
Is the top usually strong enough to support the weight of the clamps?
(Does this question make sense?)

(2) So did you send Keven your drawing for making the mold? I am thinking about ordering one from him as well.

Thank you !!
JC

mketom · Jul 10, 2011

My first build of any kind. I really enjoyed this! Caught the ukulele bug about 7 months ago. Learning to play a bit. Not a woodmans, but to pay the rent I am an industrial designer, so over the years I have used a lot of handtools to make a lot of wood and plastic models. Similar skills required. This my first one that makes a joyous noise!

I stood the uke vertical so the weight of the clamps were concentrated linear to the top board (downward). I thought this would keep the clamp weight from distorting the top. (after taking that picture)

I sent Kevin a full-size drawing and a half-template drawing. He does really nice work and very reasonably priced. I learned a lot from seeing an experienced guys way of doing things. I was confused about tolerances, etc with heating blanket, steel sheets, etc. Now I can reverse engineer a bit to understand the details.

brucemoffatt · Jul 10, 2011

Beautiful Job, most excellent.

I was looking at those plans just yesterday. Do you know if there are Concert size uke plans around under similar licence, or if not, do you know what is a good set of Concert uke plans to buy?

Stunned at the inlay work, amazing job.

Michael Smith · Jul 10, 2011

Beautiful work miketom. I love that you got labels going on your first build. Really nice labels at that. Very nice overall. I love it!!

fahrner · Jul 11, 2011

Excellent job all around mketom.
The inlay design and execution is fantastic!

mketom · Jul 11, 2011

Thank you!! It turned out so much better than I expected, but after a few months of searching UU form archives, asking a few questions and hearing from experts, I have learned a lot. Enough to build my own ukulele.
No. 1 UU Lutheran Lounge mentors? 3 AT LEAST deserve special mention for me - Pete Howlett for all the youTube lessons. Almost as good as being there. When Pete makes his DVD I will be in line to get mine. And Chuck Moore, who's website Process page shows pics of each step to build those beautiful ukuleles. Pictures here are worth a thousand words. Looking deep into those images shows the tools of a master. Easy enough to figure how he works from the type of tools used and his well kept shop. And he shares all in his forum talkstory. And Allen McFarlen for even more process videos. He makes something really scary to me - epoxy fills and premium gloss finishes, look easy. And shares videos of processes and tools that have given me a handle of what up with wood. And dozens of others of you for sharing your ideas and advice to the UU masses. Mahalo Nui Loa!

PhilUSAFRet · Jul 11, 2011

Oh oh, moore bettah look out!

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