Which offcuts should I use to build my first uke?

tommyollie

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Hi new member here and amateur luthier. I have quite a few bits of tonewood left over from various projects which I would really like to use up to build either a tenor or concert uke. I wonder if anyone has any ideas on which combinations would make the best uke?
I have an offcut of ebony for the fingerboard.
The soundboard
cedar or spruce. I would normally prefer spruce but that cedar did produce quite a loud and brash guitar which may be desirable?
The back and sides
Ash or american cherry
The neck
Flamed sycamore, or the same plank of ash or cherry

Machineheads and fretwire will need to be bought in.
Any suggestions gratefully received.
 
Sycamore, ash, ebony, cedar, spruce... great tone-woods ;)

Ok, but seriously, I love the look of sycamore and I think it would look syc with an ebony fretboard.
 
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All the cedar-topped ukes I have built have been loud and well-balanced sound wise. My only reservation would be that it might look odd in combination with ash, so maybe ash + spruce or cherry + either cedar or spruce?

I'm guessing you mean the European sycamore rather than the American, in which case it might be on the heavy side for the neck, resulting in a uke that feels out of balance in the hand. Ash is generally lighter, but has the disadvantage of needing some serious pore-filling. I have made necks from English cherry, but I've a feeling the American variety is denser, so may offer no advantage over the sycamore.

I think my personal pick from those woods would be,

Cherry back & sides. A cherry neck with a sycamore skunk stripe up the middle. Spruce top with sycamore edge bindings.

Do keep us posted - it'll be interesting to see the finished result.

Cheers,
Rob.
 
This is the first time Iv'e tried to cut wood for the back and sides myself, directly from the plank as it were. I started planing and resawing some cherry to see how it would look and I managed to get two nice looking bookmatched slices that would look great on the back but they are slab sawn i.e. not quartered. It has occurred to me that if I use similar slices for the sides they may be problems bending them? I don't think I have bent anything but quarter sawn wood. Has anyone used slab sawn wood for the back and sides? Did you encounter any problems in bending the sides?
 
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