Huna
Well-known member
I'm not a ukulele builder ... or not yet. But I do like the look of the firefly ukulele. On Ukuleleboudoir.com there are pretty good pictures of that ukulele. On another site I saw how some other frenchman used a tambourine and built a ukulele using a grizzly kit.
Well I just got into frame drums myself and picked up a 16" Frame Drum at Guitar Center. I also have a 22" on order and what I found is the frame drum I bought appears to be ... if it was one of the 8" size, identical to the drum used on the firefly. These frame drums are available in many sizes such as 8, 10, 12, 14, 16 and 22 inches. Here's the link to the frame drums which match the firefly drum I think: http://www.musiciansfriend.com/drums-percussion/remo-world-wide-pretuned-hand-drum
So, I have a uke which I bought by mistake on ebay... an old Aria with excellent intonation-- but its a laminate and I wouldn't want to resell it as its too cheap and was considering butchering it or using a Grizzly Kit to get a neck and fretboard.
I am not a woodworker really.
Well I also found on that site that the person who was building the banjo ukes out of tambourines showed how an 8" banjo drum required a neck extension to get the bridge positioned right on the uke. He also said that using a 10" frame drum would alleviate the requirement to use a neck extension with the Grizzly neck but he thought the 10" was too big a tambourine.
So anyways it sounds like a project to me. I would think some work on cutting of the neck or adding a piece to fit the frame drum making it so it would fit up to the frame drum and maybe using a threaded rod through the frame drum and some sort of string attaching mechanism along with a banjo uke bridge would set me up.
Curious if others have considered this. These drums are available for about 20 bucks and the bridges for about 6 bucks... Grizzly kits are like 25 bucks. I don't know which string attaching mechanism would be best. I am sure a good woodworker could use a nice beam through the frame drum like on the firefly in lieu of using a threaded rod.
Any input would be appreciated!
Thanks!
Well I just got into frame drums myself and picked up a 16" Frame Drum at Guitar Center. I also have a 22" on order and what I found is the frame drum I bought appears to be ... if it was one of the 8" size, identical to the drum used on the firefly. These frame drums are available in many sizes such as 8, 10, 12, 14, 16 and 22 inches. Here's the link to the frame drums which match the firefly drum I think: http://www.musiciansfriend.com/drums-percussion/remo-world-wide-pretuned-hand-drum
So, I have a uke which I bought by mistake on ebay... an old Aria with excellent intonation-- but its a laminate and I wouldn't want to resell it as its too cheap and was considering butchering it or using a Grizzly Kit to get a neck and fretboard.
I am not a woodworker really.
Well I also found on that site that the person who was building the banjo ukes out of tambourines showed how an 8" banjo drum required a neck extension to get the bridge positioned right on the uke. He also said that using a 10" frame drum would alleviate the requirement to use a neck extension with the Grizzly neck but he thought the 10" was too big a tambourine.
So anyways it sounds like a project to me. I would think some work on cutting of the neck or adding a piece to fit the frame drum making it so it would fit up to the frame drum and maybe using a threaded rod through the frame drum and some sort of string attaching mechanism along with a banjo uke bridge would set me up.
Curious if others have considered this. These drums are available for about 20 bucks and the bridges for about 6 bucks... Grizzly kits are like 25 bucks. I don't know which string attaching mechanism would be best. I am sure a good woodworker could use a nice beam through the frame drum like on the firefly in lieu of using a threaded rod.
Any input would be appreciated!
Thanks!