I hope it dont get moved..

Since most my posts have been concerning my recent tinkering, the mods have been moving everything to the Lutheir section. I can understand that, but this is where most my friends hang out and want to share with you guys, my first logo''ed headstock. So, Mods, if I may ask permission to keep this here to share with my friends in this forum? Thanks in advance.. This is my very first Dük logo headstock. I was originally planning to spell it out, but man, it's small and my experience with inlay wont allow me to get that intricate .. "yet".. So, for now, just the D in my script will be my headstock logo. This was veneered in quilted maple, with a rosewood stripe down the center, and the logo in MOP at top. This is the headstock for the steel string, truss rodded neck Les Paul solid body electric I am building at present. The body will have bookmatched quilted maple as well. So, the headstock is a pre-quil to what I am going for on the body.. What do ya think?

Very nice and professional looking! Headstocks seem to have become a brand's signature. (Gordon and Char of Mya Moe have said that one of their goals in designing their headstock was for people to be able to recognize their ukuleles quickly by having the headstock that's instantly recognizable, and KoAloha's "Lisa Simpson" headstock is legendary.) Pardon my not knowing, but what's the significance of "Dük"?

Really nice and classy looking. Good job you have done on that so i cant wait to see the logo when you get it fully spelt out.

I LIKE it.. Can we see the whole uke now? Which uke is that on?
Good luck! So happy for you!

Well, that kinda started a couple years ago. Somebody called me the "Duke of the Uke" one night at a community gathering and I was sitting with some friends and we were singing and I was playing the uke with a few kids that I had refubished old ukes for. Someone in the group said, "Big Tone (a life long nickname) is the Duke of the uke..." Everyone laughed, and it just stuck around here.. So, when I decided to brand my own work a few months ago, I had planned to call it "The Duke", or "The Duke Uke". After doing some research, there are a couple places that refer to their shop or themselves "Duke of ukes". So, been done, didn't want to overplay that. So, I just did a spin on it with a German spelling using the German Umlaut which is pronounced "oo", or how it would be pronouced "Duke" but spelled differently. So, I got to keep "Duke Uke", but with a unique spelling.. . Besides, I think it's a cool name and spelling and turned out I liked it better than the actual spelling anyway.. hehhe

fitncrafty said:

I LIKE it.. Can we see the whole uke now? Which uke is that on?
Good luck! So happy for you!

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to be honest, it isn't on anything at the moment.. It is the re-worked neck (narrowed, headstock changed from 6 to 4 tuners, etc.) for my truss rodded, steel string full electric solid body Les Paul uke. The body is still undressed at the moment, and not decent.. . I have it stripped down, and making a book matched quilted maple top for it, and routing it for two mini P-90 pickups... So, the body is a mess at the moment. but, the neck is pretty much done, just need to apply the lacquer on it though. The body should be done in the next week or two maybe.. I am also working on the Aphid project too at the same time, so it's going slow..

Maybe it's the lighting in that pic, but the "D" doesn't have real noticeable contrast to it.

Why is there an Epiphone "E" on it? Is that the Les Paul connection?

Aloha Tudorp,
Nice job Brother...love the look...will be waiting for more pic's... Happy Strummings..MM Stan

itsme said:

Maybe it's the lighting in that pic, but the "D" doesn't have real noticeable contrast to it.

Why is there an Epiphone "E" on it? Is that the Les Paul connection?

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The "D" is white mother of pearl, and being that, doesn't tend to photograph well unless ya have a good camera anyway. And the lacquer isn't on it yet either. The lacquer will make it really pop, and the quilt in the maple will have that 3D effect. The "E" on the truss rod cover is Epiphone's trademarked logo. This uke started life as an Epiphone Les Paul Pee Wee. If ya not sure what that is, it's a mini (30" long) electric guitar. It was kinda marketed as a travel guitar, or entry level guitar for kids. Not really a "toy", because it is a real electric guitar with humbucker pup and all. But, just built as a mini Les Paul for the kid serious about learning to play, and the guitar is good enough to use as a travel axe too. I recently bought two of them, because I had been wanting to take one, and covert it into a steel string Les Paul uke. I have plans to build another in the near future after I get some other projects completed, but the next one will be from scratch, and not built out of another platform. I really should have done it with this one too though, because basically, I started over anyway. I shaved the neck to a thinner profile, narrowed it, reshaped the headstock, then the veneer ya see above. New better grovers. Pretty extensive rebuild, so it may have been easier to just start with a pile of unmolested wood really. This one also, I gutted the crappy electronics in it. I am installed twin mini P-90s. The pick-ups will have separate tone and volume controls just like the full sized Les paul, as well as a 3 way switch just like the big boy unlike the peewee had. The peewee only had one volume knob, no tone control at all. This one will have both, and separate ones for the other pup too. Installing mini CTS 250k pots, lemon drop 47m caps, etc. Should be really cool, and damn near a exact miniture of a full blown Les Paul.

Here is the headstock with the quilted maple tinted cherry, and nitro cleared. Not perfection, but not too bad. The finish is great, but the inlay isn't perfect, but again, it's my first. Once all together, this matching the body top is gonna be pretty sweet I think..

Tudorp, in reading your first post, I am not sure if you intend on making a steel string uke or are just using a steel string epiphone to make a uke. Anyway, I found a post on acoustic guitar forum where someone is attempting to make a steel string uke. FYI.
http://www.acousticguitarforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=222320&page=2

This first one is a steel string Epiphone Pee Wee guitar. It's a mini 6 string guitar that I am converting to a 4 string uke. I wanted to use an exsisting platform for the first one to build a "process" to build more of them from scratch. It gives me a starting point and as a proof of concept to build a scratch built like it.

I went to the link, and what I saw was a nylon string uke, not a steel string. Of course I hadn't read it all yet.. Thanks for the link, they all help..

Isn't a steel string uke really a cavaquinho?

Dunno... Don't know anything about one of those other than they are 4 string too. Are they tuned the same? They have similar origins too I think? So, maybe so..

Starting to look really good Tudorp. What sizes are you concentrating on? I love the headstock, very classy and nice and not overly done like the Kanilea Islander series. I know you talked about "Super" sizes like sopranos and concerts..just checking to see what you have in mind and your pricepoint. Looks great!

The size of the steel string is going to be a tenor size, with a slightly longer scale. Price point on that is still unknown, but after I get these perfected for sale, it will be on the higher end as far as $$$. The production builds will be solid mohogany bodies and neck, two mini bucker pups, each with their own tone and volume control. Cost of build for those is going to be so far $300 or so not counting the actual build. So, I will probably build these upon request and will most likely be in the $600-$800 range. But, it is gonna be an awesome little axe.

As far as the super soprano and concert, haven't even started to think about those yet, but are in my head to do after this and the aphid project. Those are still unknown for price point, but want those to be more affordable, and looking to stay in the $300 range.

I was thinking about your production models, not this particular model. Looks like you are off to a good start and pretty soon people will be talking about them I am sure about that. I would be in for a $300ish type super something!

Tomorrow I am going to try something VERY scary with a "Gibson" part for this steel string uke. It is a "point of no return" thing, so wish me luck. I'll share that with ya if it works out and doesn't end up a freaking disaster. But if it works, it will define me.. Not gonna disclose it yet. Because there are lot of you that will say "WTF are you DOING? Don't do that with a Gibson anything..." hahhah

Tudorp said:

Tomorrow I am going to try something VERY scary with a "Gibson" part for this steel string uke. It is a "point of no return" thing, so wish me luck. I'll share that with ya if it works out and doesn't end up a freaking disaster. But if it works, it will define me.. Not gonna disclose it yet. Because there are lot of you that will say "WTF are you DOING? Don't do that with a Gibson anything..." hahhah

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You're going to rewind the pickups by hand, then cut a Tune-O-Matic bridge???

Oy, Gevalt! And Good Luck!


-Kurt

ksiegel said:

You're going to rewind the pickups by hand, then cut a Tune-O-Matic bridge???

Oy, Gevalt! And Good Luck!


-Kurt

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Brother, I have wound a pup by hand before, and I got to tell ya, ya never realize how fine that wire is, and how many turns it takes until ya do one by hand. I will never do that again unless I have an auto winder.. About half way through it, I rigged up a hand winder from a spinnin reel, and it still took forever, lol..

As far as cutting a bridge. You got too close buddy. I am cutting a wrap around bridge/w adjustible saddles. Cut it last night, and plan to do some re-work on it today...Eeekkk..