1st build finished... but I think I'll leave it to you guys for now.

RyRod

RyRod

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Here it is! The Hana Lima kit is finished, though I think they might not want their name associated with this.



No, it's not an optical illusion, the bridge is off. somehow the spanish neck/sides shifted and the neck was not straight. I made sure the neck, nut and bridge were all in line though.
img2640c.jpg


img2641f.jpg




Here's the back side. I ended up cracking the lower right corner and I tried to fix it as best I could.
img2644i.jpg
 
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The neck will take some getting used to because it's pretty beefy and a little wider that 1.5".

img2649u.jpg



I didn't want to throw any more money in than I had to so the tuners are $10 ping ones from Elderly. I like them though.
img2642hu.jpg



img2650ku.jpg




img2652h.jpg


The build was doomed right from the start. When I noticed that I cracked the sides while bending my heart sank. I fixed those as best I could and now you can't really tell. The top and back are not sitting flush on the sides so I had to use some filler to close up the many gaps.

The soundhole is nowhere near the diameter I wanted it but we didn't have a saw bit larger than that.

The intonation is also off quite a bit as you go up the neck. I cant mess with the saddle height anymore because the bridge they gave me is really tall. If that makes sense.

It is pretty lound though and i think it sounds decent for a first build. I'll post a video later.

Dirk from Southcoast Ukes told me that there's a saying in Spanish that goes "Guitarrero o Guitarrista", which means either you make guitars or you play them. Some people can do both though, but for now I'll just be happy being an "ukurista".
 
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Good for you for completing the project. Remember, many first builds don't even get this far so you are to be congratulated. Most of us have started out with first builds like this. The more you build the easier it gets (and then for some reason it gets harder again!) There's lots of things up for discussion here and lots of folks here with suggestions if you care to continue. Be proud RyRod!
 
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RyRod, congratulation for finishing the first uke.
Just like what Chuck and Terry said, keep building it. You will definitely have fun and have better skills along the way.

Nice first build!! (I am actually just about to finish my first Hana Lima uke as well, so I totally understand what you have been through.)
Good job!!
 
Moore Bettah Ukuleles said:
Good for you for completing the project. Remember, many first builds don't even get this far so you are to be congratulated. Most of us have started out with first builds like this. The more you build the easier it gets (and then for some reason it gets harder again!) There's lots of things up for discussion here and lots of folks here with suggestions if you care to continue. Be proud RyRod!
Click to expand...

Bob Taylor tells the story about his first guitars, and how bad they were. One of them he drove over with a dirt bike trying to destroy it. He's still got 2 of them though just because they were the first :)
 
There's lots to be proud of there Ryrod. There's also plenty that your first and my first have in common.

The only reason I keep building is because each time I'm challenged to make a better instument than the last one. You need to look at that uke as a success to be built upon rather than a failure to be disheartened by.

I say well done.
 
My first was a Stew-Mac soprano that I gifted to my nephew. I'm now on #10 and building from scratch. I plan to make a new one for my nephew, take #1 back and run it through the band saw. Just too embarrassing to have that first fatally flawed effort floating around out there. To quote the catchphrase from a completely unrelated campaign, "It gets better."
 
Moore Bettah Ukuleles said:
Good for you for completing the project. Remember, many first builds don't even get this far so you are to be congratulated. Most of us have started out with first builds like this. The more you build the easier it gets (and then for some reason it gets harder again!) There's lots of things up for discussion here and lots of folks here with suggestions if you care to continue. Be proud RyRod!
Click to expand...

Thanks Mr. Moore. It means a lot coming from you. I am pretty proud, especially because it sounds somewhat decent. My parents are all happy about how it turned out and my brother is even surprised. He thought it was going to sound like crap, but I tuned it up while he was making a rare appearance and he couldn't believe it.

tattwo said:
I couldnt agree with Chuck more. The next one will be better........nice job RyRod
Click to expand...

Thanks! I hope the next one is better. You make some amazing ukes.

UkeforJC said:
RyRod, congratulation for finishing the first uke.
Just like what Chuck and Terry said, keep building it. You will definitely have fun and have better skills along the way.

Nice first build!! (I am actually just about to finish my first Hana Lima uke as well, so I totally understand what you have been through.)
Good job!!
Click to expand...

Gracias! I was looking at your thread as I was finishing mine up. I hope yours turns out awesome.

PedalFreak said:
Bob Taylor tells the story about his first guitars, and how bad they were. One of them he drove over with a dirt bike trying to destroy it. He's still got 2 of them though just because they were the first :)
Click to expand...

That's pretty cool. I never knew that. I guess I'll keep going then.

liam_fnq said:
There's lots to be proud of there Ryrod. There's also plenty that your first and my first have in common.

The only reason I keep building is because each time I'm challenged to make a better instument than the last one. You need to look at that uke as a success to be built upon rather than a failure to be disheartened by.

I say well done.
Click to expand...

Thanks Liam! It pretty cool to make something musical with your own hands and I'll definitely challenge myself to make a better one next time.

mzuch said:
My first was a Stew-Mac soprano that I gifted to my nephew. I'm now on #10 and building from scratch. I plan to make a new one for my nephew, take #1 back and run it through the band saw. Just too embarrassing to have that first fatally flawed effort floating around out there. To quote the catchphrase from a completely unrelated campaign, "It gets better."
Click to expand...

I'd hang it on the wall to remind myself to never do that again.


Here's the video too!

 
Well,...that's one more build than i have under my belt. It's impossible to do most anything without the right
tools, so don't beat yourself up too bad. You got-er-done, and had fun,....and learned a lot along the way. Bet on
your next build you'll be better "tooled" up, and a lot of the mishaps will be "cured" because you've been thru it
before and know what to watch out for.......BEFORE they happen!

I did jewelry repair and diamond setting for 35 years,....and a lot of custom work also. When you chip your 1st
diamond,.....you learn a LOT so it won't happen again! It only happened a few times in all those years, usually
with a thinly cut marquise shape that shouldn't have been cut so thin. But you do the best you can with what
your given. BTW, the store owner replaced the diamond for the customer, and had the chipped marquis recut into
an oval shape, so we got out not too bad.....maybe a 20% carat weight loss. (a few hundred retail less value)

.....but i learned a lot and was really careful on the BIG diamonds that came my way. Working with a $50,000 or
more diamond and i never had a problem, but you still get to think back to the few that went wrong. In 35 years out of
maybe 25 or 30 THOUSAND diamonds set,....not a bad average.

I got better thru repetition, and so will you. You have one thing going for you, you can see where you need some
improvement. Some folks never learn that! :cheers:

cheers,
Joe T
 
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What impresses me more than anything else is that you stuck it out, recognise where the shortcoming are and did your level best to repair them and come up with a playable instrument. Very well done mate!

And as Chuck said, it does get easier on the next one, and the one after that. It's by the time you get to 4 or 5 that things start getting difficult again. Over confidence is what I put it down to, but sooner or later it catches all of us and we're left scrambling to fix up something that should never have happened in the first place.

I hope that you continue to build instruments. It's the most rewarding thing when you manage to get it right.
 
At first your just excited to have built something that resembles a musical instrument and that it makes any kind of sound at all. As Allen said, after your first handful you start getting cocky and lose your concentration. That's when mistakes are made. It's important to keep your focus on every step of every uke you build. I think it gets harder because as you continue building you develop a critical eye for what needs to be done properly. Also after building a dozen or a hundred instruments, what else is there to do but keep pushing the envelope and raising the bar, trying to come up with better and more unique approaches to achieve what you're after. You're not content with just building a run of the mill ukulele any more. Then there comes a point where you become obsessive over the smallest details. It's the minutiea that causes sleepless nights.
 
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It gets harder for those of us who are constantly chasing perfection - it is an impossible job... comforting to know you also face the BIG challenge. I'm still waiting to get it right/better!
 
It's what I was trying to say Chuck -if it wasn't worth it we'd be doing something else wouldn't we?
 
I have always said "Don't expect perfection, but strive for it...". I always said that pertaining to relationships, friends, spouses, and all not to expect someone else to be perfect, and even tho we will never achieve it, it's good to try to anyway... Not to expect your friend to be perfect, but you try more to be sort of thing.. but, it applies really in everything.. Good work seeing it through. A weakness of mine when something stops going as I think it should, I have a bad habit of scraping it, and moving onto the next. There is something to be said in completing a project regardless, then moving on to the next.. Kudos...
 
Congrats on completing it. My it uke is still sitting here, waiting on me to start.
 
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