Birth of a uke

"gyosh-lele" - Birth of a uke

At a ukulele build class taught by Rick Turner at The Crucible in Oakland, CA.

*Edit: I added some photos, they're a few posts below this one.
**Edit: I added photos for Day Two.

Day one, Oct, 22, was a busy day. We glued the neck, bridge patch, bracing to the top, the sides to the tail block, and then the sides/tail-block onto the top. We also glued in all the kerfing for the top and bottom. We finished by adding "ears" to the peg-head.

Day two, Oct. 23, we're going to work on the fretboard, peg-head, neck and also attach the bottom and then trim it (I'm not sure if that's the order, but I'll edit the post later).

Your gonna have a lot of fun with Rick. He's a fantastic instructor.

Congratulations on your new DIY ukulele, Gary! Can't wait to see photos. How was the class?

Looking forward to hearing about this experience. I really wanted to come for the class but work wouldn't let me go at this time. Congratulations.

Allen

Okay, here are a few pics from todays build. The first one is of the parts of the kit.

The second picture is of the neck assembly and the bridge patch being glued on. The third picture is the of the sides and tail block being glued together. The fourth pic is of the top bracing and the fifth is midway through trimming the top braces. I taped along the sides of the braces because I didn't trust myself with the chisel and I didn't want to gouge the top even if you won't be able to see it.

In the first pic I had to go back and trim a little more off of the braces because it wouldn't clear the sides. The next pic is of fellow UUer Doug working on his uke. The next picture is of the sides all clamped down and the kerfing getting glued in place (I hope this glue dried clear). The next shot is of the kefing for the bottom of the uke, it's all held in place with small binder clips. The fifth pic is where I'm going to have to spend a lot of time sanding tomorrow because I went to the bathroom and missed the part about gluing the ears "flush" with the peg-head. Ooops.


I'm having a great time although I do feel a little stressed out trying to keep up with everyone else. If this were in my garage I probably would have only gotten as far as trimming the braces and maybe gluing up the sides. But of course, in my garage I would have had music and beers too Anyhow, looking forward to tomorrow. Rick is bringing in a Renaissance guitar and a bending machine to give us a demo for the process of bending sides. I'll post more pics tomorrow.

Allen said:

Your gonna have a lot of fun with Rick. He's a fantastic instructor.

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I stopped by on the last day of class for the previous session so I already had an idea of what to expect. It made it even harder to wait for this class to begin. Rick mentioned your work today and speaks very highly of you and your teaching as well.

mds725 said:

Congratulations on your new DIY ukulele, Gary! Can't wait to see photos. How was the class?

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Hey Mark, sorry you couldn't make this build, but with two Mya Moe's coming your way I don't feel that bad for you The class is awesome! It's amazing how fast these kits come together. I'll try to bring this uke with me next time we cross paths. Do you have a build date for your Mya Moe yet?

gyosh said:

Hey Mark, sorry you couldn't make this build, but with two Mya Moe's coming your way I don't feel that bad for you The class is awesome! It's amazing how fast these kits come together. I'll try to bring this uke with me next time we cross paths. Do you have a build date for your Mya Moe yet?

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Hey Gary,

Looks like you're having fun, and it's cool that you're going to end up with an ukulele you built yourself. Thanks for posting so many photos! I decided not to enroll in the class mostly because of my broken finger -- I was worried that it would slow me down if it weren't completely back to normal. (The splint is off, but the finger is still swollen -- it turns out I sprained the lower joint in addition to breaking my fingertip -- and I'm just now beginning to be able to bend the upper joint, which had been immobilized for six weeks, and straighten out the lower joint, so i think my finger might have added a degree of difficulty to the build.) I sure hope Rick comes back to give this class again. How many people are in this class?

My tenor Mya-Moe has a start date of February 20, and my baritone has a start date of late March. I'm looking forward to seeing your Gyosh Pineapple!

gyosh said:

I stopped by on the last day of class for the previous session so I already had an idea of what to expect. It made it even harder to wait for this class to begin. Rick mentioned your work today and speaks very highly of you and your teaching as well.

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Rick has been a huge inspiration and help to me. I had a crazy idea of running a class a few years ago and asked him for advice. He called me up and we talked for ages about what works in a class and what doesn't. Then I got the opportunity to work with him about 18 months ago. I consider myself very fortunate.

Well done - it is looking great. Looking forward to more pics of the build & of course, the finished product! Plus a sound sample!

Cheer

Roberta

1st Pic: Start of day two - fingerboard, apply back, trim the body.
2nd Pic: Trimming the braces for the back of the uke.
3rd Pic: The back of the uke, glued up and clamped down.

Pic 1: I made a mistake with the fret markers. I marked the 9th fret corrected it by marking the 10th fret . . . and then went ahead and drilled the 9th fret. Oh well.
Pic 2: Here are the frets getting set in the fingerboard prior to getting clamped and glued.
Pic 3: The finished fretboard
Pic 4: The fretboard getting glued and clamped to the neck.
Pic 5: Here's the end result of Day two of the uke build.

I'm having an excellent time with this build and also learning much more than I thought I would. Rick does an excellent job of explaining answers to questions and also citing "real life" anecdotes to reaffirm points he's trying to make. I've been enjoying this class so much that my wife is asking if I want to take the class again some time. This is going to be the longest work week ever while waiting for day three of the build.

Bumped To find

Great photos, Gary, wish I had been as diligent about documenting my build as you have done with yours.

I highly recommend this workshop to everyone, even if you think you have no interest in building a uke. Rick is a fantastic instructor, and in addition to his wealth of luthier knowledge, has many fascinating insights and stories about music and musical instruments in general. I'm really looking forward to next weekend's workshops.