Pete Howlett
Well-known member
Here's an extract from Pete Howlett Ukulele Club group on Facebook. I am working on a prototype concert harp ukulele and have been modifying my standard forms to adapt them for harp ukulele building:
Yep - this is what I do on 'vacation'. Other people might call it R&D. When I've got more to show I'll post a link to the club page where you can follow it more fully.
Concert harp ukulele drawing is coming on - very complex task without my mouse and using the laptop's mouse pad. Executing the drawings is helping me understand the build better. Before I got seriously into CAD I used to sketch out a 'rod' and work from that. Now it is more thinking before doing, similar to building with an eraser in one hand and a pencil in the other - you make all of your mistakes and correct them before you commit to materials. This may seem obvious but for me, it's a step back to something I had to do when I was building furniture but felt I didn't need to with instruments which were 'simple' objects in comparison.
However, form making is still a seat-of-the-pants operation with the harp ukulele. Finished one today and then had the agony of bending some not so kind figured African mahogany. Had to resort to my water spritzer and a piece of very flexible stainless steel. Even then I cracked a set of ribs before I realised where I was going wrong with the bend...
Yep - this is what I do on 'vacation'. Other people might call it R&D. When I've got more to show I'll post a link to the club page where you can follow it more fully.