Spruce Top Tenor - Complete

Tonight I strung up the spruce top tenor I made specifically to use during my performance at the upcoming Southern California Ukulele Festival in Cerritos on October 4th. Out of the gate the tone is a little brighter than I had expected but it sounds great and will definitely mature over time. Still need to do more work on the saddle as soon as the strings stabilize a bit more.

The spruce top and figured walnut were given to me by Pete Howlett, known as Ukulele Pete, from the Uke Talk forum. This is my first ukulele with a slotted headstock design and, overall, I’m pleased with it but I will adjust a couple of things on the next one to make it even better.

I purposely made the neck on the beefy side to see how it affects my carpal tunnel issues. I can always shave it down later but adding to it would be impossible.




Some of the specs:
Spruce top with paua abalone rosette with bwb inner and outer rings
Figured walnut back and sides
Curly maple binding top and back
Bwb fiber and maple top purfling
Mahogany bolt-on neck
17” scale joined to the body at the 14th fret
19 frets total
Ebony fingerboard with paua abalone combination side and fingerboard markers at the 5th, 7th, 10th, 12th and 15th frets
Ebony peghead overlay with paua abalone logo
Grover 18:1 Sta-Tite gold slotted peghead tuners
Ebony through body bridge
Corian nut and saddle
Worth CH strings
Misi-Acoustic Trio battery free pickup
Top finished in lacquer
Balance of instrument finished in hand rubbed oil and wax

The pics don’t really show it but I hurried the oil finish and up close it shows. I needed to get it strung up so I can spend the next week and a half playing it in and getting acquainted with it prior to SCUF. I spent some extra time on the lacquer top and though not perfect it is 100 times better than my first attempt on my number 002 mahogany tenor.

As soon as the strings are settled and I intonate the saddle I will get a sound sample put together.

Looks great Dom, very impressive. I look very much forward to the hearing the sound it produces.

Keep it up!

nice uke dom!

how much would you charge to have one of these made?

she's a beauty Dom! have much fun at the socal uke fest. wish we could be there.

That's just beautiful Dom!

thesoobz said:

nice uke dom!

how much would you charge to have one of these made?

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Since I'm not yet building on a full time basis, and haven't established a base price list as of yet, I work out prices on a case by case basis with the people I'm building for. With the Misi-Trio pickup and the slotted headstock etc. this would be in the $1500 range.

russ_buss said:

she's a beauty Dom! have much fun at the socal uke fest. wish we could be there.

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Thanks Russ. What happened to the road trip. Here I thought you were all dialed in .

Dominator said:

Thanks Russ. What happened to the road trip. Here I thought you were all dialed in .

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sorry man. i know i'm missing out big time. catch you at the next meet.

that looks amazing. 1500 is a decent price for this ukulele, i know i'd buy it if it was on the market. the Misi trio is one selling point for me ofcourse!

always a pleasure to see the end result.

russ_buss said:

sorry man. i know i'm missing out big time. catch you at the next meet.

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No problem Russ. There is always another time. And speaking of another time are you planning on attending the Wine Country Festival the following weekend. I will be performing there also. You can be my roadie .

hot damn thats a beauty! $1500 isnt bad at all for an ukulele like that. any sound samples?

what would you charge for just a neck? hahaha. thats probably the only thing holding me back from building my electric uke.

Dom

Glad to see that wood put to a good use. Do you now think you should have ditched that problem child? I've just had to fiddle and fiddle with a stinker only because it was blinged up to the nines

Wow Dom! That's a really beautiful uke! You must be really proud of it. Good luck at the Uke Festival. I hope you'll have some videos. I'd love to hear how it sounds. :music:

Another work of art!

Thanks everybody. I'm looking forward to completing the last bits of tweaking on it and then getting familiar with her .

Pete Howlett said:

Dom

Glad to see that wood put to a good use. Do you now think you should have ditched that problem child? I've just had to fiddle and fiddle with a stinker only because it was blinged up to the nines

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Thanks once again to you for the kind gesture of providing the wood.

Actually Pete, that other uke ended up in Colorado. An old friend from my home town has it and is quite happy with it. I had actually built him my number 004 mahogany in parallel and when he saw pictures of both he insisted that he get the walnut one. Number 004 is in the hands of one of the best new ukulele players out there, Jon Prown. Spoke to him over the weekend and he's about to record a new track so I can hear how she has matured over the last couple of years.

NukeDOC said:

hot damn thats a beauty! $1500 isnt bad at all for an ukulele like that. any sound samples?

what would you charge for just a neck? hahaha. thats probably the only thing holding me back from building my electric uke.

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I will record something as soon as the strings hold pitch better than they are now so I can adjust the intonation. The saddle is flat topped right now and the E string is buzzing a bit.

We can probably work something out on that neck.

Beautiful Dom, I bet it'll sound heavenly when you get it fully set. I'm very much liking the Mi-Si Acoustic Trio. Any specific reason for choosing that one? I'm looking for one for a G-String Tenor. Thanks much.

Kanaka916 said:

Beautiful Dom, I bet it'll sound heavenly when you get it fully set. I'm very much liking the Mi-Si Acoustic Trio. Any specific reason for choosing that one?

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I've used them before based on things I had heard from others using them. I like the battery free feature and they seem to be very well balanced.

Great job Dom,

I am very interested in your process on shaping the headstock.
Could you post, or pm me and tell me how you cut the string slots?
Are there any special jigs that you used to get the string slots symetrical?
I remember that I cut the slots on my first Ukulele by free routing with my dremel, and it didn't turn out as good as I had hoped.
Thanks in advance for the advice.
Aloha
Bob

acabooe said:

Great job Dom,

Could you post, or pm me and tell me how you cut the string slots?

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I made two different prototypes and drilled 1/2" holes at the end of each slot and then used a scroll saw to cut between them. Both times I had trouble cutting straight slots even with new blades. I think part of the problem was the thickness of the material.

For the spruce top tenor I consulted with Kevin Crossett of Kepasa Ukuleles and incorporated his approach. After cutting the 1/2" holes I used a 7/16" brad point bit and carefully cut overlapping holes along the length of the slot. I then slowly and carefully removed the remaining material with a series of rigid sanding sticks of different grits. You just need to be careful not to let the sides of the sanding sticks mess up your nice round profile on the ends. I wrapped tape all around the ends to keep them from getting marred up. Very time consuming but if you take your time the results can be quite good.

I used the Grover Sta-Tite tuners which will put the string hole right in the center of the slot if you have a 1/4" thick outer sidewall.

When I did them I made a router jig - I suppose I am going to have to do it again - thanks to the Kamaka Jake model everyone now wants a slotted headstock ona tenor...