Wish me luck....

kirc

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Hi Everyone

Well this is my second post.... after 4 weeks of Ukulele playing, I have bought a starter Uke (nasty cheap thing - but got me going) then a decent nice Ohana SK-75. Then joined my local Uke Club.

Now.. I've gone and bought a Grizzly Kit - actually its not from Grizzly but is from a UK supplier. Its actually even less good than the kit Grizzly sell as its made from pine laminate rather than mahogany laminate, but its made by the same Japan company that Grizzly buy from.

Anyway it arrived this morning and I started building today. I don't expect to make a great instrument as I'm not very talented with my hands, but I shall do my best rather than just take an it'll do attitude.

Anyway when its finished I'll post a piccy - could be a while :D
 
Good luck.
 
Very brave of you! Remember, measure twice, cut once, lol. On a kit I guess that's just the frets.. Best of luck.
 
Step by step pictures or we don't believe you! :p
Best of luck Kirc. Sounds like you have a bad case of UAS already. Is it one of the Amazon kits?
 
I made two of therse and the first on I put the bridge where the instructions said it should be and the intonation was off. The second one I moved it up like an 1/8 of in inch (longer stings) it sounds better. You can check it out at Stewart Mac for the a nice bridge placement calculator. http://www.stewmac.com/freeinfo/Reference/Calculators/i-fretcalc.html.
 
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Thanks for the encouragement... oh and yes its from Amazon.

I'm not sure what it'll turn out like but its coming together slowly
 
and yes I used the stewmac calculator... needed to take 1mm off the top of the fingerboard to move the first fret slightly closer to the nut... hopefully that'll improve the intonation from standard as my fingerboard seemed to be a little out
 
Yes, measure twice and cut once. If it's too small, cut again.
 
Well its been a little while.... and I'm finished here are the photos...

Some mods that I did to the kit were to veneer the headstock with some walnut (the original pine was dreadful) and I fitted a rosewood bridge and genuine bone.

I have some different tuners on order as I think gold suits this uke better given it colour and the brass frets.

Finishing wise its finished with danish oil - about 4 or 5 coats; then polished with bees wax

;)

DSC_6468.jpg
DSC_6469.jpg
 
Sound wise its pretty good... has a nice ring to it. I've got GHS strings on it at the moment and they're still stretching but from what I can see the intonation is okay - not perfect but more than acceptable for a kit build and certainly better than my first cheap uke...
 
I should add when I say it sounds pretty good - that should be taken in the context of this being an inexpensive kit... obviously it doesn't sound like my Ohana SK-75
 
Congratulations on your first uke kit. It looks great! Nice job. Any advise for other kit-makers-to-be?

–Lori
 
Congratulations on your first uke kit. It looks great! Nice job. Any advise for other kit-makers-to-be?

–Lori

Advise... from me? Lori I'm not sure I'm qualified to give advise :) the only thing I can think to say is take your time... don't rush it...
 
Good Luck! I've been playing about 18 months and I'd never build one, I just wouldn't know where to start - even with step by step instructions!
 
Well having had so much fun with that build, I've decided to have a go at a wolfelele next....
 
Nice Job!!! Very Pretty. Did you learn a lot from building it? (From a Luthier, Spiritual and Ninja warrior perspective?)
 
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