Starting costs?

Hey everyone,

I'm considering starting to build my own ukes but have absolutely none of the tools or machinery necessary. How much would you estimate it costs to get things going? I know prices will vary depending on new/used and things like that, I'm just looking for a ballpark figure though.

Edit: I want to eventually have my own workshop and build custom ukes, so I'm looking for suitable equipment. I know there must be cheaper options just to get my feet wet, but I'm curious as to how much the equipment is that the "pros" use.

Thanks for the help!

Well for starters: IMO.you need a decent set of handplanes, a really sharp carving knife or chisel set, tons of clamps, some measuring rule, straight edge rule, rasps and files, coping saw and a fret saw , drill press, sander, bandsaw, a trim router, cabinet scraper,jigs and forms, safety goggles, and a twelve pack of cold ones.

The basic minimum kit is far less than this. I made my first uke with a panel saw, a cross-cut saw (I'd buy the Zona thick kerf dovetail saw, which will also cut fret slots), a chisel, a cabinet scraper, a half-round engineer's file and a drill. Oh, and add in a metal rule, a set square, some clamps, a Stanley knife or equivalent and a pencil. Sandpaper in various grades. US prices are cheaper than here, so maybe US$75?

When you make your second, you buy a couple of planes, some more chisels and the clamps you didn't have first time round. And so it goes.

It all depends how much time you are prepared to invest. To cut a top with a handsaw and thickness it with a cabinet scraper takes several hours. With a bandsaw and thickness sander it's minutes.

There's quite a lot to be said for starting with hand tools only. It takes ages, and the result will probably be quite amateur-looking. But during the process you become very closely acquainted with the wood, and really get a feel for what kind of instrument it wants to become.

Thanks for the replies. I know my first uke isn't going to turn out great, but I don't want equipment to be the reason. I'll update the original post.

14” bandsaw $625
10-20 drum sander $750
10” table saw $570
Belt/disc sander $100
Tabletop drill press $150
#4 smoothing plane $150 to $300
Ariou rasp $115
Binding jig $270
Fret slotting template $36
Fret slotting cutters for table saw $200

The list goes on and on…

Let's see....it's a bottomless pit to through money into.

Sure you can get buy with a modest list of tools, but if you want to do this as a semi pro or full time, then in all honesty I'd have to guess at a bare minimum of $5,000 if you don't have any of the basics. Very easy to go way over that depending on how tooled up you want to go. Especially with the big machinery.

For instance, I've got about $7,000 just in the cast iron around the shop floor and looking to upgrade several pieces that will bring that number way over $10,000. I couldn't guess at what it is in the hand tools. When you've got so many that have been acquired over years of collecting at $50 to $500 each the numbers get pretty large very quickly.

I am a serious budget builder! I built a concert size all mahogany and spruce top uke for $90 Australian. tools,glue and strings included
I used a stanely knife, a baby saw, some sandpaper and an el cheapo file. all from dollar store type places. I tried a CA finish, it turned out quite well, but im going to refinish it with epoxy soon.

Honestly, it was an absolute pleasure building the uke, even though I used a stanely knife and baby saw! you just have to go slowly, and have patients. It was definitely one of the most rewarding builds ive ever done!

I too would LOVE to have my own workshop! It would make life sooo much easier

A serious case of "the more you make, the more you need!"

If you just want to make a few Ukes for friends and family, you can get away with just a few tools.

However, if you are planning to go into greater production numbers, apart from the handtools mentioned above, you will 'need', in order of importance:

Bandsaw. The bigger the better.

Dust extraction unit. Don't even think of trying to ignore it!

Thickness sander. Saves an awful lot of elbow grease.

Belt/disc sander. Again, a 6"/10" will be more useful than a 4"/6".

Router. Here the size is not so important and smaller is preferable.

Rotary tool. (i.e. Dremel) Will find a multitude of uses, starting with keeping the above mentioned bandsaw blades sharp.

Pillar drill. Best you can afford.

Overhand Jointer or Planer/Thicknesser. Takes more elbow grease out of the equation.

You will notice that any form of circular saw, either tablesaw or chop/mitre saw has not been mentioned yet. IMHO it is the least useful but admittedly can come in handy for some operations, but is not essential for making Ukes. If you have space to spare, then by all means get one. The most useful are the type with a sliding carriage.

From there, you get into serious woodworking machinery such as pin routers, cnc routers, spindle moulders (Yes, I could make use of a spindle moulder in Uke making), all of which require a modicum of operator experience.

As for the costs involved, look to the standards of the items. You can get DIY stuff, Trade rated or full Professional versions of all the first list, and Trade or Professional in the second. You pay your money and take your choice.

0011000011001 said:

I am a serious budget builder! I built a concert size all mahogany and spruce top uke for $90 Australian. tools,glue and strings included
I used a stanely knife, a baby saw, some sandpaper and an el cheapo file. all from dollar store type places. I tried a CA finish, it turned out quite well, but im going to refinish it with epoxy soon.

Honestly, it was an absolute pleasure building the uke, even though I used a stanely knife and baby saw! you just have to go slowly, and have patients. It was definitely one of the most rewarding builds ive ever done!

I too would LOVE to have my own workshop! It would make life sooo much easier

Click to expand...

Way to go! You will take the amateur builder economy prize unless someone turns up who only used a knife. But I bet you drilled the peg holes (trying to fool us there, huh? Though you could have borrowed a drill for a few minutes I guess.)

Allen does this for a living, so he can't afford to spend all day thicknessing top, back and sides for a single instrument. If you're doing this for fun, buy a knife and get started.

The problem is that, like crisps/potato chips, it's hard to stop at just one. Next time you remember how long it took to saw out the neck with your baby saw (whatever that is) so you buy a better saw. Sanding the sides took hours, and a plane would make it go faster. But that's OK - I reckon I buy one or two new tools for every uke I make, so the additional cost is fairly small each time. Except my Veritas apron plane with the toothed blade, which was real money but is highly recommended for the hand-building amateur.

The cheapest way to get hand tools is via eBay/yard sale/whatever, provided you're prepared to invest time in them. I bought 6 good quality chisels for about ten pounds (UK), say US$15, including a 1 inch Marples chisel which would cost 6 or 7 times all that new. Each will take me several hours to grind back to perfect shape and sharpen, but that's good learning experience so I don't begrudge it. Wooden planes are cheap, and work well once you've restored them. Professional builders will tell you that there is no substitute for high quality tools, and they are right - my Veritas plane cost 10x my cheap Chinese block plane, and is 100x easier to use. But if you're on a budget and can spare the time to fix them, old tools are usually good quality and very cheap.

I would try to get some builds under your belt before you make a large investment. Find another builder and work for him, or pay a builder to work out of their shop, go to a luthier school, etc......just find a way to make it happen. Physically going through the build process will help you determine what you will need. You might not even like building as much as you thought. Find a way to learn about the craft before spending your savings.

Having said all that..... if you want some serious equipment and tools, about $30,000. Yes, I know it can be done for much less, but let's get real here, it can add up very fast.

I had enough in a standard gargage workshop to be able to build my first uke... then i built a second and then i started building jigs and buying tools. I think I have spent close to $1000 us sense I have started building ukes on tools specificly for the task. can most of these tools transfer over into my furniture making, yes. did I need or want them for my furniture making, no.

I am going saturday to hopefully pick up a used Delta Unisaw for $600. This will replace my Jet contractors saw... I can't wait. I actually think of getting this saw as a milestone in my woodcrafting. After the tablesaw, my next big step is a Jointer of at least 12" and hopefully 16" or even 20" if one shows itself for the right price.
It never ends, but I am young and I hope to live long enough to wear all this cast iron out.

To state the obvious: Tools can't make anything – people do. You can have the best tools money can buy, but if you don't have the skill set and experience they won't do you much good.

You say you have no tools. But, you don't say if you have any experience. I'd second the suggestion of getting some simple builds under your belt and see if it is something you want to continue. Most people add tools one-at-a-time (not only luthiers) – buying them or making them as needed.

Take a class or build some kits. You'll soon learn what tools are really necessary and what they might cost. I'll bet there are pro's with a small fortune in tools and others with a modest investment. As I said, tools don't build ukuleles, people do.

A decently equipped shop with both big tools, hand tools, and other necessities and supplies can easily cost $30,000 This is professional level, and certainly not even close to 'over the top'

I got started woodworking by taking classes at the local community college. If I remember it was no more than $50 per semester. After the first semester and the instructor was comfortable with you, shopp access was available almost anytime of the day or evening. Huge industrial tools, people who understood their setup and use and the college's buying powerr for supplies.

If you can swing something like this, you can do a lot of building before you start investing.

I have settled on the buying used and refurbishing route. 10" craftsman contractor saw from the 50's=Free + elbowgrease to derust and installl new bearings., 18" bandsaw=25.00 had to buy a motor and put on new tires, drill press= from my father needed total rebuild but runs true. This all took time and I would not say it was any cheaper than buying new and getting product out the door. Just my $ 0.02.

I am researching a tenor build right now and will use a combination of hand and power tools. i will likely only make a couple or three for family members so I will try and curb my tool lust.

To Date? £30K

Your best tool would be a book that outlines the process along with the tools that you would need to complete a build. Once you undersatnd the scope of the work then you can look at buying tools and materials.

There is no such book in print Andrew. Most books I have ever read are written by people who do not build for a living and I certainly know that the writing and publishing such took a year out of Andy Manson and Jonny Kincaid's lives. And still you have no idea from reading these two excepplent books the true costs of setting up business. The losses you make the first three years, the endless hours you spend hunting down materials only to be let down when you recieve them, the countless times you have to refinish pieces because the lacquer formulations have changed and so on and so on.

However, anyone entering the business now is well placed to stand on the shoulders of us aging giants - the internet is very well developed and that shrinks the geographical vastness of the market - I know of three recent luthiers in UK who have come into the game in the last two years who would have sunk without a trace in 1994 when I started and I only survived because I had a distributor in Hawaii buying everything I made and only one other competitor in the UK building - they don't call me the grandad of ukulele building here in the UK for nothing

In short, it costs a lot of money to set up in business, very little of you want to do it as a rewarding hobby...

A rewarding hobby would be awesome, in fact, a cutting even hobby would be nice.............

No were that I see has it been mentioned that the stock required to run a luthiers / builders business is a considerable investment too. I'd hate to think how much money I have sitting on the shelves in wood, bindings, tuners, strings etc. It's truly mind boggling. Each time you see a great deal on wood that you will be able to use, you need to be able to jump on it. Ready cash on hand is essential. But still I have clients that do ask for something I may not have. Then you need to have good contacts you trust to be able to source what you need.

BWT - Buying Wood Thing.... it's a luthier specific virus once lodged in the host never dies