Uke kits

Hello

I quite fancy building a uke to learn on; a friend is coming back to live in the UK after spending a couple of years working in the States, which saves me $$$ on postage. I've recently taken on a job; part of it entails spending the next few months living on my own in a big, disused office block. I don't have many friends where I'm going, so I thought why not build a new ukulele?

I saw these:

http://www.wolfelele.com/Order-Online.html

I really like the quirky, homemade look, and the simple build is appealing because I wouldn't want to make a mess of my first one. But are they a worthwhile project? Would it teach me useful things if I wanted to build a more conventional uke from scratch in the future? Or am I better doing one of the ones that has a more involved build process?

Any recommendations would be welcome.

Banjo ukes are really simple and a little more creative than just a kit. Get a neck, fretboard and pegs and for the body a wooden bowl. Mainland also sells the hardware.

I'm not sure of wolfele's sound. But it looks easy to put together.

If you want a more traditional uke Pete Howlett has some awesome kits.
Stewmac, Waldron, MusicMaker, Grizzly have kits too.

I built a Grizzly kit and had alot of fun doing it. I added a bone nut and saddle and a MOP star inlay on the headstock. From my experience I would try a simple kit first and make your mistakes on that before you do a more expensive and complicated one. I wish I had tried pore filing on mine, I would recomend trying that to get a nice finish. Now you have me thinking I would like to do another , I think if I do I will attempt a StewMac kit .

The kits come in at all levels. Some are easy to build because most parts have been cut/glued to shape (neck + fretboards, body), some others require a lot of works ( more tools are needed ) as they come in a plain woods.
I just built one (my second instrument build) where only the sides are bent and the fretboard slotted (but not cut to size). I had to do everything else, I learned a lot and I will do another one using all the scrap woods I have. I plan to shape it like the Fluke ukulele but all woods, this is to avoid having to bend the side excessively as I don't have tool to bend sides yet.
[ The real Fluke has the side & back in black plastic, but it sounds really good and loud ]
I got the feeling that once you build one, you will want to build more.
So the first one, pick a relative easy kit to start with. Once you get some experiences and some more tools, then go for the harder one.

I built a Grizzly uke a few year ago and I wouldn't recommend them.
I just made a Wolfelele. I think it turned out nice and has pretty good sound. I put some upgraded strings on it and it sounds even better. I would recommend the Wolfelele.

I can heartily recommend the StewMac kits if budget allows. Nice materials, well put together kit and straightforward to build, though you do need a few tools. I managed to improvise most. Comes in tenor or soprano sizes. There's even a DVD made by Mya Moe detailing the whole building exercise.