3-year old Hana Lima 'Ia kit done

Hey guys, I finally got around to building a Hana Lima tenor kit I bought three years ago. Too much other stuff got in the way.

What I mostly learned was that it's not too hard to build a ukulele. Building a NICE ukulele takes more practice and probably some instruction. But there's no substitute for actually doing it. Story and photos here: http://www.westhillswood.com/hana-lima-ukulele-build.html

Top is spruce, neck is mahogany. Hana Lima supplied bubinga sides and back, but I had to use walnut instead. This uke sounds good and will one day be displayed up high out of reach.

Lessons learned:
what a scarf joint is
making jigs will keep you from making ukes
thickness matters
it's good to have a fully equipped shop
dark wood should be sanded first
dark wood should be finished shiny
etc.

Nice lines and flow to this uke, both front and back, and a good list of lessons, made me smile.

Did you veneer the upper portion of the neck and then do the scarf joint?

Very lovely work, btw.

Braden said:

Did you veneer the upper portion of the neck and then do the scarf joint?

Click to expand...

No. The scarf joint was done before the veneer. Where I got confused was in how to make the initial cut. This resulted in my first joint only having about an inch of contact/gluing surface. I thought it was plenty strong after putting on the wings, but was told otherwise and had it taken apart before going further. The redone connection point is what failed during sanding. That's when I added the two inset pieces for support. The veneer is a bit thick, too. So many lessons...

Braden said:

Very lovely work, btw.

Click to expand...

Thank you.

Wow...I didn't know Hana Lima had 3-year olds making kits now :rofl:
Looks good!!

Look very very nice, congratulations on a job well done and your patience.
Here are the things that I learned reading your building progress (I will use them for my next build)
1) trim the heel block using table saw: very nice trick producing very uniform cut
2) the two strips on the neck to fix the headstock & neck joint: they look pretty. Even if there is no problelm with the joint, it would not hurt to add them
3) the tapered cut jig: I got to make or get one of this to do a precise tapered cut. I was simply drawing the cut line and cut it using my bandsaw, just using my hands to guide the wood piece !!! OK but not too good
4) the jig to hold the sides in shape: great idea

For the scarf joint, I had to practice 3 times on scrap wood using a jig I built, before cutting the real wood. The first cut is crappy, the second better and the third one near perfect.

I agree that it will take probably 4 or 5 builds for a hobbyist to build a NICE and GOOD SOUNDING ukulele.

I like the look of the maple strips in the neck. It wasn't what you set out to do, but it does look cool!
Thanks for documenting and sharing.

(my Hana Lima kit is only 1 yr old......so, I'll have wait 2 more years before I start )

Persistence is a virtue. Congrats on finishing it. It looks great.

Tom