building without electricity

oldetymey

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I was curious if any of the builders here have ever tried constructing a uke totally with hand tools,sans any power equipment, and what techniques you used? How did you plane the tops and sides to proper thickness etc....Obviously it can be done. Ive always been interested in primitive woodworking, and maybe someday a uke would be a fun, and totally ambitious project to try to tackle.
 
I´m pretty sure this italian bloke Stradivari built a whole bunch of violins and stuff without the use of electricity. On the other hand I´m not sure that he ever tried it with ukuleles. :cool:
 
Actually building most stringed musical instruments using hand tools alone is pretty easy - assuming that you are buying wood that are rough sawn veneers. Usually those veneers come in at around 4 mm's and it's a matter of planing the stuff down to around 2 mm's. It's simply not that difficult or slow if you have the right type of set up with your hand planes. You need some type of Plane set up as what I call a 'gentle scrub Plane', basically a No.4 with a big camber on the blade. Get that very sharp and use it for hogging off material fast, either going with the grain or planing straight across it - whichever way the wood allows. You will also need another Plane for near or final Planing to get things smooth.
With hand tool use it's a matter of finding the right tool/set up that give efficient working practices. Some of the tools/methods that you see in the instruction books are just plain slow. One example (of many) that I can give you refers to fret slot cutting with a hand saw. Most of the push saws sold for this task are hopeless because they bind in the cut, the result of too thick saw steel which leads to no set on the teeth. Try something like the Veritas crosscut saw on Ebony and it's a totally different experience. Ok the slot it cuts is a touch wider than normal but nothing that a bit of fish glue to the fret won't cure. The wider slot means you can gently tap the fret home as well. Marking fret slots from a ruler? Not very efficient. Make your own fret rule from stable hardwood except cut a very shallow slot (instead of a line) with the finest razor saw. You can then mark the blank fretboard by engaging an exacto knife in your cut slots. Do it for all fret positions. remove the rule and place your knife in one of the marks, slide a square up to the knife. Swap the knife for your saw and cut the slot. You can do this blindfold. It's quick, much quicker than those silly mitre blocks sold for hand fretting. It's also very accurate if you spend a bit of time on the rule.
Honest, there are literally dozens of little tips/methods that make hand tool use much more efficient and reliable. There are probably dozens more that I don't know about.
 
The lure of quiet lutherie is very strong. If I were not trying to pay bills with the proceeds from my shop, I would be tempted to "unplug", other than the lights & environment controls. It is entirely doable, and not that strenuous.
The big thing that you would have to give up is the perception by others of machined perfection that is expected in our time.
In return you would gain the grace & beauty of a totally handmade thing.
 
You can also have conversations without using a computer...

So true, but then where would we get so many diverse viewpoints about so many wonderfully distracting topics like the folly of patent law, the design of lighter plinth-like braces, how to bend sides using a rice steamer, how to turn a child's guitar into a baritone ukulele ... the list goes on. Some of us suck this stuff up like a sponge, hahaha, and others of us wouldn't be able to warn us how ridiculous these ideas are by voicing their strong, hard earned opinions.
 
So true, but then where would we get so many diverse viewpoints about so many wonderfully distracting topics like the folly of patent law, the design of lighter plinth-like braces, how to bend sides using a rice steamer, how to turn a child's guitar into a baritone ukulele ... the list goes on. Some of us suck this stuff up like a sponge, hahaha, and others of us wouldn't be able to warn us how ridiculous these ideas are by voicing their strong, hard earned opinions.

Mark EB..... Well said!
 
In my young and impressionable years, I watched Roy Underhill create many wondrous things on TV. I started to collect old hand planes and moulding planes, hoping to do some work like Roy did. Then I realized that power tools were where it's at. I have very little time for luthery since I do accounting by day, so I need be as efficient with my time as is possible. For me then, power tools are a must, and frankly if things don't move along quickly I get frustrated. Some things being done by hand just don't make any sense from my perspective. However, some things do...
 
The first uke I built from scratch after taking Rick Turner's class was pretty much done with just hand tools, although the wood for the back was milled by David Borson, and the top and sides I milled at the Crucible while taking Rick's class.

My second built was also mostly just hand tools, with the back and sides milled by David Borson, but I sawed the thin slices for the top by hand using a Japanese kataba saw. Since then I've invested in a band saw, and I have to say, it works a lot better. :)
 
Sure its all do-able. That's how they used to build them. Hand saws and planes to cut and thin the body woods....heat a pipe with a torch or charcoal for bending....coping saw for headstock shapes....sharp knife and small chisels to cut the rosette and binding chanels, etc. Really not too scary
 
"Not too scary", maybe.
A lot more skill needed, though, certainly more than pushing a board through a thickness sander, or running a router round the edges to produce a rebate for the bindings.....etc
 
I´m pretty sure this italian bloke Stradivari built a whole bunch of violins and stuff without the use of electricity. On the other hand I´m not sure that he ever tried it with ukuleles. :cool:

would have been awesome if he had......
 
The lure of quiet lutherie is very strong. If I were not trying to pay bills with the proceeds from my shop, I would be tempted to "unplug", other than the lights & environment controls. It is entirely doable, and not that strenuous.
The big thing that you would have to give up is the perception by others of machined perfection that is expected in our time.
In return you would gain the grace & beauty of a totally handmade thing.

That is totally true.......If you were building for the masses could you get them to accept in this day and age when every little finish flaw is a major deal a totally handmade uke...great sentiment here as well
 
Itd be fun to try no doubt......maybe a hand carved archtop with a violin style tailpiece thatd be pretty nifty......
 
How did you plane the tops and sides to proper thickness etc....

Like others stated a handplane, it's not that difficult. I have an electronic caliper I made into a thickness gauge to check it. I'm not as good as a thickness sander but can get +-.005" of my target thickness across the board.

IMG_6210.jpg
 
I'm actually baffled why so many left-pondians use so many power tools to build instruments.

There is something rather satisfying in using simple hand tools for this work.
 
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