I was enjoying the morning paper when this article caught my eye:
http://www.mailtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20130331/LIFE/303310305/-1/NEWSMAP
It must have been a very slow news day here in Southern Oregon because Eugene is about 180 miles away. Nevertheless, the article reminded me that a friend in Eugene had mentioned some time ago that these kids were looking for spare instruments because the number of kids exceeded the available ukes. So, the wheels in my little head started turning. Could I come up with a design that would be relatively easy to build while retaining the two non-negotiable requirements of good tone and playability? This is what I came up with: a more or less concert-sized body with a 16" scale. Of course, I tip my hat to the Fluke/Flea concept, Brad's Youthele and Pete Howlett's Marmite design.
No heat bending is necessary. The side assemblies come out of the mold with negligible spring back. The top and back are flat rather than radiused. These two simplifications go a long way toward making construction quicker. I had a nice perfectly vertical grain sapele board that yielded tops, backs and sides for four instruments. The end pieces are bubinga.
The bracing is pretty much standard for a concert.
One of the four was finished first as a proof-of-concept prototype. It got binding, but only because there was an unfortunate tearout while routing off the edge of the top and it couldn't be invisibly repaired. As we used to say in my boat building days, the difference between a good boat builder and a not-so-good boat builder is that one knows how to keep the mistakes from mattering.
Both sound and playability met the standard so I'm now working on the other three.
Here are a couple of links:
https://www.facebook.com/NEHSUkes
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/nehsukes/north-eugene-high-school-ukulele-orchestras-first
I've got the CD and it's pretty perky. These kids are an enterprising lot!
http://www.mailtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20130331/LIFE/303310305/-1/NEWSMAP
It must have been a very slow news day here in Southern Oregon because Eugene is about 180 miles away. Nevertheless, the article reminded me that a friend in Eugene had mentioned some time ago that these kids were looking for spare instruments because the number of kids exceeded the available ukes. So, the wheels in my little head started turning. Could I come up with a design that would be relatively easy to build while retaining the two non-negotiable requirements of good tone and playability? This is what I came up with: a more or less concert-sized body with a 16" scale. Of course, I tip my hat to the Fluke/Flea concept, Brad's Youthele and Pete Howlett's Marmite design.
No heat bending is necessary. The side assemblies come out of the mold with negligible spring back. The top and back are flat rather than radiused. These two simplifications go a long way toward making construction quicker. I had a nice perfectly vertical grain sapele board that yielded tops, backs and sides for four instruments. The end pieces are bubinga.
The bracing is pretty much standard for a concert.
One of the four was finished first as a proof-of-concept prototype. It got binding, but only because there was an unfortunate tearout while routing off the edge of the top and it couldn't be invisibly repaired. As we used to say in my boat building days, the difference between a good boat builder and a not-so-good boat builder is that one knows how to keep the mistakes from mattering.
Both sound and playability met the standard so I'm now working on the other three.
Here are a couple of links:
https://www.facebook.com/NEHSUkes
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/nehsukes/north-eugene-high-school-ukulele-orchestras-first
I've got the CD and it's pretty perky. These kids are an enterprising lot!
