New builder questions- neck styles, forms, etc.

Paulgardini

New member
Joined
Jun 13, 2013
Messages
3
Reaction score
0
I am preparing to build my first baritone. I Have lots of professional woodworking experience and have played around with some instrument building, but I haven't tried building an acoustic uke yet. After looking at lots of post and videos I am wondering how to proceed. Spanish style, bolt on or dove tail neck. I think I have the woodworking skill to pull off any of the neck styles, but are there advantages of one over the other on a baritone?

I really love the Baritones built by Barron River and all of Pete Howlett's videos of jigs and molds. Do people ever use forms like Pete's but on a Spanish style neck like Barron River? It seems like a form would help out on my first attempt bending sides but I haven't seen anyone combining styles.

Thanks.
P.S. I owe Pete lots of dollars for all the time I have spent watching his great videos.
 
I'm very pleased with the way my workboard came out. I use it for all sizes I build, which are four. From the 280 mm scaled piccolo to tenors. You can see it in this blog post, and there are posts tagged with "the multi-solera" I think where you can see the steps I went through building it.

http://argapa.blogspot.se/2012/01/workboard-with-exchangeable-soleras.html

And even though I bolt on most necks the board will also work with Spanish joints. My necks go on before the back is glued so the last steps are similar.
 
Not too hard at all to incorporate an outside mold to the Spanish Heel design. I've seen a few of the builders here use that sort of idea in one form or another.

Liam is spot on when it comes to the Bogdonovich book. There are heaps of really useful tips in it. It's well written, and beautifully photographed. Our local library carries it, so yours might too. The techniques would pretty much translate to the ukulele without a hitch.
 
It should be added that the advantage of bolt-on and dovetail over Spanish heel is greater ease in cutting binding channels and finishing. Apply, sanding and polishing a finish is far easier with the neck off the body. Also, a mold does not really help in bending the sides, but it is a convenience in holding the shape after bending and before gluing to the top. You can achieve the same convenience with half of an inside mold.
 
Top Bottom