Violin Ukulele Build

thowell3 · Oct 29, 2013

Hey all,

I have had an Idea for a ukulele for a while. Every since I got my first Uke, I have wanted to have a ukulele that looked a bit like the Violin Hofner Bass (Like the one Paul McCartney has) So Over the last few weeks I have scowered the internet and found a Cheap Violin and New Ukulele Neck (as well as a few things the Uke Neck didn't come with such as Tuning pegs and nut) I plan to make the Violin into a Ukulele.

I had though about getting a custom one made but the price would have been way to much, But when I saw UKISOCIETY's Ukulele Violin build and when he explained how he did it, I decided to do as he did and build one myself.

I will be sure to give updates as to how the progress goes and see if I can get this to work out. Neither my Dad nor I have ever done something like this so this will be a learning experience.

Garry Petrisic · Oct 29, 2013

Made an archtop uke a couple of years ago with a violin bridge I made from laminated maple. Incredible sound from this little tenor. Still the best of any uke I have made since.

I like your lateral thinking. I shy away from the normal and go with what ever takes my fancy. good luck with it.
Garry Petrisic.

Uncle Rod Higuchi · Oct 29, 2013

Before Tangi went out of business I was able to obtain a 'violin ukulele' like the one pictured on the cover of the Roy Sakuma Chord book and based on an ukulele that is sometimes on display at the Bishop Museum. I believe it is my 'avatar' for my signature

actually, that's a picture of one. Mine is a bit different with open head (ala Fluke and Flea).

keep uke'in',

Uncle Rod Higuchi · Oct 29, 2013

I have a viloin-shaped ukulele from Tangi, before he went out of business, patterned after a uke in the Bishop Museum and similar to the one pictured on Roy Sakuma's chord book.

it's also my avatar

keep uke'in',

OOPS! I thought the previous post didn't take so this is a duplicate

thowell3 · Oct 31, 2013

No worries. I actually got my Violin Via UPS today, now I am just waiting on the Other Things before I get started on my project. I will post pictures of all the parts once I get the rest of them.

thowell3 · May 8, 2014

So My Dad and I started on the Violele today, We only just got the neck off of the Old Violin Body. That tool us 2 hours of cutting with various tools to get it off. The electric Saw (not sure which one it was) wasn't able to accommodate the size of the violin body to get it to the right angle we needed to cut it off. Here it is with out the neck.
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Then we trimmed down the ukulele neck so we could fit the two together to see how well they worked (it looked good)
we will be attaching the Ukulele neck to the Violin body tomorrow. So the project is slow going but We hope to be done by next week.

Timbuck · May 8, 2014

There was a thread about a violin uke about 3 years ago..I remember it sounded quite good

Here it is http://forum.ukuleleunderground.com/showthread.php?56700-Violele&highlight=Violin+ukulele What did you use to remove that neck ???..Semtex

lauburu · May 8, 2014

Semtex

:rofl::rofl::rofl:

thowell3 · May 9, 2014

We were all out of Semtex, We eventually got it off with a Light-saber. Today we got a bit of dowel into the neck and tomorrow we will be attaching the neck to the Violin body. I will post pictures tomorrow after we finish those steps. But it is coming along nicely, if it wasn't for the fact that my Dad is busy and I work in the afternoon we would probably have this completed by now. But oh well, when we have it complete I will be sure to post a video of the sound of it.

Kevin Waldron · May 11, 2014

For future knowledge, most violin are built with hide glue even the cheap ones. Hide glue will release with heat somewhere between 165-210 degree. If it's not hide glue probably white/yellow glue which will also turn loose at about 200-225 degrees.......

My point you wouldn't have had to saw the neck off if you'd used a steamer or heat blanket. It would have simply released.

Blessings,

Kevin

thowell3 · May 11, 2014

Yeah but sadly to remove it that way the new neck wouldn't have fit properly at all and might have done more damage to the body which we wanted to avoid doing at all costs. My Dad and I talked about it before hand, and we decided the best move was to remove the neck by cutting it off.

thowell3 · May 16, 2014

The Violele is now complete,

It took some messing about, but we finally got it finished, we had to get some advice from a really cool Guitar store Owner that does a lot of repairs on Guitars and other instruments, and we finally got ever thing just so.

It sounds great and looks awesome. Sadly we couldn't use the old Violin bridge Like I thought we could but we did get a great mandolin bridge that does the job really well. we had to much about wit the neck a lot because since the body was curved the neck had to be slightly on an angle for it to work properly. But now everything is sorted, I will post a video at a later date showing off the sound.

RAB11 · May 16, 2014

That looks awesome. Can't wait to hear how it sounds.

Violin Ukulele Build

thowell3

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