Selmer style concert uke.

Starting to come together now. I have never had so much trouble keeping this thing dent free while building. Talk about fumble fingers and bashing it against things. Bolt on neck, cedar top Koa back and sides, Queensland maple neck with a she oak lace fingerboard. Koa head veneers. ebony bridge. bone nut. It will be a long time until I build another one of these. I will post some pics of the finished uke if it does not collapse on me when I string it up. Progress so far.
Mahalo.
GP

Very cool Garry. Always a brave man that uses Cedar for a top.

The thing was a real challenge. A piece of cedar sent to me by my good friend Kim from Queensland. It split into a number of bits. I glued it up with superglue and was determined to make it work. the reason I have the bolt on neck is to make it easier to replace the top if it fails. I talked to Tony Graziano who gave me a few tips in his building methods. I changed the back from Mango to Koa at the last minute. I shaved the ladder bracing down a little thin. That is why I am worried about the thing shitting itself when I string it up. I have a 4.5 degree neck angle and hope that it will not impart too much pressure on the fragile cedar which is only a little over 1 mm thick. Other than that I am OK. My ukes are always different but they seem to be really good when they are finished. I do not do grain filling or massive amounts of finishing. they usually look old when they are done.

That's a real fancy rosette!

Sweet. Love the rosette and tail piece, although the bridge looks a bit large to me. Could just be the photo though. Lets see it strung up!!

Bridge is not finished. it is 100mm long and a little high at the moment. It does look a little large to me as well, but I have reduced it down nearly to its final size. Good thing though is that it can be replaced if I don't like it. Thanks for the comments. This is my first attempt at any sort of inlay. For every one piece in it, there are 5 laying on the floor that were not good. I am not going to make a habit of embellishment. Too much work.
Mahalo.
Garry

Took a fancy lot of time as well. I am not going to make a habit of it. I am not normally into this sort of thing. I will post some pics of the finished uke when I get it done. Possibly next week.
Mahalo
Garry

I could not wait so put in an effort today to get the uke strung up. Sounds loud and bright. Still worried about the loading downwards on the top. Seems to have gone down a little but holding ok. Only time will tell.

That is absolutely gorgeous mate!

I take it all that raised fingerboard and cutaway bridge stuff is to keep as little in contact with the soundboard as possible?

Top notch work - and even if it fails, it'll make a cracking wall hanger!

Thanks for the wonderful comment. I do not think it will fail any time soon. It turned out better than I expected with all the trouble in dinting it and dropping it.
The raised fingerboard is a feature on all my ukes. It makes it easier to construct a neck which can be glued or bolted and it does not make a great deal of difference to the soundboard frequencies. It is just the way I do things. In this case I did a bolt on neck as I was worried about the fragile nature of the cedar. It make it easier to put on a new top when you can remove the neck easily. I have played it all afternoon now and found it will hold up OK as it has settled in on full string tension. Sounds crisp and has a little sustain thrown in. Not a uke to play vigorously but one to play softer Hawaiian songs and blues.
Regards
Garry