Ono Baritone Build Thread

After much indecision I have finally decided to commission my first baritone ukulele. I have owned several in the past and really miss the warmth and resonance they offer.

Settled on David Ingalls of Ono Ukuleles in Oregon USA to build for me. The instrument is now underway so I'll update this thread periodically to show you all the progress, and hopefully David (member "saltytri") will chime in from time to time and offer his own thoughts and rationale to give you a broader understanding of what motivates different decisions at different phases of the build.

If you want warmth and resonance, maybe it should be a jumbo School Uke design.

Gotta love the big wood, eh Jim

Awesome, Jon! My MM build will start in a month on my upcoming baritone. Looking forward to your progress.

Congratulations, Jon! I'm a big fan of baritone ukuleles. Does David have a website?

Jon's maple baritone has been in progress for a few days and I have some photos saved up so it's time to start a new build thread. It's been a while since I did one and I have a few new things to show and say since this is ukulele #34.

A good place to start is with a good board. I've been saving this nice piece of fiddleback maple for a quite a while and it's time to put it to good use.



The first step is to resaw some nice slices. I've fitted Laguna ceramic guides onto my 19" Grizz bandsaw and they work very well with a 3/4" Woodslicer blade. No, Laguna doesn't sell retrofit kits for non-Laguna saws but they do sell the guides. Several parts had to be machined from steel and aluminum to mount the guides so "don't try this at home" unless you have access to a lathe and mill.



The roller assembly does a nice job of holding the board firmly against the fence, which is out of sight because it is a bit lower than the board.

Pretty nice stuff, eh?

My bending "sandwich" consists of two pieces of stainless spring steel that the wood goes in between and two pieces of blue spring steel on the outside.



The stainless doesn't have a tendency to stain the wood as does the blue steel. Parchment paper sprayed with a spritz or two of distilled water is usually placed on either side of the wood. I've found that tap water, at least in my area, has mineral content that can leave small stain spots on the wood, which is very discouraging.

The sandwich goes in the bending jig with a variable transformer to control the heat blanket...



...and out pop the sides.

This is gonna be a cool thread. Looking forward to it!

The sides are clamped in the mold so that the ends can be marked for trimming.



The ends must be cut very accurately if they are to fit with a minimally visible joint so a simple but effective guide is set up.



I like these clamps on my molds because they provide a means of forcing the ends of the sides firmly together to get a good joint. If the ends are cut just a hair too long, the clamps bring them together with enough pressure to insure a tight fit.

This is going to be a great thread to follow! Love your work, David.

Man, keep bringing it David. This is so awesome. I'm just sitting here glued to the thread as these pics and info are coming through. Thankyou mate, so much more detailed and comprehensive than even I had hoped. Just wonderful.

Just a FYI everyone, David has built me a couple of ukes in the past - concerts actually - and he is fantastic builder to work with - not that I do any work. His communication is the best, his explanations of each step are second to none and he cuts no corners (pardon the pun). His attention to detail is the equivalent or better than the highest end luthiers. My 16" Ono walnut long-scale concert remains my favourite instrument.

I think we're all in for a treat with this thread...

The end blocks are then glued in place. I'm persuaded that birch ply is an excellent material for the blocks because it is strong and stable. And it looks good!



After both blocks are in, the sides are sanded in the radius dish to get the correct profile. The top is a 25' radius and the back is 15'.



It would be hard to lavish enough praise on the motorized radius dish. This makes short work of what used to be a tedious job. It seems that many builders adapt electric potters' wheels for this purpose. Good ones are costly, though, and I couldn't find a used one locally so I put this together and haven't regretted the effort for a moment.

The solid linings go in next. I usually bend two or three sets at a time.



In this case, they are Spanish Cedar, which bends well and imparts a nice scent to the finished instrument.

It's been quite while since I used kerfed linings. While they are much easier to install, the extra width is unnecessary unless wide purflings are to be used. A solid lining is wide enough to support a simple, wood binding, which is the look that I prefer. Although no one will ever be able to say for certain, it stands to reason that if more area of the top is free to vibrate, the production of sound will be better. There isn't much real estate on the top of a uke and it doesn't make sense to give any away without good reason.

I've tried several types of clamps and haven't found a spring clamp that works well with solid linings. It just takes a bit of extra force to insure good contact for gluing even if the linings are well bent. My solution is 1" C-clamps modified with knobs made out of wire nuts for quick operation and to allow close spacing.

This thing is starting to look like it might turn into a uke.





A nice billet of Alaska Yellow Cedar was broken out for the top.



Two book-matched halves were resawn and preliminary sanded. While there are a number of more or less involved methods for joining the plates, the simple tape method works best for me. After taping the assembly as shown, the halves are folded back on themselves and glue is applied to the joint. As the assembly is returned to the flat position, the tape pulls the halves together and forces a tight joint.

The assembly is amply weighted while the glue hardens.



The top and back are then sanded flat in the thickness sander.



This thing is a real hot rod, with two 25" wide drums that are independently adjustable for height. I keep 80 grit on one and 120 on the other so that it isn't necessary to change the paper to go from heavy removal to finer sanding.



The belt is very thin, kind of like a big sheet of sandpaper. This allows the machine to hold very accurate thickness. For example, I made some strips about 1/8" wide and .021" thick for a rosette. The thickness was dead on for the full length of a 2' strip, as measured with a good quality caliper.

The bindings are curly koa. Bending them is the sort of small job that can be fit in while something else is drying.



After bending, they are "stored" on the bending jig to keep them safe and to help them retain the bends.



Another little job that can be fit in when convenient is cutting the curve on the bottom of the braces. I use a jig that clamps the brace next to a curve that replicates the required radius. A 15' curve is on one side a a 25' is on the other. The jig is run along a spiral router bit with roller guides. I used to sand braces manually in the radius dishes but this got very old.



Sorry, Jon, I've got to go to bed now. I know that it's a decent hour there but it's way past my bedtime. More in the morning. Cheers, mate!

WAHOO David, looking cool and all the improvised equipment bling too....keep them peekchas coming...

love the baritone, love this thread. keep it coming.

Fascinating! Never ceases to amaze me how many details are in this process.

Beautiful woods. I'll be following along. :drool:

I always like these build walkthroughs, its amazing how fast it can come together.
A wee bit jealous of this awesome Ukulele Build and workshop.

As a proud owner of David's first bari uke, it's a wonderful instrument. Love following along another build, makes me want another...