Florentine cutaway to repair goof.

Okay, so thanks to Chuck Moore's suggestion, I've attempted my first Florentine cutaway to fix my screwup. (http://forum.ukuleleunderground.com/showthread.php?91685-I-m-an-idiot) I'm not a fan of cutaways as I don't go up that far on the neck (Heck, I don't even consider myself a player at all.), but I'm not entirely unhappy with the way it turned out. At least it has (for now) saved this build. I'm sure I will find another way to ruin it, probably while binding it.

Here's what I did:
First, I selected a section of matching side wood (Mango) I had already bent.



Then I laid out cut lines on the side, square to the soundboard, took a deep breathe, said a few mystic incantations and starting sawing. No turning back now!

I glued in a support block at the point, shaped and fit the cutaway into the recess, glued it up and intalled new kerfing. I went ahead and also installed the vertical bindings at this point to make it easier later.




IF I had planned a cutaway from the beginning, I wouldn't have made it so large, but I was forced to put it where it is due to the incorrectly located soundport.

If nothing else, I learned something from this: check, check, and check again!

And Bob's your uncle!
Did you know this is origin of the cutaway? To hide mistakes.
Uke saved. Nice job.

Nice Job Hal....how did the bubbles turn out, you got peekchas?

Good job Hal. Nice save.

looks awesome. cutaway is always sweet big or small. good save or better then before. now you can still add the sound port on the right side.

Gonna be great.

No bubbles yet, lol. Still experimenting with some epoxy inlay material. After the few setbacks I've had, I'll probably keep the rest of this one simple, within my skill level. Need to just work on some scrap and practice, practice, practice.

Habanera Hal said:

No bubbles yet, lol. Still experimenting with some epoxy inlay material. After the few setbacks I've had, I'll probably keep the rest of this one simple, within my skill level. Need to just work on some scrap and practice, practice, practice.

Click to expand...

What's epoxy inlay material?

Chuck, this was in response to MMStan's question about the "bubbles": If you remember I asked about a koi-themed fretboard with "bubble" markers. I've yet to get the hang of cutting and installing inlays (other than simple round dots), so while in a local craft store I found a product called "Pour-On High Gloss Finish". I'm experimenting with routing a channel, then filling the void with this stuff to which I add pearlescent dust in various colors. You can swirl different colors together to get a paisley-type(?) effect, quite different from abalone. The results are promising, but more work is needed before it can be called successful.

Liquid inlay lets you do things you couldn't do well with solids, and there are a ton of possibilities. I started messing with it over 30 years ago because I couldn't afford shell. BTW, as a fan of asymmetry I think cutaways are nearly always prettier than non-cuts. Having access to the highest frets is almost beside the point.

Habanera Hal said:

Chuck, this was in response to MMStan's question about the "bubbles": If you remember I asked about a koi-themed fretboard with "bubble" markers. I've yet to get the hang of cutting and installing inlays (other than simple round dots), so while in a local craft store I found a product called "Pour-On High Gloss Finish". I'm experimenting with routing a channel, then filling the void with this stuff to which I add pearlescent dust in various colors. You can swirl different colors together to get a paisley-type(?) effect, quite different from abalone. The results are promising, but more work is needed before it can be called successful.

Click to expand...

Gotcha. Try these:
http://www.riogrande.com/category/metal-clay,-glass-enamels-and-resins/114/resins/256
I haven't used them but they look interesting. I know a couple of folks here use fiber glass surfboard resin (only because every store stocks it here) and dye it for similar effects. Let us know how that goes.