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Beautiful Ken. What brand of tuning pegs are those? I've had poor luck with Grover and a couple other brands that are fine for sopranos but don’t hold tenor strings very securely. I ended up with Gotohs but would rather not spend that much again.

-deleted up until I can figure out how to link to file-

I'm going to make the early 1900s style koa soprano featured in Graham McDonald's book and I'm wondering if surviving examples are French polished or just given a coat of shellac, or something else?

At about the 45 minute mark, Canadian luthier Jake Peters is playing it like an oud. Very cool instrument and sound.

My first build was a Martin style 0 soprano in walnut, so in this one I wanted to use koa and do some fancy MOP purfling. My plan was to incorporate as many new techniques as I could think of. In retrospect, maybe not the best plan but after many steps backward to fix mistakes, the final result...

I’m wondering if I may have been sold fakes or if Grover manufacturing standards have fallen. If it's the latter, I don’t want to throw any more money away. Has anyone used 85B tuners recently and found them to be good? About 15 years ago, I put a set of these on a second hand uke and LOVED...

I’m building my first tenor and the fret board is 3.8mm before final sanding. The neck is a tiny bit cocked back to account for a very slight radius on the lower bout - so a straight edge layed on the fretboard has about a 3.8 gap where the bridge will be. I’m going to be using a smaller gauge...

Almost done a bound fretboard with tortoiseshell around Osage Orange. It'll turn a nice brown when it's put in direct sunlight for a few weeks. Now I’m going to search the forum for tips on drilling side dots.

I’ve used string on my first and this crazy contraption on my second. I was too impatient to stop and make clamps. It was inspired by Ken Timms' plexiglass and screwed down caul system....it worked but you have to be very careful to have your drill clutch set to low, then tighten by hand. If I...

I need to whine a bit and don’t see a dedicated thread for that..... I did a boner move and scraped my binding too thin on one side of the lower bout. This is uke number 2 and I'm trying to incorporate and many new techniques and I can, so it's not surprising that I'd mess up at some point but...

This is my second build and the first with and outside form. I thought that some heavy weights would hold the sides down to the soundboard adequately but was wrong. If I put my desk lamp into the lower bout, I can see light seeping out from between beads of hide glue. The gaps are about wide...

As temperatures drop, my apartment is getting dryer and drier. I try to keep the humidity up but in Canada, levels over 30% are said to increase the likelyhood of mould growth in walls. In February, I’ll be lucky to keep it above 15%. I'm not a big fan of stale air anyway. I made my first uke...

I've been lurking here for a while and thought I'd post my first results. It's an all black walnut soprano with an Osage orange fret board, basically following the Grellier plans. I went a bit too thin on the top and it had a very banjo like sound when strummed harder, so I inserted a single...

I’m starting my second uke and it's going to be a koa tenor. I’m using the Georgia Luthier Supply plans and their accompanying book. Unfortunately the book focuses on an x-Braced guitar at this stage of construction. So the question: the fan braces go over the bridge plate, right? Should they...