Still not satisfied after 5 years

I've had the tools and wood ready to make my first ukulele for ages now, still not found enough time to really get stuck in.
I don't expect to produce anything really nice first attempt, but also don't expect to make a piece of junk.
In my head I'm telling myself I won't let that happen and I'll keep at it til I get it right. I'll probably never be 100% happy with any build, but for me that doesn't matter. The fact I get to design and chose woods for my own instruments is all the motivation I need to keep going (Speaking as just a hobby builder obviously)

I should probably add that unfortunately due to financial circumstances I recently sold the few ukes I owned, so all I have now is wood and tools. Lets hope I can make something playable!:)
 
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In my day job as a graphic artist I remember the feeling of turning in work that I wished I had more time with to make better. Some years later I came to learn when to stop and say 'its finished', before I screwed it up. Its been 14 years and I see similar feelings in my instrument making. -Vince
 
Bumped up this old thread ..just to let you know nothings changed! 11 years now and I'm still struggling and geting things wrong... and the perfect build has yet to come :(
 
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I didn't see this thread, back in the day, but can certainly relate to it. Absolute perfection probably cannot happen. If an artifact is good enough then it could be said to be perfectly suited to its intended purpose.

When my son was about fourteen years old, he made a kitchen spatula for his Mum, in his school woodwork class. He was terribly disappointed with the resulting implement and would have destroyed it, if I had not encouraged him to accept it as it was. It was actually a really good effort.

My late wife was highly delighted with it, and it is still in use today, thirty-four years later. My son is still a perfectionist, but I'm sure he learned a lesson from that spatula.

John Colter
 
Indeed, I am too often irritated with myself for mistakes I make. Then I rewatched a video with master luthier Jay Lichty. He was relating a story from early in his career, where he'd been building a while but was still frustrated with making mistakes. He asked a much more experienced builder if there ever came a time when one stops making what I call "unforced errors". The guy's response" "Never . . . you just get better at fixing those mistakes".

What I took from that story is that it's OK to forgive myself for those mistakes, and just continue to strive to be better.
 
tonyturley said:
He asked a much more experienced builder if there ever came a time when one stops making what I call "unforced errors". The guy's response" "Never . . . you just get better at fixing those mistakes".
Click to expand...

I'm not sure I've got to the point where I'm better at fixing my mistakes. Has anyone a cure for impatience-that's behind many of my mistakes?
 
With EVERY build, I make mistakes, learn new things, and figure out ways to do it better or quicker, or both.
 
I think it was Voltaire who said "Perfect is the enemy of good".
Microsoft have built an empire out of releasing flawed products then improving them over time.
Miguel
 
If anyone on this forum builds consistently perfect ukuleles it has to be Allen and his shop out of Queensland, Australia. Look pretty damn perfect to me...

I built the perfect uke once. An EI rosewood and spruce tenor. Not a mistake made. Never gave me any problems. Came out beautiful and sounded like a cannon. I thought, "I've got it now!". Next uke fraught me like a tiger and it was back to the usual grind. You do learn to recover from mistakes and hide flaws over time which I actually find enjoyable. Advice: Make sure your neck block is perfect. A lot of things flow out of that little piece of wood and imperfections down the line (ex. binding) caused by an imperfect neck block will keep you chasing mistakes.
 
Moore Bettah Ukuleles said:
I don’t make mistakes.
I make opportunities for growth! ;)
Click to expand...

Chuck, love this!
Our students got to pick a motto for our kid's ukulele summer camps. They called it Perfect Enough. It's on our shirts.
I love compliments too, when we pull off a song that's perfect enough, it makes my day.
I assure you, Ken, if I ever buy a soprano ukulele, it's gonna be a Timms. From all I've heard, yours are perfect enough.
 
I used to do a lot of quilting and was told Amish women always sew a small flaw into every quilt so it wouldn’t be perfect because only God is perfect. Not sure if this is true of every Amish community but you can see a triangle sewn in upside down on some of the old quilts.
 
Timbuck said:
Does anyone know how to build one that you are 100% pleased with ?..from start to finish. :confused:
Click to expand...

Ken, I have one soprano made by you. I have tryed to find mistakes or something that could be done better, but I havent found anything. You make perfect ukes or you are master of hiding mistakes.
 
The truth is, when all is said and done, anything man made will never be perfect, that is a fact. The satisfaction comes from knowing that you have tried to do the best you could.
 
When I was a fabrication inspector in the construction business I remember checking out an 8' x 5'x 1" thick steel plate straight from the Rolling mill...It looked horrible :( thickness varied all over it.. it had ripples in it from the rolling and it was dished about 3" in the middle...So I got on the phone to British Steel at Redcar and complained about it...A couple of hours later along came a British Steel Inspector to have a look at it..He got out a set of specifications from his brief case and together we measured up all the defects and compared them with the spec sheet and to my surprise every defect was just within tolerance...British Steel said they would send us another just to keep us happy..but it just goes to show how a thing can look bad but it is still ok to use ..So I guess i'll just have to be contented if my work is within tolerance (Whatever that is :) )
 
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