Group photos

Time is short, so I'm just going to post these two group photos of some more recent builds. They are in chronological order from left to right. May I introduce....

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• CT 400, spruce/cherry, know as "Favorita"
• Boat paddle 420, spruce/walnut/flamed maple, "Skipper"
• Cigar box 340, cedar/walnut, "Brasiliera"
• Soprano 340, spruce/quilted maple, "Isabel"
• 1/2 Cigar box 170, cedar/cherry, "Shaker"
• Tenor 410 cutaway, cedar/walnut, "Pauline"
• Boat paddle 410, spruce/maple, "Voyager"

There are stories to tell about all of them, an I hope I'll find time soon - one at a time. Of course, your questions are by all means welcome.

Hope you find the time to tell us more Erich. I love the cutaway tenor.

I like the way you have tried different shapes... I think the one with the two soundholes on either side of the fingerboard should have the string pegs shaped like teeth. Really. It would look like a Hawaiian totem. Cool looking uke.

sequoia said:

I like the way you have tried different shapes... I think the one with the two soundholes on either side of the fingerboard should have the string pegs shaped like teeth. Really. It would look like a Hawaiian totem. Cool looking uke.

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Haha, interesting idea with the teeth - others have seen an owl, a tribal mask, a boat, and so on in the "Skipper's" design.

To give you all a little background on this uke:



I made this for my brother who, at the time, lived on a boat docked on the coast of Oahu - hence the boat paddle theme. When it was finished I got to thinking that the bridge pins might pop out when you put new strings on and tune them up - I've never had them pop while playing, but it has happened on different instruments occasionally during tune-up. If it should happen on deck, the pin might go flying over board, so I decided to put her away and make something else for him.

In the meantime, his boat was tragically blown offshore during a storm and went under - with all his earthly possessions on board. So he comes back from a trip to Boston and... :wtf: where's my boat?

There's a little floating compass inlayed into the head. It's held in by the wooden ring around it - so if the compass should ever need to be replaced, you can just unscrew the ring and pop a new one in.

Because of the small sound holes, I couldn't use my standard bolt-on neck attachment with the bolt accessed through the sound hole. So I revived an idea I came up with for my Cinquecento octave bass years ago: the cross-dowel is inserted lengthwise into the neck and the bolt goes in from the back.

I'm not normally a big fan of using different woods for the sides than for the back. I don't remember why I didn't use maple for the sides, but I am happy with how it turned out: walnut sides, maple back.

Since the fretboard is walnut and the bridge is maple, this actually qualifies as a "native woods only" uke - a concept I have followed with several instruments in recent years.

Sven said:

Hope you find the time to tell us more Erich. I love the cutaway tenor.

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Thanks Sven, the cutaway tenor, Pauline, is now my favorite by far - she's the one I play every day :music:



As I pointed out in the recent thread on wood vs. plastic binding, I ended up putting ivoroid cellulose binding on this one after breaking a bunch of maple binding strips at the tip of the cutaway.

A propos cutaway, I don't actually go that far up the fretboard all that much, but I have really learned to appreciate the cutaway on the Pauline. I've been learning new repertoire that uses 7th position much more.

The combination of cedar top on walnut back and sides is a classic in guitars - haven't seen it that much in ukes, but it definitely works. Sweet, mellow, balanced, with lots of sustain.

You have time to play every day? You lucky man. I keep an acoustic bass at the office but now the colleagues start shouting after only a few metal riffs. If I play the uke at home my kids remember their piano and flute homework and tell me to "stop making a racket so they can hear themselves play".

excellent collection, to have made all those styles is amazing!

Sven said:

You have time to play every day? You lucky man. I keep an acoustic bass at the office but now the colleagues start shouting after only a few metal riffs. If I play the uke at home my kids remember their piano and flute homework and tell me to "stop making a racket so they can hear themselves play".

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They sound like tough negotiators, maybe you could offer them a truce of some kind, like "for every A you get in school I'll take a day off playing the ukulele" "Dad, how are we supposed to get A's with you making such a racket every day?"