LfdM super tenor build in progress

kerneltime said:
I though my UAS would pause with a MBU.. but then I got an Ono and a Les.. and I feel that I have not even started my journey.. sigh!
Congratulations! I envy how you could personalize this thanks to proximity!
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Thank you, I know all too well that UAS is never cured, just goes into remission from time to time.. I am spoiled with Luis living so close, just came back from his shop and took the fretboard pics. The headstock shape is not his usual snake head shape. Luis and I came up with it for my baritone. He says I have the copyright on it and he won't use it on other ukes......but I am fine if he does. We just designed a new shape for my bridge, gonna have to wait to see that folks, still just on paper
 
Radused fingerboard is ready to be fretted. I am really happy with the strips and colors in the macassar ebony fingerboard. The maple binding and red purfing are doing it for me as well. That was Luis's idea, I always believe in letting the luthier have some artistic freedom.

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DownUpDave said:
More progress is being made. We picked a nice striped piece of macassar ebony for the fretboard, neck is spanish cedar. The headstock overlay is brazilian rosewood, looks great with some lighter fluid splashed on it, the colors pop.

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Looking Goooood Dave! Really nice headstock. I'm sure that you are pleased, I would be. I appreciated the opportunity to specify the pyramid bridge and headstock inlay of my BH. How could we not bond with an instrument that has a little part of us in it?
 
More progress, the frets are installed on the finger board and it is glued to the neck. No that is not the final neck shape, don't like them that fat, lol:p. The neck has been fitted to the body, Luis uses a bolt on.

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Nice! Yeah, needs a "little" more carving on the neck. :) This is gonna look great - love the "lighter fluid" (seriously? :eek:) shots previewing the finished look. :cool:
 
Jim Hanks said:
Nice! Yeah, needs a "little" more carving on the neck. :) This is gonna look great - love the "lighter fluid" (seriously? :eek:) shots previewing the finished look. :cool:
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Yea Ronson lighter fluid. See the picture below, bottom right hand corner you can see part of the bottle. Anybody who was or is a smoker and owned a Zippo lighter will recognize the yellow and blue container

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The arm rest, bindings and purfing are being added. The arm rest starts off as a piece of Spanish cedar glued into the body, see first picture. The top is glued in place then Luis hand carves the profile and adds the wood veneer to it, in this case Brazilian rosewood to match the bridge, rosette and headstock overlay.

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The rosewood has been added to the arm rest. If you look carefully you can see the bindings and purfing in place, black, white and red.

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That’s pretty darn cool, Dave. I have wondered how they did the beveled arm rest. Now I know. Thanks for keeping us up to date on the progress. Now I just have to clean the drool off the keyboard.
 
That is going to be an astonishing looking and sounding instrument Dave.

Your headstock design is very classy and I love what Luis did with the angled wood grain.

The arm rest looks fantastic with the way the grain wraps it. Really pretty.

Can't wait to see the finished piece. It's going to be absolutely stunning.
 
Oh my gosh!!! It is turning out wonderfully, can’t wait to hear it. The arm bevel turned out beautiful and the binding with red purfling on the fretboard is fabulous.
 
@ Osprey...Hey Cliff the arm rest building process is very involved and I find it interesting as well. It looks like it just grows out of the body

@ Ken2018... Thank you for the nice compliments, you have a great eye for detail. Luis puts a lot of thought into the design and details. There are somethings he refuses to do because they either don't look right or effect the sound. But he is flexible and likes a challenge

@ Spicy Steve...Thanks Steve it is turning out even better than initially conceived. As things evolve changes or little touches are made.

@ Hollis....I sure wish you lived closer. You could play this and any one of my other ukes
 
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The neck is carved to final shape. It has been fitted and everything is as it should be. A complete final sanding, removal of the neck, it is a bolt on, then the finishing process starts. This will be the final post in this thread.

Thanks to everyone that followed along and commented. It is always fun sharing in the building process as we all learn something. Plus we all love pictures and Luis is very generous with them. When it is in my hands I will do a NUD to show the finished product and a bit of a suprise.

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