Stew Mac Kit Questions

Pondoro

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So I bought a Stewart MacDonald baritone kit. I've made four ukes, two cigar box and two pineapple. I cheated on the pineapples and laminated the sides from veneer, so I've never heated and bent wood. So I'm a bit experienced. To get a figure 8 baritone I just bought the kit, the sides are pre bent.

This kit has lots of good reviews, the negative reviews have to do with the sides not being tapered. The body is as thick at the neck as it is at the tail. I'd like to taper the already bent sides.

Questions:
What is a good thickness at the neck and tail?

I was considering marking the sides with a pencil and then just sanding away the excess wood, using sandpaper on a long flat board. Is this a practical method?

Thanks
 
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About 2 3/4" at the tail and 3 3/8" at the heel. Are the back and top flat or convex? If flat, it's much simpler. Start by taking the bulk of the excess off with a small plane. Finish it by sanding with a long board and you'll be fine as long as the rim sits flat on a flat surface (both top and bottom).
 
About 2 3/4" at the tail and 3 3/8" at the heel. Are the back and top flat or convex? If flat, it's much simpler. Start by taking the bulk of the excess off with a small plane. Finish it by sanding with a long board and you'll be fine as long as the rim sits flat on a flat surface (both top and bottom).

The back and top are flat.
 
I taper the sides by making the neck block 1/4" shorter than the tail block (1/4"over 12" slope). Glue in linings on the back sides gradually tapering to the tail block. I do this by eye so that both sides have identical wood showing above the linings. I then remove the excess wood from the sides with a mini-plane and then sand down on a flat board with a 24" sanding disc until the sides are flush with the linings like so:

24_Sanding_Disc.jpg

Viola! Tapered body.
 
I taper the sides by making the neck block 1/4" shorter than the tail block (1/4"over 12" slope). Glue in linings on the back sides gradually tapering to the tail block. I do this by eye so that both sides have identical wood showing above the linings. I then remove the excess wood from the sides with a mini-plane and then sand down on a flat board with a 24" sanding disc until the sides are flush with the linings like so:

View attachment 114559

Viola! Tapered body.

This seems pretty straightforward and hard to mess up.
 
It has been my experience that almost anything can be messed up. Murphy's Law #2: Nothing is as simple as it at first appears.

Recursive Murphy's Law: Nothing is as simple as it first appears, even if you take Murphy's law into account.
 
It has been my experience that almost anything can be messed up. Murphy's Law #2: Nothing is as simple as it at first appears.

In my opinion, most things are far simpler than they first appear to be.
 
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