Chambered body mandolele

I have dozens of projects on my bench but this is the first uke I've completed. I've done woodworking much of my life but never made anything like this. I'm very grateful to all the luthiers and hobbyists here who share knowledge and info to make these projects possible.


Specs:

Mandolele - concert scale
Body is padauk over a center section of basswood. Body is 1 3/4” thick.

Neck is a purchased maple neck from CB Gitty. The headstock was laminated on both sides with curly anigre veneer.

The neck is attached to the body with a cross dowel and glue. The cross dowel is in the neck and the bolt comes up through the body. The cross dowel is hidden behind the heel cap on the neck. Padauk inlays were added to the neck heel.

The fretboard is 1/4” zebrawood with gold mother of pearl fret markers and plastic side dots.
Fretboard has a zero fret. String retainer and saddle are GraphTech Tusq.

“Justin” and “P” logos were done with heat transfer vinyl.

It has a good quality under saddle passive piezo purchased from Guitar Fuel on eBay.

The bridge is made from hard maple inlaid with paduak.

The gold tuners were removed from my Kala Cedar Comfort Edge Uke. (I replaced mine with silver, I like less bling).
I put Savarez Alliance 140R Ukulele Set strings on it.

More details in next post...

This uke is a gift for a friend (yes Justin). I'm very pleased with the outcome even though it's riddled with small imperfections (much like it's maker).

The bridge is doweled and glued to the body. The cross dowel is buried in the heel and the bolt goes up through the body. A decorative heel cap was added to hide it. It is not serviceable; the neck has been permanently attached. I chambered the uke mostly to reduce the weight. The f holes are purely decorative. The acoustic volume is quite low. It will be used for gigs so it will always be played plugged in.

Tru Oil finish on the body, the fretboard and neck are finished with Tried and True Danish Oil for a more "in the wood" finish. The neck was buffed out with steel wool to remove any gloss (personal preference).

Very cool. Love the look. So it is standard gCEA tuning? Or something closer to mandolin/mandola tuning?

It's standard high G tuning. It only takes a few styling tips from the mandolin.

Very nice, looks great, love the padauk. I had a custom mandolele made by Bruce Wei a few years ago. I added the tailpiece and first two fret markers.

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This is Michael Kohan in Los Angeles, Beverly West near the Beverly Center
9 tenor cutaway ukes, 5 acoustic bass ukes, 11 solid body bass ukes, 9 mini electric bass guitars (Total: 34)

• Donate to The Ukulele Kids Club, they provide ukuleles to children in hospital music therapy programs. www.theukc.org
• Member The CC Strummers: YouTube: www.youtube.com/user/CCStrummers/video, Facebook: www.facebook.com/TheCCStrummers

Thanks Mike. I remember seeing that when you had it made. I had PM'd you with some questions about it. Really love it, Bruce did a great job.

Oh yes, thanks for reminding me. You did a great job.

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This is Michael Kohan in Los Angeles, Beverly West near the Beverly Center
9 tenor cutaway ukes, 5 acoustic bass ukes, 11 solid body bass ukes, 9 mini electric bass guitars (Total: 34)

• Donate to The Ukulele Kids Club, they provide ukuleles to children in hospital music therapy programs. www.theukc.org
• Member The CC Strummers: YouTube: www.youtube.com/user/CCStrummers/video, Facebook: www.facebook.com/TheCCStrummers

Am I right in thinking that these are both ukuleles? The "mando" part of the name comes from the body shape, but there is nothing in the sound or playability that makes it a "mando"lele. In other words, it's played just like a ukulele?
I love the appearance of both of these ukes.

Do you think the chambering effects the sound in any way?