Online uke building course

tonyturley

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This morning I purchased Jay Lichty's Advanced Ukulele Building course. I've long wanted to go to a guitar or uke building workshop, but just couldn't justify the high cost, especially when travel and lodging costs were considered. Produced and sold through O'Brien Guitars, the videos are of extremely high quality. I downloaded all 18+ hours to my SSD storage drive so I could watch them off-line, although online viewing is an option if so desired.

I'm hoping these videos will help me up my skills a notch or two. I seem to make bone-headed mistakes that irk the daylights out of me. Jay's instruments are of incredible quality, and he's a fantastic player, too. He seems like a personable guy, and he replied very quickly when I e-mailed him a question. I'm going to enjoy this series. It was $267 if anyone else is interested, and it's at obrienguitars.com.
 
I've watched many of Robbie's free YT videos. In this course he took his video equipment to Jay's NC workshop, and filmed Jay building an upscale tenor uke. I wish I'd had teachers like Jay when I was in school. He comes across as relaxed and confident, but down to earth at the same time. He even talks about mistakes he made in his early years. I watched a couple hours worth of the videos yesterday. He and Robbie seem to have a similar sense of humor, too.
 
I've been increasingly frustrated with myself on the way the bindings were turning out on my current tenor uke build. After watching the video segments in this course where Jay demonstrates cutting channels, gluing, and trimming bindings, I made the immediate decision to start over on my own uke bindings. I routed out all of my bindings, carefully following Jay's suggestions on how to get an even channel. Now that I have fresh channels, I'm restart the bending and gluing process this week.
 
As Robie O'Brian once said in one of his Youtube videos, "A poor binding job can ruin an otherwise perfect build" (or words to that effect). The eye is automatically drawn to even minute imperfections here and you have to get it right.
 
On my first attempt, I mucked up my bindings twice - rounding the corners too thin while trying to get the sides flush. Then I switched to a lightly cambered scraper and it went perfectly. I picked up the set that Lee Valley sells, which are thinner/more flexible than the old Sandvick ones I started with.
 
Yeah, the bindings on my other build, a nylon tenor guitar, aren't perfect either, but they're not so bad that I'm going to redo them. I was working on the uke bindings around 0430 this morning, and so far, this set fits a lot better. I'll just chalk these up to learning.
 
I too found the videos worthwhile. They confirmed that I am doing many things right, and also gave me many ideas on how to improve my instruments.
 
I wonder what the differences are between the O'Brien Ukulele building course taught with Heidi Litke of Red Sands Ukuleles vs the one you purchased Advanced Ukulele Building with Jay Lichty? Any comments welcome.
 
According to Robbie, Heidi's videos are for a more basic uke. Jay's course delves into making a cutaway, bindings, a side sound port, installing a pickup, crafting an end graft, and adding an arm bevel.
 
According to Robbie, Heidi's videos are for a more basic uke. Jay's course delves into making a cutaway, bindings, a side sound port, installing a pickup, crafting an end graft, and adding an arm bevel.

Thanks for your comment
 
Not for the faint-hearted then?
I think anyone with patience and perseverance could tackle those tasks, although not necessarily to a high standard. I added bindings, a bound side port, and a pickup to my first uke, and while there was room for improvement, I'm pleased with how it came out.
 
Heidi builds with a Spanish heel. Jay uses a bolt-on neck with mortise and tenon. Both are overly complicated. Both will work. Heidi's instruction stays beginnerish, though she and Robbie apparently talked it over and added some more advanced treatments at the end. Both employ machinery that a beginner is unlikely to own unless he comes from a woodworking background. Just because Jay builds a uke with all the bells and whistles doesn't mean a beginner has to employ those tricks, so his videos will work just as well for a first-time builder. I picked up solid tips from both, though more so from Jay.
 
Yeah, I forgot to include the bolted mortise and tenon joint in my list above. I haven't seen Heidi's videos, just Robert's description of them. I've also picked up some solid tips from Jay's videos. I wasn't trying to say a beginner needs to add all of Jay's enhancements. I do have a woodworking background, and although I'm fairly new to instrument building, I'm not afraid to dive in and attempt complicated tasks. That's why I chose Jay's course. I don't consider myself a luthier . . . just a hobbyist who enjoys building stringed instruments, and I'll take all the help I can get.
 
i’m working on my first two ‘ukuleles and picked up jay’s course. really liking it and it’s been super helpful. i’m not making the style ‘ukulele that’s in the course, but i am able to use almost everything in the videos to adapt to my build. just wish i had a drum sander and table saw, but i’m making due without them.
 
There is so much content on the internet that purchased courses seem to me to be redundant now... despite how good or otherwise they may be. It's the reason I haven't done it because nothing can replace an in-person course.
 
I’ve watched both Heidi’s and Jay’s workshops. Heidi’s is very step by step and if you follow it, you can build a very nice ukulele. I did. Jay’s is a little less specific, but also quite good and I think is a great follow up to Heidi’s.

I’m not sure what Pete’s photo is above but I can also recommend Pete’s neck shaping class. It’s too bad you didn’t do more of them Pete!
 
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