Not your Grandpa's Cigar Box Uke

I have a solara (is that the right name?) for each ukulele style. There is a centerline along the length. You can see in the photo...a thin piece of wood held down with a screw. This locks the body in perfect alignment with the solara. Note the hole in the solara where the sound hole lines up. I leave the screwed down strip in place when I glue on the back, The little hole gives me access to the hold down strip. I insert a screwdriver and break the wood strip in order to release the body from the solera.
Most of my builds are with a Spanish heel. I get everything lined up with the center line and epoxy the soundboard to the neck. Then I fit the sides by inserting them into the slots in the neck.
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Also, I got back to working on the asymmetrical cigarbox. I got the first two coats of TruOil on.
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BTW, I also leave the the fretboard as the last step so that I can work on a flat solara.
 
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Sorry to hijack your thread, David. I am curious about the instrument with the Maple bindings and tapered body in post #22. How did you disassemble the original finger joints without damaging the body?
 
I use a hot putty knife to remove the bottom of the box. The fingerjoints tend to come loose with a little wiggling because the old glue is dry and has lost its strength. Sometimes I use a hot iron to soften the glue.
 
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I finally got around to finishing this cigar box ukulele.
It is all Koa...neck and body.
Looks and sounds great.
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Beautiful work, David. I hope I can reach that level of craftsmanship some day . . . maybe by the time I turn 70. :D
 
Thank you for the nice comments. It has a pleasant "island" sound...with all that koa and Uke Logic strings.
 
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