Building the Youthalele

Thanks for the photos and plans.
I think this is the project I need to get out of my funk.

1 question, and maybe I missed it earlier in the thread. Approx how long are the piece(s) used for the sides on the y3?

Thanks again Brad for sharing this
 
Hey steveholt, thanks for asking about the length of the sides. For the soprano Y3, I use the full 24” of the craft plywood, which comes in 12”x 24” pieces. I think Woodcraft sells them at 24”x 24”. The concert and tenor will need 2 piece side assemblies with a heel block. There is some advantage to 2 piece sides, especially when doing a Spanish heel neck joint. The plywood bends very easily except at the ends, where it takes considerable force to bend 1/8” thick wood. I like to add about a 10-15 degree extra bend right on the end of the sides that fit in the slots cut in the heel block. Because of the shape of the sides, these slots are angled forward more than traditional Spanish heel blocks are. The extra little bend on the ends of the sides help fitting them into the slots, but these bends are much easier to do if you have a couple of inches of extra length on the sides for leverage. Then the sides are trimmed to length after they are bent.

Brad
 
Some comments on the materials used

The key concept in building the Youthalele is the use of craft plywood for much of the body construction. For the most part, I have used Midwest Products 1/8” thick birch plywood, but there are other materials out there. Door skins, 1/8” thick are a possibility. Also Midwest products also makes birch plywood in 1/16” thickness. It is more expensive than the 1/8” ply, but it makes a superior sound board. That said, you will need to brace the thinner top appropriate to the size of the ukulele. I have some on order and want to further explore using it for the top and sides. As cost was the primary consideration in the first design, I have not worked much with it yet.

You also need wood for the neck, fretboard and bridge. Walnut is a good wood for the fretboard and bridge. It is fairly easy to find some shorter 1”x3” flatsawn pieces. You can slice off the edge for a glued up fretboard and same idea for the bridge. Any mahogany, fir, cedar or even pine can be used for the neck and end blocks.

Fretwire, tuners and nut/saddle blanks can be ordered via Stew-Mac or LMI. You can also search Amazon or EBay for cheaper options. I recommend using the original Titebond for glue.

Coming up next, I will talk about tools.

Brad
 
That's a very nice and very ambitious project.

For posterity sake, I found a link to a very old and defunct page I did back around 1999. I called it The Plastic Jumping Flea * or * The $12 Uke!, which has been archived and still even has the mp3 sample.

I knew it had been archived, but had to do a search to find it. In doing so, turns out the link had been posted to this forum at least once, back in 2009, probably just before the host called quits.

Anyhow, I still have the uke and still play it. As you can see, it's a very humble design, that still works. Meant really more as an example of what someone who's bored can do with very simple tools. Might be more relevant in the current climate than I ever anticipated!
 
What? No one has built anything they want to share with the group! Besides giving some novice builders something to try, I was hoping some others would be moved to experiment and add to the collective experience. Let me see if I can stir up some action.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/oZ8TfYx7ABwPfjkX9

Concert scale, .024” aluminum disk, braced with 1/2” laminated spruce ring
Brad
 
What? No one has built anything they want to share with the group! Besides giving some novice builders something to try, I was hoping some others would be moved to experiment and add to the collective experience. Let me see if I can stir up some action.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/oZ8TfYx7ABwPfjkX9

Concert scale, .024” aluminum disk, braced with 1/2” laminated spruce ring
Brad

That's a beauty!
 
Not quite ready for show and tell but have a couple in the works.

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This was based on Brad's Youthalele which I built some time ago. I still play it. Brad's plans are a great introduction to Uke building.
 

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What? No one has built anything they want to share with the group! Besides giving some novice builders something to try, I was hoping some others would be moved to experiment and add to the collective experience. Let me see if I can stir up some action.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/oZ8TfYx7ABwPfjkX9

Concert scale, .024” aluminum disk, braced with 1/2” laminated spruce ring
Brad

The idea has me itching to build one, just no free time.
 
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My prototype is finished and sounds pretty good. Next batch has necks built to fit rather than this internet special.

Thanks for the plans and all the info. It is a quick, fun instrument and a reasonable build from scratch for a novice.
 
Thanks very much Brad and Dennis for posting pics of your instruments, very nice work on both of your parts. I have been playing around some, here are some pics of some decorating ideas and my very first holiday themed Youthalele. Anyone up for the Monster Mash!

https://photos.app.goo.gl/oKVDc26nnPNuR4xW9

Brad
 
Coming up next, I will talk about tools.

Brad

For the simplest version of this build, what are the tools needed?

Also, what is the ball park cost to build it? I know it was originally conceived to be built for $10. But I
 
The cost per instrument is based on a number of people getting together and pooling their resources to buy the wood, tuners and fret wire. And I think you would now be looking at around $15 per uke. If you are just making one, $5-$10 more is to be expected.
As for tools, these can be built with hand tools only, provided you have some skill in their use. A small bandsaw or scroll saw would be ideal, but a hand held saber saw will suffice. Some sort of drill and bits, a hammer, small back saw for the fret slots, various clamps, sanding blocks and scrapers are also useful.
Brad
 
$15 might be a little low on the cost per instrument scale. Just for tuners and fret wire eats up the $15.
 
When I initially started the project I was concerned about the cost of tuners. I went so far as to design some do it yourself friction tuners from common hardware items. The solution was found on EBay. Ten years ago I purchased 40 tuners from China for $20. I looked today and you can order 40 for $24.99 with free shipping. Experience tells me that out of the 40, one or two will be rejects and the free shipping is slow, but this is a viable way to keep the cost down. A two foot piece of #764 fret wire from Stew-Mac is $3.10 when you order 3 or more. I pay $7.89 for a 12” x 24” x1/8” piece of craft plywood here on Kauai and am sure that shopping around could save a couple of bucks. So the upshot is I think my cost estimate is fairly accurate.
Brad
 
Aloha everyone. The big challenge of this project is to keep the construction process as simple as possible, while making the finished product as desirable as I can. For me, slicing off a fretboard on my bandsaw is easy, but can be a challenge if you lack a power saw. Here is a glued up design that can be made with a hand saw out a 1x6 flatsawn board and a contrasting slice of wood. You just cut two 1/4” thick pieces from the edge of the 1x6, add the contrasting strip of hardwood and edge glue them together. Very easy to do, but the results are beautiful. A glued up bridge is another idea for those that lack an easy way to cut the saddle slot in the bridge blank.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/goZ65XNueULaNkRT6

Brad
Hi Brad - could you please double check this link? It seems broken (at least for me). Thanks!
 
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