When is it scrapped?

camface

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I was just wondering, mostly after seeing many of Timbuck's birdhouses, at what point is a new ukulele beyond fixing? Or are you all just perfectionists? Where do you most often make that unfixable mistake?
 
I make a hell of a lot of mistakes. Not sure if I said it here before, but I learned something from a legendary furniture maker early on. He told me that a good craftsman isn't perfect. He just knows how to recover from mistakes.

I make little ones and big ones. The minor mistakes are usually fixable. This would be something like attaching the wrong type of binding. I'll route it out and install a new one. It's a big pain in the butt, but less work than building from scratch again. Sometimes I might decide to add an inlay to cover a mistake.

Then, there's the big ones. I've smashed a couple instruments while buffing. It's the most depressing/angering/ego deflating/frustrating thing that can happen. Almost all of the work has been done on the instrument, then BOOM! If the cracks are bad, I build a new one. Most of the time, they're bad, if the buffer grabs the instrument.
 
You KNOW when it is not right... the trick is to be honest and not kid yourself! I used to work with a guy who spent more time trying to correct flaws and mistakes than building. Some you can recover; however with a uke, it's such a small thing that redoing it shouldn't be an issue.
 
I was routing off the protuding edges of the front and back of a fresh from the mould soprano like you do..When the cutter came loose out of the chuck like bullet..
The uke exploded in my hands....I looked at the bits for quite a while hoping I could mend it invisibly :mad: I felt really dissapointed and depressed...But as soon as I'd made my mind up that it could not be rescued...I put it on the fire
And watched it burn, and then started on the next.. I soon forgot it..
And it taught me a lesson about routers.:D
 
If you ever hear someone say that they never make a mistake, don't beleive them. Everyone working with wood eventually becomes an expert in fixing thier mistakes.

After making more than my share of mistakes and trying to fix more than a few, I now follow this simple rule. "Life is to short to fix stupid mistakes"

That said, I've been known to name some of my mistakes as "Creative Redesigns" ;) Sometimes I even get away with it. :D

Now a days, when I screw something up, I take it to the bandsaw and cut it in half. Not out of frustration, but to use this as an opportunity to examine my work in a way that you can't with a successfully completed piece.

You can learn a lot by screwing things up... Like what not to do!
 
This is my most famouse mistake I put right..I only did it for a laugh after one side was badly mishapen so I sawed it off and glued a flat side on it..To my supprise I was sent loads of E-Mails with offers...it went for a decent price in the end..I still get enquiries as to when am i Doing another.
PICT0330.jpg
 
Another travel uke?

Ukantor.
 
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