One of My Current Builds

Dominator

Well-known member
Joined
Dec 8, 2007
Messages
1,883
Reaction score
68
Location
Sparks, NV
Off and on since July I've been working on completing a couple of sopranos and two tenors. One of the tenors is for Kevin Crossett, the host of the Uketalk forum. When I got to installing the binding I ran short on purfling material so I moved onward with this spruce top that I'm planning to use during my performance at SCUF and the Wine Country Ukulele Festival in October. The delivery truck from Stew Mac was here today so I will be able to resume work on Kevin's tenor very soon.

Here are a couple of pics of a spruce top with walnut sides and back. The materials are first class. They were given to me by Pete Howlett from UK Ukes a couple of years back. This is my first slotted headstock. I'm pretty excited about getting this one finished because it's been since November of last year that I completed my last two ukes.

I just need to make a bridge and locate it and then start the finishing process. I have a number of upcoming weekends booked with gigs or other happenings but I think I'm still on target to get it completed for SCUF. Wish me luck folks.

BTW, excuse my photography because it stinks.

spruce1.JPG

spruce2.JPG

spruce3.JPG
 
Last edited:
Really nice choice of wood colors using dark, medium and light tones. Love the simple sound hole accent and unique offset position of the fret markers. I'm not a fan of slotted style headstocks but like how you used the dark wood on it to flow into the fret board. Can't wait to see the finished piece! How about a sound clip too!! :D
 
Very nice indeed. That walnut looks absolutely fabulous.
 
You're one of those rare guys that need not be buying `ukulele from anyone else - just make them yourself, and play them yourself. How self gratifying is that??!!!?

For me, I just gotta live vicariously through my kids, who get to play what they want (and build if they want to, which, one of them did, so far).

Nice work.

-Aaron
 
holy moly that is one beauticul uke, i love the inlays and whatnot its just amazing that you can do this, whered you learn?
 
Wow, that is beautiful! I can't wait to see it when it's finished. Funny... I can't even play a ukulele yet, but I already want to build one. :)
 
Thanks everbody. Yeah, I can't wait to hear what she will sound like also.

holy moly that is one beauticul uke, i love the inlays and whatnot its just amazing that you can do this, whered you learn?

Well, I started dabbling in woodworking in 1986. I bought a radial arm saw from Sears after watching an episode of The New Yankee Workshop with Norm Abram on PBS. I started off building octagon shaped picnic tables and then various furniture projects for the house. Actually, I built a workbench and some other items for the shop first.

I had open heart surgery in Dec of 2003 and was already thinking about building an ukulele. I bought a couple of books, one on guitar making and another about the ukulele. I studied these during my recovery process and then started off experimenting with a cheap soprano kit from Grizzly. I have not updated my wwing website in ages but you can see photos of my early uke building escapades at http://www.rockslide.org/wood.html.

I owe a great deal of what I've learned regarding ukulele building from Dave Means, Kevin Crossett, Mike DaSilva, Pete Howlett, William King and the list goes on and on. Dave Means has single handedly provided me with 90% of what I know about building.

I've only built less than a dozen instruments to date so I'm working on gaining the intuitive experience to know how to get the best out of a particular build. This is the part that is the hardest and will take the most time to learn.
 
Love the simple sound hole accent and unique offset position of the fret markers.

The coolest bit about the offset fret markers is that they also serve as side dots.

OK. Maybe that's not the coolest bit. Maybe evoking a tiny bit of the art deco movement is the coolest bit. But it's still cool.
 
great photos! man, that's a nice woodshop Dom! must be nice to have all those tools at your disposal.

oh, and rockin' moustache too!:)
 
gorgeous dom! keep it up. i might buy one of these bad boys off of you!

:p
 
Top Bottom