What's happening in your shed?

ukantor said:

They might as well send you a photo of a small sapling and ask you to be patient.

John Colter

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I'm in no rush. I have plenty to keep me busy - computer, TV, naps.

tonyturley said:

but I'm finding more and more I'm not comfortable with a full size body and fretboard,

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I got out my dreadnought guitar the other day to do some guitar playing and after playing the uke for so long it felt like I was holding a small pony in my lap. A very uncomfortable feeling. Now I'm just back to playing ukulele... Nice bear-claw figure. Should really pop after it is finished.

My recently completed baritone, made from exotic Lowe's poplar. I used the Favilla shown with it as my model.

Looks pretty darn good... Yes, the rare Lowe's Poplar. Not on the CITES list.

Very nice looking, Tom.

That's beautiful!

Looks good! How does it sound? Poplar is a lighter, soft hardwood so I'd think it would make a decent instrument.

Yes, poplar is a softer hardwood, and it was very easy to work. I think it sounds really good, better than I expected.

Other details: Fingerboard and bridge are pau ferro. Head plate is walnut. Neck laminations and rosette are cherry and maple. Plastic tortoise binding. Spanish heel construction. Three spruce fan top braces.

I've built with more 'normal' tone woods; mahogany, cherry, maple, koa, etc, and really wanted to try some inexpensive wood, especially for trying new designs. I'm very pleased with it and it won't be the last poplar instrument I make. If you keep checking the rack in the store, every once in a while you can find a quartersawn board with interesting color variations.

This was also the first time I cut the saddle slot after gluing the bridge on, instead of trying to measure and hope I got it right. I used a round piece of rod on top of the unmilled bridge as a temporary saddle. I moved the rod around until the intonation was as good as I could get it, and marked the line for the saddle. It worked our really well for me and I think I'll do that from now on.

Ok, now I've put poplar on my "future builds" list. Mate it with walnut for a neck, black locust, osage orange, or persimmon for a fb and it would be all local woods.

Around here I've seen a lot of funky green color in poplar. Could be an interesting look.

I like your method for locating the saddle. I'll have to give that a try too.

I have used poplar for other non-instrument projects and I've found that any greenish tinge turns more brown after it's finished and given some time.

Some of the poplar I've got has more purplish and greyish streaks, no green.

Check out "rainbow poplar". I've never seen it but I guess it's a thing.

Today I’m making swarfe.....and it’s such a pleasant change from making sawdust.....I’ve got to keep those old 10-20’s going I sold two repair kits last week.

4847EDFB-E056-40E7-A6C0-23705BDA1007 by Ken Timms, on Flickr

2A686C26-1CCE-4ADF-9FEF-26ACA7632A1E by Ken Timms, on Flickr

Timbuck said:

Today I’m making swarfe.....and it’s such a pleasant change from making sawdust.....I’ve got to keep those old 10-20’s going I sold two repair kits last week.

4847EDFB-E056-40E7-A6C0-23705BDA1007 by Ken Timms, on Flickr

2A686C26-1CCE-4ADF-9FEF-26ACA7632A1E by Ken Timms, on Flickr

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Looks like fun.

If you run out of things to make with your 3D printer, how about figures from The Umbrella Academy?

https://www.instructables.com/id/Cu...avori/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email

The cutting, drilling, carving, scraping, and sanding are behind me, and the fun part of applying the finish to the baritone uke body has begun. The epoxy pore fill process on the Black Walnut was a pain, but well worth the effort.

tonyturley said:

The cutting, drilling, carving, scraping, and sanding are behind me, and the fun part of applying the finish to the baritone uke body has begun. The epoxy pore fill process on the Black Walnut was a pain, but well worth the effort.

View attachment 128246

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Nice. I used that Tru-Oil on uke or two. The epoxy fill is new to me.

Jerryc41 said:

Nice. I used that Tru-Oil on uke or two. The epoxy fill is new to me.

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Epoxy pore fill is something I first learned about watching Robert O'Brien's Advanced Ukulele Online Course with Jay Lichty. It involves applying a thin layer of a finishing resin like Z-Poxy over a porous wood. It needs to be forced into the grain with a squeegee, or in my case, a small piece of 1/64" ply used as such. Scrape as much of the excess off as possible, watching for runs on the edges. The next day when the resin has cured, scrape as much of the surface resin off as possible, until the entire surface is a dull white, and apply a second coat. Then comes the fun part.

When the second coat has cured, again scrape as much of the surface resin off as possible. Then take a random orbit sander with 180 or 220 grit paper, and begin sanding the surface. The idea is to sand all the way back to bare wood, leaving only the wood grain filled with resin. Even "sandable" resin is tenacious, and this step takes a while. In my case, I did the back and each side separately before doing the final overall sanding. Any resin left on the surface will show as gummy white patches. It may just be me, but I don't think this step could be done with a sanding block unless one enjoys sore elbows and hour upon hour of sanding.

When all the surface resin was removed, I cleaned all the surfaces carefully of sanding dust, and rubbed on a thin wash coat of shellac to check for any areas I might have missed. I didn't, and I was really pleased with how well the grain had filled.

I forgot to mention perhaps the most important parts: if you can, take the project outside (unless you have really good dust & particle collection), and wear a mask! This is a messy process.

Scraping back some gold on my 100th instrument (tenor uke)

Another Titch the clown ukulele about to be sent to its new owner. A Turtle ukulele, this one has a groovy paint job. Messmate fretboard with gum inclusions , abalone shell fret dots (Dumpling inn Jamison does delicious abalone), sealed tuners and flourocarbon fishing line strings. If you want to be taken seriously as a ukulele maker you should never add googly eyes.

Titchtheclown said:

Another Titch the clown ukulele about to be sent to its new owner. A Turtle ukulele, this one has a groovy paint job. Messmate fretboard with gum inclusions , abalone shell fret dots (Dumpling inn Jamison does delicious abalone), sealed tuners and flourocarbon fishing line strings. If you want to be taken seriously as a ukulele maker you should never add googly eyes.

View attachment 128331
View attachment 128332

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Looks good! Clever.

An Elmer the elephant fan art ukulele about to wander off to meet its new owner. The fret dots are upcycled from all sorts of multicolored carefully selected random bits of of plastic waste. The tuners were mandolin tuners with the backing plate hacked about with to fit.

I have changed the A string 3 times because the 40 lb line is just refusing to intonate properly. I have only rarely had a problem with this Berkley Vanish flourocarbon fishing line strings but it is clear from how little I have left that it is the 40 that is playing up most often.

The final coats of Tru-Oil have been applied on the baritone ukulele project. I'll now set the project aside and allow the finish to cure a couple of weeks before final polishing and assembly. The tuners will be Gotoh UKA nickle finish with black buttons.