Recently a friend asked me if I would help his daughter make a ukulele. And after some discussions and planning, we agreed that rather than charging him for doing the work, he would buy two sets of materials and I would make one for myself and help her with hers at the same time.
So, after a few weeks of planning and research, we are getting close to finalising designs and ordering the materials.
Now, while a uke isn't a guitar, they do have a lot in common. And it should be a lot quicker to build than a guitar.
So, if the interest is here, I'd be more than happy to post a build diary with pics. What do you all think?
Construction wise, ukes are pretty much the same as acoustics. So it should be useful to anyone interested in building their own acoustic guitar. And it should be equally relevant to anyone interested in a flat top mandolin too.
Looks like we will be building two Tenor Ukuleles. I've spent the last couple of weeks working on plans. Ruth found a pic of one with a cutaway, so I've managed to scale that up into a drawing for her approval. I am going for a standard body. Once the drawings are agreed, I'll turn them into templates and moulds, and we'll be ordering the woods.
But to wet your appetites...
I've already come up with a theme and ideas for inlay for mine. So watch out for something on some unusual inlay techniques, this will be a first for me. And as I would have to modify other truss rods, I am considering making them from scratch.
i have read that George Harrison traveled with two ukuleles - the story goes - it was just incase he ran he ran into someone who could also play. Ukulele duets! i cant wait!
zen - you and Ruth should make dvds.
Stan wrote:i have read that George Harrison traveled with two ukuleles - the story goes - it was just incase he ran he ran into someone who could also play.
Or because when your plane goes down and you're stuck on a desert island, it's better to have two paddles for your raft.
Stan wrote:i have read that George Harrison traveled with two ukuleles - the story goes - it was just incase he ran he ran into someone who could also play.
Or because when your plane goes down and you're stuck on a desert island, it's better to have two paddles for your raft.
Zen has converted me on Ukes: amongst other things they make a great starter intrument for kids. (If you can stop your three-year-old playing it with their feet, that is).
However, my mate left his banjo on the back seat of the car whilst he went shopping the other day. When he came out of the lift on his way back he could see that the glass of his rear window had been smashed.
He ran back to his car that to find that some bugger had put another fecking banjo on his back seat!!!
I've bought all the materials for the jigs, and cut them down to size ready to cut out templates and moulds over the next couple of days. Both instruments will be made with Hawaiian Pheasantwood backs and sides with Red Cedar fronts. These have also been ordered from the USofA and should arrive in the next few days.
Tools are being serviced and sharpened. And I'm preparing a second order from the USA with the neck woods, hardware, internal body woods, bindings etc.
And I'll get some pics to post now things are getting interesting. With some details of everything done up to now.
We spent the afternoon preparing the backs for jointing. Using a shooting board to plane the edges on the two halves of each back ready for jointing. Like the wood? It's Hawaiian Pheasant Wood, and this piece is exceptionally pretty.
And this evening we joined the first back in the jig. We'll start tomorrow by joining the other back and then go on to prepare the fronts for jointing.
Dynamic Mike wrote:Wow those cramps are pretty cool. Did you make them yourself?
No, although once you have one you can see how easy it would be to make as many as you need. They are called Klemmsia clamps and they are a type of cam clamp. They are very popular with guitar makers for a number of reasons, they are very light, it's possible to put them in place one handed and then use the same hand to keep things together and free the other hand to tighten the clamp, it can apply a lot of pressure but in a very controllable way. In the UK you can buy them here and StewMac have their own versions too.
Jumpeyspyder wrote:Wow, your jigs are better quality than my finished DIY jobs
Did you do anything to stop the backs from sticking to the jig ?
what type of glue did you use ?
Cheers Jumpey... If you look closely at the pic of the back jointing you can see the end of a strip of newspaper. It lies between the jig and the glue join. I wipe the paper with candle wax but that's not essential, some of the paper sticks anyway and you still have to plane and scrape the surface true on the outer side and thickness from the inside. I'm using Evostick PVA wood glue, in theory Titebond or Humbrol is marginally better as it has less slippage when it sets. But for something this size it isn't significant.
Hewesy wrote:Gorgeous Zen. Fancy moving on to a lapsteel slide guitar next (I could use a week on the south coast...)
Hewesy
Cheers Hewesy, I thought you would have finished the lapsteel by now!! And besides, it would take longer than a week. But if you have a workshop I'm more than happy to visit with my tool boxes as long as you feed me and take me to the pub every night
zenguitar wrote:Cheers Hewesy, I thought you would have finished the lapsteel by now!! And besides, it would take longer than a week. But if you have a workshop I'm more than happy to visit with my tool boxes as long as you feed me and take me to the pub every night
Andy
Sadly not mate, woodworking course ended and the summer beckons!
I might just get back to you later in the year though, I'm sure something could be arranged (the Sunn needs a new nut too..!).
And here it is in the joining jig. Notice how I am using one of my planes for clamping? The two halves are very different thickness, so I clamped the plane there to control the thinner side across the full length of the join. Not essential, but it does ensure that we can minimise the amount of wood work on the 'good' side to maximise the bookmatch.
We already made a start on the sides, here's Ruth working on the 1st.
Took the first back out of the jig and cleaned up the glue line. Then jointed the second front and clamped it in the jig overnight.
The Pheasant Wood has been generally pretty good to work, but it is hard on cutting tools and can tear out even when using a toothed blade. So this afternoon I used a cabinet scraper to clean up the good faces of one set of sides which worked nicely and solved the tear out problem.
So now we have several days of thicknessing ahead after making a start today.
You can see Ruth measuring with a dial calliper which can comfortably work to 1/20th of a mm. The side is divided into a grid with chalk lines and the thickness is measured in the centre of each block. And the measurement is chalked in the block so that once it's completed you can look over the entire piece and spot which areas are highest. Then its a simple matter of setting the plane to a fine cut and planing off the highest numbers, then the next highest PLUS the area you planed before, and so on. For the first few stages you avoid the lowest areas completely. Then you get the chalk out again, draw a new grid, and start the process once more. I prefer drawing the grid freehand and with little attention to accuracy. That ensures that you are taking measurements across the whole area rather than concentrating on a single grid. In the photo you can see we divided the side into three strips lengthways, for the next stage we divided it into four strips, but with longer sections.
I've spent the last 2 days thicknessing sides. Yesterdays pair went fine, but today's had awful tear out so I spent most of the day working with a cabinet scraper. However, all four sides are now down to 2mm max, with a couple dipping down to 1.9/1.95. When it comes to bending them, I'll probably take them down to 1.7mm in some areas first. But before then, there are two backs and 2 fronts to thickness too.
Meanwhile, the rest of the materials have been ordered and should be here by the end of the week. So it'll be on to preparing neck blanks, truss rods, fretboards, braces, bindings and inlays etc.
