November 28, 2010
Like GWBush, I’m a bit premature in claiming mission accomplishment. But, I have accomplished the major construction piece of my first uke. It’s a box with a neck.
Before I move on to the binding install and the fretboard install, I’ll get back to Guitar 1001 which is awaiting the neck shaping before moving on to the finish work (water based lacquer finish).
November 28, 2010
Heads down work today. After cracking a side, repairing and letting set, I applied a 15 foot radius to the back and glued on the kerf.
A few hours later, I sanded down the kerf and glued the back on and secured with spool clamps (left over from my first guitar build).
In another hour, I’m back down to the man cave to release the clamps and trim back the overhang. It should actually look like a uke.
November 27, 2010
The top is glued to the neck before attaching sides. The top nestles into the top of the neck, which is a one piece spanish heel design. The top and neck are indexed with pins to keep the top from skating when gluing and clamping.
Once the neck and top are joined, the sides can be glued using a special workboard designed for the soprano uke using a spanish heel. The top and neck are laid face down on the workboard, which has two waist clamps to push the sides together, into the spanish heel slots and against the heel block which has already been glued in place.
After one side has been glued and clamped, the other side is installed. Spool clamps hold the sides against the top, and C clamps hold the sides against the heel block.
Kerfing will be added to secure the joint between the top and the sides.
November 26, 2010
The braces and center patch for the back plate have been installed. The braces are radiused to 15 feet to give the back a dome shape.
The top’s soundhole has been cut, and bracing, tone bar and bridge plate have been installed.
November 16, 2010
Neck nibbling, tapering, shaping and installing of the headstock veneer.
November 5, 2010
Time to fall back. Since I’m gaining an hour this weekend, I’m sure I’ll get a lot done. The uke sides are sitting in a mold, the back is waiting to be thicknessed, and the top is ready for bracing.
November 1, 2010
Side bending went swimmingly. Did a little cleaning up of a few minor flat spots from the bending which are a result of the sides being a wee bit thicker than ideal. The holding frame works really well and I’m considering building for guitars as well.
October 30, 2010
Work work work, busy busy busy. Mostly I’ve been finishing up work boards for uke construction. Today I finished gluing up the holding board (to retain bent sides before installing).
I also thickness planed the spruce top and installed a herringbone rosette.
October 28, 2010
Uke work is underway! I’ve designed the first uke to make use of some Waterfall Bubinga and an Engleman Spruce top.
I’ve got a design for work boards and have built the bending mold for the sides. The neck is blocked out and the fretboard has markers installed. I’m trying to balance work on the ukes with completing Guitar 1001.
October 3, 2010
Happy October everyone. I’ve been working on ukes this weekend, which means focus on jigs and such. I crafted a taper sled, which allows me to make taper cuts on the table saw. It’s just a slab of 3/4″ birch ply with two t-channels, channel clamps, and a guide strip on the back. Fingerboards need to be tapered, and after marking the taper line, clamp the fretboard into the sled and slide it through the table saw, and shazam!
Prior to doing the taper cut, I need to inlay the fret markers. I’m using diamond shaped paua. The fretboard is marked with a center line, and additional lines are scored at the 5th, 7th, 10th and 12th fret. Note that ukes don’t use the same fret marker patterns as guitars.
The shell is glued to the surface of the fretboard to allow for later scoring around the shell.
The shell is removed after scoring, then the cavity is cut out and black epoxy is added to the cavity. The shell is pressed in, and additional epoxy is glooped over the top to fill any gaps. After 24 hours, the fretboard can be sanded.
Looks funky now, but it’s like unburying treasure once you sand it down.
