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?

Andy

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When the going gets weird, the Weird turn Pro.

If you're up for it zen.
I'd love to look in -.

All the best musicians have a Ukulele or two, i believe.

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.. is this thing on?

Definitely! The uke is a fun instrument that even a numpty like me can pick up. It would be fascinating to see one built from scratch.

Mandolin next ..?

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Veni, Vidi, Aesculi
(I came, I saw, I conkered)

cheers guys,

looks like I'm keeping a photo diary.

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.

Andy

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When the going gets weird, the Weird turn Pro.

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.

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.. is this thing on?

Isn't making the d*mned thing enough without having to learn to play it too!!

Andy

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When the going gets weird, the Weird turn Pro.

OK..

drawings approved...

Moving onto the cutting list, templates, and moulds.

Woods are pretty much decided too.

Andy

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When the going gets weird, the Weird turn Pro.

Quote Stan:

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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.

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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.

Quote grab:

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Quote Stan:

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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.

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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.

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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!!!

OK... things have started moving.

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.

Andy

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When the going gets weird, the Weird turn Pro.

latest update...

Bloody Paypal!! But excellent US Postal Service. Body woods are in the system and due soon.

Finished the jig for building joining the fronts and backs today, pics on the way, and almost finished the templates for both ukes.

Andy

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When the going gets weird, the Weird turn Pro.

Things are moving...

I've spent the last couple of weeks building jigs and moulds... Here they are.

[image][/image]

And a jig for jointing the fronts and backs...

[image][/image]

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.

[image][/image]

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.

[image][/image]

Andy

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When the going gets weird, the Weird turn Pro.

Quote zenguitar:

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Isn't making the d*mned thing enough without having to learn to play it too!!

Andy

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thanks zenguitar - looking great and excellent photos to -

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.. is this thing on?

Wow those cramps are pretty cool. Did you make them yourself?

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Not much in life worth running for. Or from.

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 ?

Gorgeous Zen. Fancy moving on to a lapsteel slide guitar next (I could use a week on the south coast...)

Hewesy

Cheers guys...

Quote Dynamic Mike:

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Wow those cramps are pretty cool. Did you make them yourself?

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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.

Quote Jumpeyspyder:

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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 ?

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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.

Quote Hewesy:

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Gorgeous Zen. Fancy moving on to a lapsteel slide guitar next (I could use a week on the south coast...)

Hewesy

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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

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When the going gets weird, the Weird turn Pro.

And just so you know what it looked like when it came out of the jig...

[image][/image]

I just ran a scraper over the join to see how it looked.

Andy

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When the going gets weird, the Weird turn Pro.

Quote zenguitar:

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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

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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..!).

Hewesy

I might just take you up on that Hewesy, although I'm sure the Sun runs on hydrogen, not nuts!!

Meanwhile....

Now both backs are jointed, we are working on the fronts.

[image][/image]

This is the first one after planing the jointing edge. A nice piece of Western Red Cedar. And it smells wonderful when you plane it

[image][/image]

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.

[image][/image]

She's planing the good side to remove the sawing marks. Once it's true we'll flip it over and thickness from the inside.

Andy

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When the going gets weird, the Weird turn Pro.

A shorter day today.

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.

[image][/image]

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.

Andy

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When the going gets weird, the Weird turn Pro.

Simply amazing. Can't wait to see it Zen.

Young Ruth looks like a natural too, good to see she's getting into it.

Quite a USP, "guitar for girls, by girls..."


Hewesy

Cheers Hewsey,

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.

Andy

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When the going gets weird, the Weird turn Pro.

Had a few days thicknessing the backs. Finished the first this afternoon, down to around 1.65mm, thick and made good headway with the second one.

And the courier delivery arrived at Stanstead this afternoon. So not long to wait.

Meanwhile, more planing tomorrow, and more aches and pains tomorrow evening. At least I get an excuse to go to the pub !!

More pics when something interesting happens.

Andy

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When the going gets weird, the Weird turn Pro.

Dear zenguitar, why dont you use a sander, like a floor sander, for thicknessing?

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.. is this thing on?

Quote Stan:

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Dear zenguitar, why dont you use a sander, like a floor sander, for thicknessing?

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A couple of reasons.

The main reason is that sanding furs up the ends of the wood fibres, whereas planing and scraping cuts them cleanly. Where the surface has to be joined (like joining the sides to the front and back) you get a far better glue joint. The dust that sanding produces gets into the grain and compromises the strength considerably. And the furred fibres don't take the final finish as well.

And the other reason is that mechanical sanders just aren't that accurate. I've been working to 1/20th of a mm, you just can't do that with a sander. On mass produced instruments sanding is the default because of the sheer time required for thicknessing by hand, even with cheap Chinese labour it isn't cost effective. But when you are making by hand, you have to put in extra hours so there is no point in compromising on materials. And getting those details right gets the very best out of the woods.

Now, this a project with a friend, not a commercial job. But if I was running a commercial workshop I would compromise. I'd use a mechanical sander to shift the bulk of the material, and then finish off with the plane and scraper to have the maximum control and best finish.

Andy

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When the going gets weird, the Weird turn Pro.

Deep Joy..

I received a parcel from Luthier's Mercantile International on Monday. Full of woods and bits... Mmmmm

So, the main thicknessing of fronts, backs, and sides is finished. I spent yesterday afternoon largely bewildered, making sure I had all the bits I ordered and then worrying in case I'd made any mistakes. But all was fine and well, so I got on with making some jigs last night and this afternoon. Here's a pic..

[image][/image]

Both ukes will have a Mother of Pearl (MoP) ring bounded with wood purflings for a soundhole rosette. And as both soundholes are going to be different sizes I had to knock up one for each. The package from LMI had a 1oz pack of 0.050" white MoP slab. So I'll need to cut a number of segments for each radius to make up each MoP ring. I'll be rough cutting them by hand, but once that's done I'll need to use the other jigs I'm working on to get the inside and outside curves good. Once that's done, I need to make perfect butt joints so that the segments can be joined invisibly. So what you can see in the pic are the 2 jigs where I've cut and hand routed channels to seat the pearl sections, a final step will be to cut a slot through the groove where I can accurately run a file to finish the ends of the pearl strips so they mate perfectly. The big thing with a screw through the middle is a fly cutter that I modified a few years ago, replacing the cutter with a holder for a #15 scalpel blade. I did consider making a circle cutter for my Dremel router base, but on balance I decided not to. The modified fly cutter is very accurate and makes a much neater cut than the best downcut router bits. So, once I made the cuts with the fly cutter, I used my baby router plane to clean out the slots. Yes, before power routers we used router planes to cut slots, grooves, and cavities.

You'll be seeing both again when we inlay the rosettes into the fronts soon.

And after finishing those, I started preparing a neck blank and cut off the end section to make the headstock. I'll grab some pics tomorrow so you can see what's involved.

Andy

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When the going gets weird, the Weird turn Pro.

Starting from where I left off, I promised some pics of the preparation of the 1st neck blank. Here goes..

[image][/image]

This shows both neck blanks side by side, Peruvian Walnut from Luthier's Mercantile. On the left, the blank as received, and on the right the other one with then end cut ready for flipping over to make the headstock.

[image][/image]

And this shows the end flipped over so you can get a clear idea of where it goes. Just needs to be glued, like this...

[image][/image]

Don't you just love all those clamps? I'll grab a pic tomorrow when they're removed so you can see clearer.

And then while that was sitting around waiting for the glue to dry, I made a start on the first back stripe. So it was out with one of the Dremel's and the router base, a test piece to take some measurements, and then laying out the straight edge to rout along.

[image][/image]

And then moving the straight edge to widen the channel to take the inlay.

[image][/image]

The back is about 1.7mm thick, and I routed the channel just over 0.8mm deep. If you want a closer look at the channel, here it is..

[image][/image]

The channel is about 3mm wide. The strip to fill it is made up of 5 strips of 0.6mm coloured veneer. Once it was all prepared I did consider dropping in the individual strips in one go. But eventually, I thought better of it and glued the strips together into a single piece. Tomorrow I'll tidy it up and flatten one edge to sit in the bottom of the routed channel. If the fit is loose, there is some maple we can use on either edge to fill the gap neatly.

Andy

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When the going gets weird, the Weird turn Pro.

More pics...

Yes, I have been getting on with more work!!

Starting with the necks, here they are again. The first neck glued and the second ready for cutting.

[image][/image]

I've since cut and glued the second neck blank too.

And here's the first back strip ready to be inlaid.

[image][/image]

It's also now glued in and setting overnight. I'll plane and scrpae it back tomorrow.

I also glued up the other back strip ready for inlaying tomorrow.

Andy

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When the going gets weird, the Weird turn Pro.

This just has to be the best post ever on SOS. Thanks for all the effort that's going into it, the photos really bring it to life. I'm getting really excited about it being finished & it's got nothing to do with me. Actually, I think I'm getting impatient, any chance you could work a bit faster?

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Not much in life worth running for. Or from.

Thanks Mike

There's good news and bad news...

Sunday is a day of rest, but despite that I'm working on making templates for the headstocks. Yes, both will have different designs. Nothing like making extra work for myself !!

But today I planed both headstocks on the neck blanks true and square, and marked out ready for routing for the trussrods, which should be done on Monday.

I routed the channel for the second back strip.

[image][/image]

And glued it ready for planing back on Monday.

And if you want to know how the first came out, here it is.

[image][/image]

Notice the artistic arrangement of coloured wood shavings

And here's a close up so you can see better.

[image][/image]

It's a detail, but it does start to make it look like an instrument instead of woodwork.

Andy

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When the going gets weird, the Weird turn Pro.

The wood grain is beautiful -

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.. is this thing on?

Yes Stan,

It's Hawaiian Pheasant Wood and it earned it's name because the grain looks like the markings on a pheasant. It's fairly tough on tools though, you need to sharpen regularly. And the markings mean that, like with any figured woods, there is always a greater risk of tear out while you work.

Andy

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When the going gets weird, the Weird turn Pro.

Not the day I planned today..

The 2nd back strip glued in just fine, but there is some small gapping on either side so I need to fill that.

And I discovered that I don't have a small enough router bit to cut the correct channels for the truss rods, and that the neck blanks aren't wide enough to clamp on a decent fence. So I have to order a 3/16" router bit. And instead of using a fence, I have to make a template so I can use my router's template following attachment to make an accurate cut.

So instead, I made a start on cutting the pearl rings for the soundhole rosettes.

[image][/image]

And here I am at work. I knocked up a quick jig to support the pearl blanks and used two set's of compasses with scribers instead of pencil lead to score the cutting lines. Then it was out with the jeweller's saw and the sandpaper. You can see closer here.

[image][/image]

After scribing, I run pencil lead in the groove to see it clearer. And once it's cut out, I used sandpaper wrapped around wooden blocks to get to final thickness. You can see the sections I cut previously in the first pic.

And a word of warning. The dust from Mother of Pearl is an irritant. Take care not to breath it in. I hold my breath while cutting, because I can't get on with a dust mask. And the cutting jig I use is drilled to take a tube that I intend to connect to a vacuum if I am doing a lot of pearl cutting in future.

Andy

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When the going gets weird, the Weird turn Pro.

Have you ever noticed that while you work hard every day, progress seems to come in big steps? You spend a few days working with apparently little to show for it, and then you have a day when you achieve several targets one after another.

So, after a few days with the jeweller's saw and sandpaper... yesterday I finally had cut enough MoP for both rosettes. So today I made more progress on the necks.

Step one was to cut a 12mm wide slot in a piece of MDF so I could use the template following adaptor to run a nice, neat, straight, slot with the 3/16" router bit in both necks, ready to accept the truss rods.

And once the jig was made, it was attached to the first neck blank with double sided tape and the slot cut in several passes.

[image][/image]

And once it was finished, it looked like this.

[image][/image]

And then all that was left to do was to apply the router to the second neck blank and do it all again, like so....

[image][/image]

And once that was done, there was no excuse for not cutting pieces off the ends of the neck blanks to build up the heels. So, for once, I got on with the job in hand and it wasn't long before I had made a few saw cuts, stacked up the 2 pieces on the end of each neck blank, and applied glue and clamps. Leaving enough from each neck blank to make neck blocks and end blocks for both ukes.

[image][/image]

[image][/image]

[image][/image]

And after that, it was time to look at the back strip for the second back. After gluing the strip at the weekend there were a few unsightly gaps that needed filling. I'd been far too neat applying the glue originally, so I'd made up a filler with wood glue, fine dust from scraping the back, and added some brown and black dyes. And once that had dried overnight I had to add a little more wood glue to finish off.

So with the heel blocks neatly stacked, glued, and clamped.. I could tidy up the back strip and see how it had come out...

[image][/image]

Pretty good I think. I like the combination of black and red. The black is pretty standard dyed maple/sycamore, but the red is Bloodwood veneer. It is a natural red wood, and retains it's colour unlike Purpleheart and other coloured woods that can fade to brown with time. You'll be seeing more Bloodwood over the weeks

Andy

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When the going gets weird, the Weird turn Pro.

So with the neck blanks all prepared, it's time to get on with the fret boards.

I made a straight edge, marked and planed/sanded one end at 90 degrees, scored a centre line with a scalpel and then marked out the fret positions. Like so.

[image][/image]

And then on to cutting the slots. The saw is a good quality one I bought many years ago, but it is quite slow because I stoned most of the set off the teeth to make sure the slots are the right width. Then a carefully placed square as a cutting guide. With care and patience you can do a very accurate job with simple tools.

[image][/image]

I completed 11 out of 19 fret slots on the first fretboard this afternoon. So another busy afternoon tomorrow.

Andy

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When the going gets weird, the Weird turn Pro.

Not a lot to add...

Finished cutting the fret slots on the second board today...

Andy

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When the going gets weird, the Weird turn Pro.

With both fretboards slotted.

[image][/image]

It was time to mark out the taper and plane to shape. Working from the centre line, I marked the correct width at the nut and 12th fret using compasses and then scored the fretboard edges with a scalpel. And then with an accurate line it was time to get the shooting board out once more and a sharp plane.

[image][/image]

This board has the right side already tapered and I'm working on the left side. It's important to plane with the grain to maintain control and avoid tearing into the grain. And a closer look will reveal that it's set-up to plane left handed. Being ambidextrous does make jobs like this a lot easier. But it also means that the heels of both palms are pretty sore tonight... when using a shooting board, you grip the body of the plane rather than the handles. Pushing with the heel of the hand and guiding with the fingers.

And here are both fretboards after tapering.

[image][/image]

I haven't trimmed them to length yet. I'll wait until later in case I want to put a fancy shape on the tongue that goes over the body.

And then to finish off the afternoon, I finished fitting one of the truss rods.

[image][/image]

Not sure about tomorrow... it appears that there could be an interruption during prime ukulele building time. Ingerland are playing an important fixture in what our American cousins might call The World Series Cup of Soccer.

Andy

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When the going gets weird, the Weird turn Pro.

hi andy,

i haven't posted on this thread yet but i had to chime in to add my two cents and say you're doing a beautiful job documenting the project here. i'm not a builder (i try to stay away from anything that can lead to fewer fingers than i started with ;-) but i'm a sucker for the home-improvement/furniture building shows on tv and i love to see craftsmanship at its finest. keep posting pics and i hope they play as nice as they look.

cheers,

phil (aka d)

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"Patsy had the drug tolerance of Keith Richards and the moral rectitude of Brian Jones." - Dr. Walter Bishop, "Fringe"

Many thanks Phil...

I still have all my fingers. Attached too, not in a box under the bed

Andy

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When the going gets weird, the Weird turn Pro.