Andy - I too have been following this thread with great interest, and I have to say your work is outstanding! I really can't wait to see the final result.

Dan

Many thanks Dan.

After a day off for football purposes, I was back to work today completing a few small jobs.

Finished fitting the truss rod in the second neck. Then glued veneers to the back of both fret-boards. Both necks have a veneer between the fretboard and neck which will show as a coloured line once finished.

Then I planed a straight edge on each of the 4 sides, ready for final shaping and then bending.

And finally, I marked out the templates to finalise the location of the soundholes and rosettes.

Andy

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When the going gets weird, the Weird turn Pro.

I have to echo the thoughts of previous posters by saying...absolutely phenomenal stuff Andy. I've been fascinated by the process of building guitars for many years now (I seem to remember the trigger was hearing the story of Brian May building his signature "Red Special" guitar with his dad from wood from a family friend's 18th century fireplace mantelpiece!) and remain in constant awe at the talent and craftmanship of those that can (as oppose to those like me that can't...or rather, would love to but would probably end up an appendage or two down at the end of the day...;)). Not to digress too much from the thread topic but have you done any more build diaries Andy? If so, it would be great to read them!

--------------------
www.myspace.com/thisburningage......www.thisburningage.com

Many thanks Friday. This is the first build diary, but once it's all finished, and I have regained my sanity, I might do another if there's enough interest.

I am trying to keep it interesting as well as informative, and doing as much as possible with basic tools. Although it's possible to spend a fortune on specialist tools, it's not essential. And if you learn to build with hand tools, you will develop a better understanding should you want to go on and invest in the specialist tools.

Anyway, today I trimmed off the veneers on the fretboards. They look like this now.

[image][/image]

Those lines should look good once the fretboards are attached to the necks..

And I spent the rest of the day working on the headstock designs. It's easy to put something together, but I want to get something that looks right, and takes into account the hardware and decoration.

Andy

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When the going gets weird, the Weird turn Pro.

Some catching up to do...

Yesterday we rough cut out the fronts and backs...

[image][/image]

So today I made a start on bending sides. First of all getting everything laid out and ready to go.

[image][/image]

Then I made a start on the first side. And here it is after the first bend.

[image][/image]

And here I am a little while later, close to finishing.

[image][/image]

A few seconds later, I made this video clip dropping water on to the bending iron so you get a good idea how hot it is. Hope it works...

[image][/image]

And finally, here's the side completed.

[image][/image]

Yesterday, I also cut the channel to inlay the rosette on one of the fronts, I'll try to remember to grab a poic.

Andy

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When the going gets weird, the Weird turn Pro.

Fabulous.

Great stuff, but you do realise you're going to be asked to leave the luthier's magic circle after posting explicit details like this

--------------------
Not much in life worth running for. Or from.

Really good to see such care and attention to detail - I simply don't have the patience for work like this!

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It wasn't me!
(Well, actually, it probably was)

Thanks guys

Quote Dynamic Mike:

---

Great stuff, but you do realise you're going to be asked to leave the luthier's magic circle after posting explicit details like this

---

LOL... think of me as the Penn & Teller of Luthiery. The principles are straightforward, but the devil is in the details. But in all seriousness, it's not fancy woodwork. Nothing more complicated than a butt joint or a lap joint. Luthiery is two things, simple woodwork done carefully and accurately, and a good understanding of how the instrument works.

One of the reasons I wanted to post this diary was to show how straightforward it is to make an instrument. Ukuleles are great because they use all the same design principles and processes as a guitar but small enough to build on a kitchen table. I'm working on a small section of workbench in Mark's garage, you can see how small an area it is from the pics.

With the exceptions of using a router to make the moulds and cut the truss rod channels and a Dremel to rout for the back strips, everything has been done by hand. All of those can be done by hand with simple hand tools if required, and even the moulds aren't necessary. The bending iron and thickness calliper are specialist tools, but there are ways to make simple versions for yourself.

Anyway...

Here's a pic of both backs and sides roughed out. You can also see the channel for the rosette on one.

[image][/image]

I finished bending the first set of sides.



Then I bent the first side for the second uke. And finally, I made a start on the hardest side, the one with a cutaway. The tightest curves I've ever bent, was nerve wracking at times!!

[image][/image]

Andy

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When the going gets weird, the Weird turn Pro.

Finished bending the sides today. Then moved on to working on the necks.

Step one was to pin the fretboard to the neck and then use a scalpel to mark out it's location on the neck blank. The secret is to use some small panel pins and drill through a couple of the fret slots to locate them. That way you can use the locating pins later when the fretboard is glued to the neck and be certain it's in exactly the right place.

[image][/image]

Once the exact location of the fretboard is marked out, it's time to rough cut it to width. I've put both side by side here in the pic so you can see the difference once one has been trimmed. At the heel and nut I've gone close to final width, ready for carving.

[image][/image]

I have since planed the heel end down close to the final length for a 14th fret neck/body joint. At the same time I have adjusted the cut to approach the correct neck/body angle.

Andy

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When the going gets weird, the Weird turn Pro.

So, on saturday I popped the first pair of sides into the mould and glued in the heel and body blocks...

Here it is in the mould...

[image][/image]

And here it is pulled out this afternoon...

[image][/image]

Then today I fitted the second pair of sides into their mould, made and fitted the heel and body blocks, and glued that up.

Made a start on glueing the kerfings to the front of the cutaway uke. And I am all prepared to do the first rosette.

Andy

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When the going gets weird, the Weird turn Pro.

So, I made a start on the kerfings yesterday, so it was time to finish the side I started.

Here's a couple of shots showing the specialist tools... clothespegs.

[image][/image]

[image][/image]

And then I made final preparations for inlaying the first soundhole rosette.


[image][/image]

Andy

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When the going gets weird, the Weird turn Pro.

I left it last night preparing the bindings for the rosette.

Usually, I would use 1mm wide veneer strips for inlay. They are nice and easy to lay in the channel with the mother of pearl, although a little fiddly.

But the 6mm wide veneer strips I am using for the front and back perflings are long enough for guitar sides. And there was enough left over for the back strips, rosette, and other details. And I do hate wasting decent materials, so I decided to use those. But that meant some creative thinking to work out the best way to install them.

The rosette designs both have a ring of pearl bordered inside and out with 3 coloured rings of veneer strip. The pearl is about 1.5mm thick. So the problem was how to successfully glue the thin strip of pearl between 6 wide strips of veneer.

The solution was to use the bending iron to pre-curve the strips, and then use some MDF discs as formers to glue the 2 sets of three strips together like this.

[image][/image]

This is the first ring half done. You can see that I lined the MDF ring with masking tape then I glued the 3 strips together in the middle, taped to the former, and then applied glue and worked out to one end. And then I worked from the middle to the other end. Here are both sets glued.

[image][/image]

Tomorrow, I'll remove the tape. Then I'll either saw, plane or sand the rings down to the same thickness as the pearl and maybe get them all glued in place.

Andy

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When the going gets weird, the Weird turn Pro.

I know you all love the pics... so here's a few more...

[image][/image]

The front kerfings on the first uke completed.

[image][/image]

And here's the front kerfings on the second uke all clamped up. Had to do a test run first to make sure I had enough pegs and clamps!!

[image][/image]

And I did promise to show the glued veneer strip rings after taking them off the moulds. Worked out nicely. But still at 6mm high, a lot taller than the pearl segments.

[image][/image]

So here I am cutting a ring in half. Once I finished cutting both rings, I had to sand them nice and neat. A couple of test fittings, and then it was out with the glue. The veneer and pearl rings fitted nicely. OK, I could have posted another pic of them after glueing, but all you would see would be a brick sitting on top of a board to clamp them down.

But I promise to post a pic of the completed rosette tomorrow.

Meanwhile, the search goes on for number 15 Swann and Morten scalpel blades. None to be found in Plymouth or Tavistock today, and even worse, not a single shop that generally carries them. So I'll just have to order some online. Those blades are the ones I need for my modified fly cutter. I still have to cut the channel for the second rosette, and I have to cut both soundholes later, so the blades are essential.

Andy

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When the going gets weird, the Weird turn Pro.

fantastic thread zen..

you mean these?

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/10-x-Swann-Morton-No-15-Scalpel-Blades-Sterile-FreeP -P-/120588621178?cmd=ViewItem&pt=UK_BOI_Medical_Lab_Equipment_Medical_Specialisations_ ET&hash=item1c13a4557a

and if not, if you can source a canadian supply, close to the east coast, i would be willing to track em down, and send them over the pond for you..

you know..admiring artisan, to experienced luthier.



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music is my girlfriend

Many thanks for your kind words JJ,

And those are, indeed, the blades I need. Not a bad price either as it includes P&P. Fortunately, I don't need the Sterile ones as I'm not planning on any surgery any time soon. There are other things I need to buy, so I'll shop around in case I can include the blades with another order, but I have bookmarked that link just in case.

Meanwhile, this afternoon I got out the scraper and levelled the rosette which is now looking good. As always, scraping back ends up leaving some marks and scrapes on the front too which will need sanding back. I'm always in two minds whether or not to put a protective layer on the front when I scrape back. On the one hand it will protect the front, but on the other hand it will prevent me from getting the inlay flush to the front. Perhaps I'll try it the other way on the second uke as it's an ideal opportunity to make a comparison.

Anyway, here are a couple of pics showing the scraped back front with it's body and the part carved neck. You can see the bruising on the front from the scraping, but it will come out nicely when it's finally sanded. And they give a sense of all the bits coming together as an instrument too.

[image][/image]

[image][/image]

And after that I worked on the heel block for a while. I had to trim it down a little. Initially I'd noted that I would have to allow for the length of the neck bolts, but it slipped my mind when cutting and preparing the block and glueing. My mistake, but no harm done. And it's part of the learning curve as it's the first time I've used this method of attaching a neck. And once I'd tidied up, I drilled the heel block to take the neck bolts.

You can see them here.

[image][/image]

And here's how they look from the outside. I've put on the inserts that will eventually be drilled and screwed into the heel itself, which will be one of the tasks coming up soon.

[image][/image]

Andy

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When the going gets weird, the Weird turn Pro.

For any of you who might have been worried after a close up look at the front after scraping down the rosette....

[image][/image]

... here it is now I've sanded it nice and smooth again. Much better, don't you think?

Andy

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When the going gets weird, the Weird turn Pro.

It looks fantastic, it's really starting to take shape. What has suprised me is that you haven't actually done anything yet which I feel is beyond the capacity of most people, or used any tools the average bloke hasn't already got in the garage. Apart from the pegs!

I know this is an arrangement with a friend rather than a normal commission (& also that you're making two) but is there any chance of a breakdown of the hours worked & the cost incurred when you finish? I hope you're enjoying making them as much as I am following this post.

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Not much in life worth running for. Or from.

Thank you Mike

You are right, they really are beginning to take shape now. At first we were just dealing with pieces of wood, joining them and thicknessing them. But increasingly now, you can see the instruments appearing at every step which is always very rewarding and gratifying.

And yes, there are far less specialist tools required than people might think and even those that are used are not essential. When I was at the Totnes School of Guitarmaking many years ago each workbench had 2 planes (with standard and toothed blades for each), 3 chisels, 2 gouges, a rasp, a scalpel, a marking gauge, a 6" steel ruler, a cabinet scraper, and a chalk pencil. And for the entire class there were a few saws and hammers, a single router, a Dremel, a thicknessing calliper, a bending iron, a go bar deck, a few jigs & moulds, and a load of clamps.

Don't get me wrong, all of the specialist tools you can buy from luthiers suppliers have their uses and I will be purchasing some more soon too.

But when I started this build diary I was hoping to show that it wasn't essential to have all of the specialist tools. That is was possible to make a good quality and attractive instrument on a workbench with basic tools. Although there has been a lot of crossover in the last decade or so, there are essentially two traditions in luthiery. The European tradition has been based on basic hand tools and the traditional Spanish method, and the North American tradition has been based more on using jigs and machine tools. And we are fortunate to be able to pick the best from both traditions. Learning to build in the European tradition teaches you a great deal about how guitars work and develops your intuition for the materials used. The North American tradition gives you consistency, repeatability, and the science. And I think both are worth learning.

As you have seen, the woodwork is pretty simple. No fancy joints at all. There are, however, a few caveats. The simple woodwork has to be done very accurately in places. You do need to know how to set-up and sharpen your hand tools and be comfortable and confident using them to achieve that degree of accuracy.

When the project is finished I plan to do some summing up. I'll be listing the suppliers I used, giving a guide to cost and time. What I might also do is add a lesson on sharpening planes, chisels and scrapers.

Anyway, back to work tomorrow. Time to make a start on the braces for the fronts and backs.

Andy

--------------------
When the going gets weird, the Weird turn Pro.

Got the main braces for the front and back done today. Planed to thickness and then planed the curves on the edges that glue to the front and back. Here are the front ones..

[image][/image]

Once they are glued in place, they'll be carved to height and shape.

Just need to finish the fan braces for the front now.

And then I have to do the same for the second uke once I've inlaid the rosette.

Andy

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When the going gets weird, the Weird turn Pro.

Had a very productive day yesterday, but no pics to show for it. The two ukes have been getting out of synch due to a lack of consumables. I've been carrying on as best as I can to make the best use of the time, but it would be far better if I could get both back in synch again.

So, I've been shopping on town and on line. The #15 scalpel blades are in the post, as are the bits to complete the Go Bar Deck (I'll explain about the Go Bar Deck soon, it's important). Thanks to Mark's generosity I've also been able to order some more specialist tools (to speed up future projects) and the materials to make another Uke once these are finished.

Anyway, this afternoon I finished planing the cedar for the tone bars on the first uke. So it now has a complete set ready for glueing to the front and back.

And with some time on my hands I took the chance to make the 12th fret inlay for Ruth's Uke...

[image][/image]

... Looks good so far. Just need to inlay it now. There will, of course, be pics when I get to that stage.

Andy

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When the going gets weird, the Weird turn Pro.

The scalpel blades arrived. I ordered 15A instead of 15, but they work just as well. And I just ordered some 15's so I have them when I need them especially.

So I celebrated by cutting the channel for the second rosette and inlaid it this afternoon. I'll post pics tomorrow once it's cleaned up after glueing overnight.

Over the last couple of weeks I've let the two ukes get out of sync. I've done several things on one but not the other. Largely because I needed to order various things.

More to do tomorrow, but it does depend on what arrives in the post

Andy

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When the going gets weird, the Weird turn Pro.

Cleaned up the rosette today, and it came out fine.


[image][/image]

You can also see the note inlay glued at the twelfth fret. The yellow is acrylic paint. The technique is to apply the paint and let it dry, then use a spot of superglue on the inlay to hold it position while you score around it with a scalpel to mark the position. The score marks show better against the yellow. Then I got out the Dremel with a very fine dental burr to rout the cavity. Once routed, I mixed some epoxy and coloured it with black and brown dye. Ebony isn't jet black, the brown helps the stained epoxy blend into the wood better.

On monday I'll sand it back and get a pic or two so you can see better.

Andy

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When the going gets weird, the Weird turn Pro.

Taking a day off ukuleles tomorrow. Visiting our chums at Sound Gallery there. But I did get some work done.

The courier arrived this morning with a useful package. Some 5mm GRP rod that I need for the Go Bar deck... more details soon with pics

Also in the package were my metal powders for inlay...

[image][/image]

Here's Ruths octave inlay after sanding back. Should look good once the frets are in place and it isn't sitting in a sea of ebony. I'm very pleased because I managed to get a very good match when colouring the epoxy resin I used to glue it. I'm considering engraving a highlight or two to really bring it to life, but I'll wait until the neck is fretted before deciding.

You can also see the other fretboard drilled for the octave marker, and the MOP dot I turned for it. I've since glued that in place too. The Idea was to have a total eclipse. The pearl dot for the moon, set in a metal powder and epoxy mix. Hence the metal powders mentioned before. I have aluminium, copper, and brass powders but this is the first time I've tried this method so I'm improvising a lot here. I mixed brass and copper together with the epoxy, which is a known technique (the metal powders are the same used for putting a metallic finish in moulded fibreglass). But as I am inlaying into ebony, I thought I should add some black dye too, to disguise the epoxy. However it's looking far too subtle right now. The idea is to sand back the epoxy/metal powder mix to reveal the metal itself. But the black stain is making it look very dark. If I'm lucky, it's just the stained epoxy coating the metal powder efficiently and sanding will reveal shiny copper and bronze. But I won't know now until wednesday. But I will put up a pic of how it comes out so we can all see. And if it really doesn't work right, I can always carefully rout out the pearl and epoxy, make another pearl dot, and try a mix without the black dye. And if I need a few attempts... there's nothing wrong with an inlay covering the 11th, 12th and 13th frets

Andy

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When the going gets weird, the Weird turn Pro.

I have loved watching this take shape. You have the patience of a saint.
Great now they are taking shape. They look amazing.
All the very best.
Vinny.

--------------------
http://www.myspace.com/vinnyburns

+1

They really are looking great! What sort of finish do you intend on applying?

Dan

Quite apart from my admiration of the skills, not to say patience, involved Zen should also be congratulated for the way in which he has explained each step in such a detailed yet easy to follow manner. On top of all the hours spent building these two instruments (and teaching his new apprentice) to then find the time and energy to write the whole thing up (plus take the pictures) is quite remarkable and is greatly appreciated.

Well done Zen and thank you

Chris

PS I've also developed an urge to learn how to play the Ukulele (I'm going to buy my son one for his birthday)

--------------------
http://www.random-thought.co.uk/

Many thanks guys..

The finish will be French Polish !!! Hard work, but worth the effort. And no need for a spray booth. I have the compressor and spray gun, and cellulose too, but need a decent dust free, clean, space to get best results.

Meanwhile, I sanded back the inlay today... and it wasn't even worth taking a pic. Yes, the pearl dot was fine, but the metal in the stained epoxy was hardly visible. So I drilled it out, made another dot, and then did what I should have done before. I made some test pieces and filled them with different combinations so I can see what works best. An example each of all three metal powders with clear epoxy (no black stain), all three metal powders and superglue, and the copper and brass powders mixed with epoxy and yellow acrylic paint. Tomorrow I'll sand them back and see how they all worked.

After that, I finished preparing the second set of braces ready for curving. And then I'll build the go bar deck and start glueing braces.

Andy

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When the going gets weird, the Weird turn Pro.

Quote zenguitar:

---

The finish will be French Polish !!! Hard work, but worth the effort. And no need for a spray booth.

---

You just reminded me, a few years back some jobsworth assistant in a local chemist refused to sell me a 20ml bottle of spirit for French Polishing. This was despite the fact I had a £20 note & there was an bargain booze shop next door! Fortunately the chemist just laughed & told her it was okay.

Maybe she was right though because I made a right mess of it & ended up having to remove it & spray it. Funny, it looked so easy whenever my Dad did it!!!

--------------------
Not much in life worth running for. Or from.

So true Mike, but the great thing with french polish is that you can always wipe it back and refinish it. And it's a great excuse to buy methylated spirits

Meanwhile, I've finished the go bar deck today. And here it is..

[image][/image]

Since I took the pic I dismantled it again, cut off the excess length on the vertical struts, and epoxied the top nuts for the base board in place on the threaded rods. So it'll be quicker to assemble when needed.

The boards are 20" x 24" x 18mm MDF, and the go bars are 666mm long and made from 5mm GRP rods. There are 30 of them, and I found some nice rubber tips for them too. In the pic you can see how the top board is being flexed by the force they provide.

Lots of fun

And that means I'll be glueing braces soon.

Andy



--------------------
When the going gets weird, the Weird turn Pro.

Ingenious!

--------------------
.. is this thing on?

Hi Stan

Go Bars are actually quite an old technique. Used by piano makers to attach the soundboards because you can get a lot of clamping pressure in a very small area, and you have a lot of control.

Here are a couple of pics of the braces being glued to the 1st front.



[image][/image]

[image][/image]

It was a little fiddly getting everything in place. And there were a couple of 'explosions' with go bars flying everywhere when I didn't get them lined up properly. But looking good now.

And before applying the braces, I remembered to get the circle cutter out and cut the soundhole out. Not the easiest thing to do once the front has been curved by attaching the braces.

Andy

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When the going gets weird, the Weird turn Pro.

Greetings Earthlings, a day of Deep Joy and a minor hiccup was had today.

Despite my fears, the go bar deck hadn't exploded in a shower of GRP and softwood over the weekend. So it was just a matter of removing the bars to get the front and start work. However, I'm still getting a feel for this new go bar deck and learning how to fine tune it.

[image][/image]

So here's the front ready for me to plane the tops of the braces down close to their final height. But if you look carefully you can see that the brace closest to the camera hasn't glued along it's length. You can clearly see a small gap. And once I started planing, that gap opened up. And the middle brace had a similar problem too, with the same side coming loose.

Nothing to worry about. Once I had planed the braces down it was straightforward to get some glue in there and clamp both braces securely. LIke this.. and you can see the arch on the front now too.

[image][/image]

Nothing wrong with making mistakes, as long as you learn from them. So I thought about it and realised that these GRP bars are a lot more powerful than I expected. I've previously used wooden laths that were also a little longer. The problem was caused by too much clamping pressure. So, with that in mind I moved on to glueing the back reinforcement strip. Like so...

[image][/image]

I had to adjust the deck anyway, but I made sure that I reduced the pressure as well. It's not easy to see, but I have much less bend in the bars now.

Once that was done, I got back to working on the braces for the second uke. So, the ones for the front are now ready, and the ones for the back are almost finished. I also decided to reduce the height of those braces, and the back braces for the 1st uke. They need to be planed down anyway, and to be honest, they were a little too tall. That didn't help the clamping with the go bars either.

So, tomorrow I'll be glueing the back braces on the 1st uke, and finishing making the braces for the second one.

Finally, there were a couple of bonuses today too. This morning I picked up a package with a full Koa set of back, sides, and front, for another tenor uke. I was expecting another delivery in a couple of days with the rest of the woods for that uke, some more funky tools, and the machine heads and french polishing materials for the current pair. But when I got home I found that that had arrived too. So lots more toys

Andy

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When the going gets weird, the Weird turn Pro.

Here's the first back all glued. Once I sanded the back re-inforcement I cut the sliots for the braces and applied glue and go bars...

[image][/image]

Then I got on and examined the machine heads. Gotoh ukulele pegs with adjustable height posts.

[image][/image]

[image][/image]

Andy

--------------------
When the going gets weird, the Weird turn Pro.

it's late, I should be in bed...

more pics...

[image][/image]

[image][/image]

[image][/image]

Andy

--------------------
When the going gets weird, the Weird turn Pro.

I planned to say more yesterday, but it was very late when I finally got to post...

The pics yesterday were of be glueing the bridge plate to one front, the back reinforcement on the 2nd uke, and the soundhole cut in the 2nd uke.

Today...

I was glueing the back braces on the second uke (no pics, because they would be similar to those I already posted), and then I was shaping the braces on the front of the 1st uke.

[image][/image]

[image][/image]

[image][/image]

tomorrow I hope to make the fan braces for the 1st front and glue them in place. Then at the weekend I should be able to attach the front to the sides. I'll also try to glue the braces to the 2nd front too. So, plenty to be getting on with.

Andy

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When the going gets weird, the Weird turn Pro.

Happy Birthday Andy

--------------------
http://www.random-thought.co.uk/

MHR Andy

The Ukes are looking fab, just don't read this months Guitarist column from CSM

Hewesy

Cheers guys..

And now you just know I'll have to get Guitarist to discover what you're talking about !!!

I'll be back later with today's diary and pics, but now I have to go and actually do something to photograph !!

Andy

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When the going gets weird, the Weird turn Pro.

A productive afternoon

made a start on the fan braces for the first uke front. And I cut down the 1st uke body depth to taper from the bottom to the heel.

[image][/image]

Marked up the taper and then attacked the body with a razer saw and a tenon saw for the neck and heel blocks. And then fitted it into the mould to sand everything level.

And here it is finished and waiting for the front to be fitted.

[image][/image]

Another small step, but one that makes it look more and more like the final instrument rather than a set of parts.

Andy

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When the going gets weird, the Weird turn Pro.