# New instrument WIP - this time, a ukulele - Now completed...



## Kalimna (6 Jan 2014)

Greetings folks, 
Having has a wee bit of success with a pair of electric guitars last year, I have moved on to attempting a purely acoustic instrument. The end goal is to produce acoustic guitars, but I wanted to build something for my two boys, and figured that ukuleles would be more manageable (and certainly cheaper on materials) and a more appropriate size for a 3 1/2 and 1 1/2 year olds....
Anyway, sometime in April last year, I started milling up some pieces of ripply maple, afromosia, spruce and ebony to make a pair of concert ukuleles. Plans I purchased online from Georgia Luthier Supplies, and beyond the timber (excepting the ebony which had been purchased as a guitar fingerboard, now split into two fb's) which was essentially scraps, I only had to buy tuners, fretwire and strings.
The maple has quite a tight ripple to it, and may not have been the best choice as a starting project, but as with my two previous stringed efforts, the whole process so far has been one of learning, figuring out processes, d'oh moments, ahhhh buggerit moments and pleasure when something works.
Information on how to build acoustically has been absorbed from Cumpiano & Natelson, Hiscock, Obrien online tuts, and a few other internet resources. As in many aspects of woodworking, there are many ways to successfully skin a cat, and mine has been an amalgamation of many ideas. However, and unlike most current practice, I opted for free-form building (as per Cumpiano & Natelsons' bible on the subject) rather than go to the extra expense and effort (of both time and space) of building an outside mold. This has presented with a few particular issues, notably verticality of sides and absolute adherence to outline shape, but neither of these should prevent a workable instrument from being produced. And as I am in no particular rush to get them finished, production-run efficiency is not an issue. A further detour from normality has me using a butt-joint for the neck-body join, but more of that later.
So, before I begin with the photos, here is a breakdown of the two ukes.
A final note is that the photos may be from either build, but I shall try and keep them separate.

model - concert
scale - 15" (fretting template from Stew-Mac)
back & sides - ripply maple
soundboard - spruce offcut from archtop guitar wedges
neck - ripply maple for one, afromosia (ex laboratory worktop) for the other
fingerboard - ebony
binding - indian rosewood offcuts from acoustic guitar set
end wedge - padouk
bridge - padouk
finish - not decided, maybe a first stab at french polishing

First piccy, jointing the edges of the soundboard prior to glue up. Notice the wobbly, relatively wide grain.






Soundboard glued up thicknessed





Soundhole decoration channel trial run in some BnQ ply using trusty dremel and spiral bit. The soundhole itself is cut out using the same method, only routing a little deeper.





More routing. Despite the 'cheap and nastiness' of the dremel circle-cutting jig, it does work nicely, though difficult to fine tune. A suitably sized hole is pilot-drilled into both the soundboard and workboard underneath. This then accepts the 'spike' on the jig, about which the router rotates.





Decorative strips inlaid and trimmed (much kudos to anyone who can ID the timber the plane is made from  )





Skipping ahead a wee bit, here are some of the soundboard braces being glued on. Unlike most modern acoustic guitars, it seems that ukes still have a flat top so the braces are straight pieces of spruce. Those adorning the back do have a radius routed onto their gluing edge to induce a slight curve to the back. Again, in a break from more modern teachings, I am using cam-clamps rather than a go-bar deck to clamp up the glueing. Even though these wooden clamps are relatively lightweight, there is still plenty of mass to induce an unpleasant twisting of the soundboard if inadvisedly handled.....





Here are both soundboards fully braced (though not carved yet), with an indian rosewood bridge patch. As to the bracing pattern - a little bit from the plans, a little imagination.





Right then, onto the neck. As with the previous guitar builds, i opted for a scarf joint to enable both a stronger headstock, and a more efficient use of the timber. I think i used two pieces of maple for the neck, however, hence the odd position of the sawcut. Previously i had used a bandsaw for this, rather important, cut but went for a handsaw this time.





Two new necks, cut surfaces handplaned (I still find it odd that some American luthiers will take the wood straight from a tablesaw cut and glue up without handplaning this critical joint) and awaiting glue up.





Glueing up the scarf joints. Note the unusual use of dining table and Warburtons bread wrapper. Unfortunately there was a little slippage of the scarf when clamps released, but nothing that cant be tidied up.





Right then, more to follow on the next post.


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## Kalimna (6 Jan 2014)

Okay, part 2 of the pictorial WIP. Here is a closer look at some of the bracing of the soundboard, along with the bridge patch. I would rather the job looked a little neater, but I'll leave that for future builds 





Gratuitous chisel shot of the back braces, having been glued on, being carved. Note the indian rosewood central reinforcing strip. I have only chosen IR for acoutrements as I had a little scrap left over from an acoustic guitar set.





Further use of the dining table as a clamping jig. Here are the neck and tail blocks being glued on. Unfortunately (again) a little titebond-slide crept in, and they ended up not perfectly square to the midline. Not an absolute disaster, but one that has produced a lot of huffing and puffing.





Now we get to something a little more nerve-wracking. Bending the sides. Whilst i have bent a pair of guitar sides before (macassar ebony, under close tutelage from Mark Bailey of Bailey guitars), I have never attempted this at home. Fortunately, it went adequately. Despite the ripply nature of the maple and the tightness of the bends, I managed not to crack either of the four sides (two per uke). Having said that, there are quite a few unwanted bits of waviness now present. Shouldnt effect acoustic performance, but aesthetically less than perfect. Also, now that the sides are glued up, i have noticed that the sides do not quite represent a right angle to either the soundboard or the back.





The mechanism for bending the sides is either to place the un-bent sides in a former between spring steel slats and a heating blanket, or to free-form it over a hot pipe. The hot pipe is the traditional method, and considerably less wasteful of money and space. However, it is certainly less accurate, and requires a certain 'feel' for how the (lightly spritzed) wood behaves under temperature. I am, however, pleased with the result.





Once the bent sides have had the kerfing (strips of roughly triangular-cross-section wood with regular, frequent cuts to allow conformation to the instruments' sides) is glued, using, for instance, clothes pegs as clamps. This is then flattened off on a large flat sanding board, and glued to the soundboard. Applying adequate clamping pressure to both the sides, soundboard and neck and tail blocks at the same time is not entirely straightforward. A couple of practice runs were essential. Due to the physical size of the uke compared to an acoustic guitar, this step was particularly tricky.
Here is the finished article.





Unfortunately, once the clamps were removed, a few gaps were evident. This, I hoped, was not too much of a problem as : a) cyanoacrylate exists, and b) much of the gap will be removed anyway once the binding channels have been routed. The (nearly vertical) gap between the ends of the two sides is not a problem as it will be chiseled away to make space for the end wedge anyway.





Right then, I shall leave it there for now. I have a few more piccies to post up of progress so far - failed attempt at bolt-on for neck joint, edge binding, neck carving, fretboard and initial body sanding.

As always, ask any questions, and comment (good or bad!) as you see fit 

Cheers,
Adam


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## thick_mike (6 Jan 2014)

I love musical instrument WIPs. Thank you for being so honest about shortcomings and work arounds, it gives people the confidence to have a go themselves.


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## bodge (6 Jan 2014)

Lovely job so far. =D> 
I've not seen free form building done before so thanks for the insight. It looks a bit scary to me and I think I will stick with my outside moulds as I am not terribly accurate and it helps compensate for my inadequacies!
Looking forward to watching this build progress, especially the binding process, which is something else I struggle with.
Thanks for sharing Adam.


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## Green (6 Jan 2014)

Brilliant thread. Looking forward to any updates.


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## Kalimna (7 Jan 2014)

Thank you for your kind words so far 
Mike - I have read in a few places that it takes about ten or so instruments to become proficient at consistency of build. Until then, I suppose there will just be a great many more work-arounds. I suppose one constantly interesting aspect of woodworking in particular is that mistakes are made (and if you arent making mistakes, then you are either perfect or arent trying hard enough  ), and the frequency and manner in which these are overcome is what drives us forwards to improve. A workable instrument is something that anyone can have a go at (so long as they have the interest to do so), and all that specialised equipment brings is a degree of repeatability and a reduced learning curve. 

Pete - Whilst I can certainly see the advantages of using a mold, I have gone the other way as that is how I was shown to do it. Also, in their book, Cumpiano & Natelson suggest that using a mold can introduce stresses if the shape is not exact and being 'forced' into a molds' outline. I am not entirely convinced of this, as there are so many highly respected luthiers who use molds. The free form advantages as I see it are :
a) less space taken up with jigs (How many luthiers does it take to screw in a lightbulb? Just one, but it will take them three months to build the jigs for it)
b) much easier (and less wasteful of MDF/ply) to introduce a new shape if desired
c) any touching up of the outline is much easier if you have a little experience bending by hand.
d) it really isnt as difficult as it might look - I have now bent two guitar sides, and four ukulele sides, and all of them are usable. OK, the ukes are a little wobbly in places, but in my defence, the bending radii are much tighter on a uke (and therefore harder), I didnt have anyone watching me and correcting as necessary (unlike with the guitar) and I probably chose less-than-ideal wood for the ukes. On your next instrument, if you have access to a hot pipe, try out some practice sides and see how you get on.

Green - thanks for the comment.

And now, here are a few more pictures. I left off with the sides just glued to the soundboard. Unfortunately I have missed out a couple of steps, photo wise, but the next jobs were to fabricate a method for drilling two holes in both the neckblock (bit of spruce in the body of the uke, to which the neck is attached) and also the heel of the neck. The idea was that I would use a 6mm dowel as a locating device, and a threaded insert and bolt to do the actual attaching. The way I *should* have done it was to pre-drill the two holes in the neckblock with a pillar drill prior to it being gluedd to the soundboard. I could then (once glued) line up the neck to the body and use appropriate sized brad-point drills to insert from inside the body, through the neck block, and mark the location on the heel where further holes would be drilled to take the insert and the dowel. However, I hadnt planned well enough, and ended up making a hole-drilling jig that I could use on both the glued-up neck block and heel (on the assumption that everything was at the correcct angle). Unfortunatley the jig had its' holes drilled out of alignment and when used I discovered that the neck was off the midline of the body by about 4mm. Which is a lot on a uke. Or a guitar. Or a tank, for that matter. So, the photos you see with the threaded insert and dowel holes in place are of Plan A. Plan B is to use a simple glued butt joint. As an aside, the maple of the neck is an absolute unpleasant thing to drill (and then screw in threaded insert) into endgrain.

Now, whilst the holes look quite off the midline, this photo is deceiving because the two sides do not exactly meet up in the midline. What you see is a gap off-centre.





A close up of the heel end, with insert, erm, inserted and the dowel hole already filled in. I would fill in the insert, but damned if I can extract it without damaging the neck itself. The white line on the ebony fingerboard is dead-centre, and does match up exactly with the neck centre line. The neck has been tapered at this point, and a little trimming is required of the fretboard. I have also started work on shaping the heel.





Unfortunately I havent any photo's of the fretboard being worked on, but it has been thicknessed to around 4mm, with the end given a rounded bevel. Fret slots cut with a fretsaw/mitre box/scale template purchased from StewMac. Their system is quite good, as it doesnt rely on the fretboard being totally square to begin with. All you have to do is line up the blank's centre line with that of the template, and then slide the template inside the mitre box whereby a pin engages with notches cut in the side of the template corresponding to fret positions.
Here is the neck with fretboard temporarily attached. Correct location is ensured by the placement of two small nails inserted through holes drilled through two of the fret slots into the neck a short way. Once glue is applied, the fretboard will then not slip.
The taper of the neck can be achieved in many ways (and exact geometry a function of string spacing, neck width and scale length), hand plane, bandsaw, spokeshave, table saw. I have chosen to use a top-bearing guided cutter on a 1" birch ply template I made for the 15" scale length. due to the narrowness of the template, I used a 1/4" shank cutter on a laminate trimmer, rather than the full size router.





Next, a gentle curve needs to be created on the sides. This is done by cutting a facet leading from just behind the waistline down to the neckblock. Thank you, Bahco coping saw. The peak of this facet is then reduced on a sanding board, then the remainder of the curve faired in. Another hands on approach whereby the alternative is to use sandpaper adhered to a heavy-duty workboard larger than the instrument being built (applies to ukes as much as guitars) that has a dished impression machined in to an exact radius (say 20 feet radius). It is possible to make these dished workboards at home, but is much easier to buy them. They will also impart a very slight angle to the edge of the instruments sides, allowing a better gluing surface (though how important this is, I remain unconvinced) for the back or soundboard.
Once the curve is created, kerfing is applied to the sides and sanded flush, and then the back is repeatedly test-fitted until each back-brace has been trimmed to allow a snug fit.





Once trimmed, it is time to glue the back to the sides. Three methods of clamping this delicate structure are utilised. A large number of spool clamps, a clamping caul for the entire rim, or a long piece of rubber stretched over the body, which rests on a workboard. This last method is the one I chose, the workboard studded with a multitude of bolts to allow quick and easy rubber stretching. This is a surprisingly quick way of applying a good deal of clamping pressure over the whole rim.





And the enclosed body, ready for the top and back to be trimmed flush with the sides. The sides then given a rough sanding to flatten any major wobbles prior to binding.





A close up of a bit where I trimmed the back a little too much prior to glue up. This wont be a problem as the binding channel will remove this blemish. You also get a nice idea of the nature of the ripple in the maple.






For the binding, please see next post. Ta muchly!


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## Kalimna (7 Jan 2014)

Before I started the binding job, I cut a wedge into the end where the sides meet. Into this recess, I glued a wedge of padouk outlined by the white-black0white strips. In theory, this should make for a neater job. Again, whilst the wedge looks off-centre in the photo, in actuality it is spot on.





Glue up. Note the warburtons wrapper again





The finished wedge, prior to trimming





Now for the binding. Of the two ways to do this (tedious hand method or quick router), I chose the machine method. Whilst it is quicker, it is also much, much quicker at destroying all the work done so far than the hand method.
The design for the edge binding was to use white-black-white strips either side of the main indian rosewood strip. The white-black-white on the soundboard did not require pre-bending, but both the IR and the w-b-w on the side did. This was done on the hot pipe again, and I very quickly recalled the frustration of trying to bend on the wide axis of the strip, not the narrow.
Glue up of the binding is a truly messy affair. One starts off at the neck end, applies a fair amount of glue (somehow to all surfaces) and slowly works around the sides, sellotaping along the way. A very simple idea.

So, cutting the channels. Again, the laminate trimmer was used with a rebate cutter and variety of bearings of different diameters. These were bought, again, from StewMac. And multiple tests are required to ensure adequate depth of channels (one for the sides, one for the top/back, forming a stepped rebate).
Resting on top is one of the pre-bent indian rosewood strips.
You will notice the kerfing showing through the channels - this is to be expected and not, for once, an error on my part. Once the binding has been glued on, structtural integrity will be restored.





Bending the indian rosewood on the hot pipe.





The binding and white-black-white strips all glued up and taped. It is extremely important to have a good, handy, supply of tape for this procedure.





The next morning, the tape was carefully removed.





The large excess of (now dried) Titebond was removed with a combination of scraping and sanding, the excess binding width removed in a similar fashion (unfortunately I was a little over zealous with a block plane and managed to trim a little *too* much in places - though you would be hard pushed to tell where) and the body sanded to 120 grit. Any gaps in the binding filled with cyano and sanded flush. Although I have a little sanding still to do, this is where I am at with the build. The next steps will be to apply finish to the body, carve to neck, finish neck, glue neck to body, fabricate bridge, glue bridge, install frets, install tuners, add strings, work out how to play the damn thing...





This gives a clearer idea of the w-b-w strips





And lastly, the front





I apologise for the wordiness of these two, in particular, posts, and hope you kept up to the end! Once I am a little further forward, I shall post up some more pics. But for now, ask any questions you may have, etc. Comments welcome too.

Cheers,
Adam


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## marcros (7 Jan 2014)

Adam,

Great build. What are you planning on finishing it with? That rippled maple could be made into one of many effects, but I would think on this, you will be going quite traditional, rather than a sunburst?!

Could we have a close up of your binding bending hot pipe- I had assumed that you meant a piece of cast iron pipe and a blow torch until you showed it in one picture.

Thanks

Mark


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## MMUK (7 Jan 2014)

Excellent =D> =D> 

Unfortunately I have George Formby in my head now :twisted:


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## bodge (7 Jan 2014)

marcros":1toazs7r said:


> Could we have a close up of your binding bending hot pipe- I had assumed that you meant a piece of cast iron pipe and a blow torch until you showed it in one picture.
> 
> Thanks
> 
> Mark



Mark, it looks like Adam has a "posh" manufactured hot pipe from somewhere like StewMac or ToneTach, something like this:
http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Tools/Speci ... _Iron.html

I went the skinflint route and made my own as essentiall it is very simple. I used a round aluminium billet which was drilled length ways to accept a 600w cartridge heater (300w would have comfortably done the job) and wired through a household light dimmer switch to control the temperature. I then did a crude calibration with a cheap infra red thermometer from eBay. The whole lot cost less than £30.
This was an upgrade as I started out with (yes, you guessed it) A length of exhaust pipe held in the vice and heated with a plumbers propane torch.


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## bodge (7 Jan 2014)

Adam, I am suitably impressed, this is looking wonderful. Is the prufling plastic or fibre? I can't tell from the pictures. I really struggle with binding, especially wood binding, so I am in awe. I agree that t is mighty scary taking a router bit spinning at 30,000 rpm and attacking a body which has just taken many hours to build! One slip and it is expensive kindling.

I do use a hot pipe to bend sides (see post above) but I still use an outside mould to hold them in place while I glue on the top and back as I never seem to be able to get them quite right otherwise, not that they are perfect anyway! Kudos on the sides, as I recall, maple is quite unforgiving when bending and I can imagine curly maple is a nightmare.


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## Kalimna (7 Jan 2014)

Mark - the hot pipe is, indeed, as Pete suggests. I purchased the posh version (!) from StewMac back when the exchange rate was good, a few years ago now. Even with import duty etc, it worked out a wee bit cheaper than from any of the UK suppliers. I could have gone the home-built route, but there are some things I dont feel comfortable doing, and this is one of them. Kudos to anyone who can do it, however. One of the nice things about the StewMac version is that the cross section of the pipe is roughly teardrop shaped, which, although by no means essential, certainly has a (possibly placebo) positive effect when bending different radii. Cumpiano does suggest using a blowtorch and a slightly flattened pipe, but it's probably not as easily controllable.
With regards to the finish, I had initially thought of going down the PRS-stye mega-ripple approach (see Al Di Meola Prism guitar http://adhnans.files.wordpress.com/2010 ... ola-12.jpg) using black dye as a first coat which is then sanded back and the colour dyes added to 'pop' the grain. And using rattle can lacquer on top. However, I think that might be one step too far. I have used Tru-oil in the past, but wanted to try something different for an acoustic. On each of my home builds so far, I have attempted to introduce a new skill/technique. So the upshot is that I think I will attempt a french polish. Eeeek. To that end, I plan to apply finish to the body prior to glueing the neck. I have gone to 400 grit, and will do a grain-raising wipe with a damp cloth before going again to 400, maybe 600-800 if it is worth it. My main concern is having the padouk of the end-wedge bleed into either the purfling or the maple or the spruce.... We shall see.

MMUK - Yes indeedy, when Im cleaning windaes 

Pete - Thank you  Perhaps when it is finished I shall take a photo of the sides with a square held up against them - they slope in places enough to ski down... However, to answer your question, the purfling is, I think, pale wood and dyed fibre. It certainly seemed to split in one or two places as if it had a grain to it. If you can bend sides (however it is done), then you can bend wooden binding - just make it a little thinner than I did so it conforms a little easier. I think that wooden binding just looks nicer than plastic (I used snakewood on my course-built acoustic), and is worth the extra frustration.The curly maple bent OK, it was just that a little waviness was introduced (with the waves going from soundboard to back rather than neck to tail, if you get my meaning) where I didnt want it. Having said that, the curl in the wood was not too extreme on the sides. Either way, I shall go for something more forgiving for the next guitar!

Right then, I have just glued up the second side of the second uke (did it one side at a time this time) and rediscovered the principle of doing a trial run with the clamps. No major issue, but things were getting in the way that weren't there for the first side...

Cheers,
Adam


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## n0legs (7 Jan 2014)

What a lovely job, well done.


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## joethedrummer (8 Jan 2014)

Kalimna,,all that work deserves to make some sweet sounds,,utmost congratulations to you,,it would be good to hear the finished instrument,,maybe Youtube ?.
I have been restoring "el cheapo" electrics since retiring for youngsters to play and I have built a couple of cigar box guitars and know the good feeling when someone plays something that you have created.
Really looking forward to seeing and possibly hearing the results of your skills..


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## Woodmonkey (8 Jan 2014)

Adam, this is fascinating, I've always fancied having a go at making myself a guitar, as usual I underestimated just how much work is involved...
Would you say making an electric guitar is easier - surely must be?
Rich


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## Silverbirch (9 Jan 2014)

Hi Adam,
I found this very interesting, having dabbled in this area myself.
A great WIP.
I`d be careful of that bottle of Titebond near that carpet, though!

Ian


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## Kalimna (9 Jan 2014)

Thanks guys 

Joe - Posting up something to YouTube would mean a couple of things. Making a video, editing and then working out how to upload it (neither have I done before), further, I have never actually played a uke before  So, right now, I couldn't even tell you how it is tuned! Obviously the basics can't be much different to that of a guitar, but even then my skill with the strings is a wee bit less than I'm happy letting the world hear... Thanks for the encouragement though - we shall see. And yes, it is lovely hearing somebody else play (especially when they are damn good) an instrument you have helped to create. Possibly more so with an acoustic, as the sound is quite different from in front.

Rich - yes, there is definitely a lot more to building a guitar than first sight would suggest. More so with an acoustic. I remember thinking that carving the neck would be the tricksiest bit, but it's a walk in the park compared to getting the neck angle (in three planes) spot on, positioning the bridge correctly, seating the frets (and flattening/re-crowning them), even just sanding prior to applying a finish because of all those curves. Having said that, I have found it hugely rewarding, particularly when someone whose opinion I value asks me to make him one. I would say that an electric guitar has a slightly different set of procedures than an acoustic, not necessarily in themselves easier, but probably less critical to the end result. The choice of pickups is going to affect the sound a lot more than what body shape/wood, fingerboard, neck material etc is. Not something to be said for an acoustic.

Ian - I'd be interested to know how far your dabbling went? And whilst the carpet survived this time, an errant so lodge of TB did find the soundboard. Grrrr..

No more photos tonight, but I've glued the heelcap (more Indian rosewood) and fretboard (ebony) onto the neck. Still a heckuva lot of carving to do (thanks Mr Liogier rasp man) before making the bridge and finishing.

Cheers,
Adam


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## bugbear (10 Jan 2014)

Not wishing to derail this thread, but those interested in ukulele might find this blog of interest;

Seems to be "cloned" on two sites:

http://z11.invisionfree.com/Stringed_In ... ic=33&st=0

or

http://forum.ukuleleunderground.com/sho ... -my-Nephew

BugBear


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## Kalimna (27 Jan 2014)

Rightyo then, heres a little update - not too much thats new, but as I am building two ukes concurrently, I figured I could post images of both builds. And all the new errors on the second one!

So, to start with, the maple neck for uke no.1. Taken from the glued-up-but-still-square-stage, the first thing to do is to pare a ramp down from the fretboard side of the heel (bit that attaches neck to body) to the end-cap, making a roughly trapezoidal cross section. It is this that will be butt-jointed to the body. Ive done most of this in the piccy, the only thing left to do is trim the heel length and then glue on the heel cap. You will notice a very rough initial carve of the neck too. Also included is the indian rosewood offcut (from the full size guitar project) that will supply a piece for the end cap. And a rather delectable 21 yr old Glenfiddich (if Im not too mistaken, though it might have been a 10 yr cask Springbank).





My method for tapering the neck is to use a flush-cutting router bit and a scale-length-specific taper template on the neck, then glue the fretboard, then use another (bottom bearing) flush cutter to trim the fretboard, registering off the tapered neck. Easier to do than describe. Only, with a neck as narrow as a ukes', I had a nervous time with a laminate trimmer rather than the full size router I have previously used. It is also necessary to cut the slots in the fretboard prior to glue-up, maintaining a centre line at all times. 
So here is the neck with the fretboard and heel cap glued on and roughly trimmed (hence the chisel). I have also rasped the primary facets for carving the profile of the neck. Again, a procedure hampered by the small size of the neck. I think it is a size 5 grain Liogier in use here.





Further on in the carving process, you will notice I have attempted to maintain a midline. Once I am happy with the rough profile (and it is beginning to look nicely rounded - the ripple in the maple appearing nicely), I will take the thickness (fretboard-rear of neck) down in a tapered fashion from one end to the other. Whilst it isint especially obvious here, shaping the transition from the heel to the neck was the trickiest part, as there wasnt much wood to play with, and I didnt want to rasp into the neck itself at this point.





The neck is now mostly carved, with just a few areas to tidy up (notwithstanding the headstock which needs a fair bit of tidying!) and the fretboard awaiting frets. I have attempted gluing on a two-piece veneer to the rear of the headstock for the first time, and whilst mostly OK, looks a little messy at the edges (even after the tidying up). But it gives a little idea of shape to the neck-headstock join area. The front of the headstock will receive a padouk veneer, to match the bridge.





One last job to complete following the sanding of a radius (thank you Mr Philly for the radius blocks) onto the front surface of the fretboard is to deepen the fret slots to accept the fretwire. Now, I shouldnt have had to do this, but I either didnt cut the slots deep enough to start with, or sanded too much afterwards. Either way, I contrived a means for holding a carved neck steady (odd bits of wood, cork sanding blocks, left hand) enough to allow the use of the fretsaw. Ebony is quite a brittle wood especially when as thin as it now is, and I had some concern that I would either cut right through or put too much pressure on it, thus snapping. Fortunately, neither happened and the frets went in nicely with only a few marks on the ebony to show for it.
Slots not deep enough, as exampled by the yellow arrows.





Frets being installed, tap at either end, then in the middle.





And that is roughly where I am up to with ukulele number one.

Following post shows uke no. 2

Cheers,
Adam


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## Kalimna (27 Jan 2014)

Right then, number two. Most of the process is indentical, but a few errors were noticed that I attempted to correct this time around.
On examining the soundboard (with glued on heel and tail blocks), I noticed the heel block was out of square. Now, I suspect the same was also true of uke no.1, but I didnt notice (though it would explain some of the problems I had squaring up the neck to the body). I decided to remove the neck block (courtesy of a flush cutting saw and paring away of residual spruce) and managed to do so without marring the soft spruce soundboard. The neck block was then squared up again and re-glued, this time near-as-damnit spot on.
Error noticed :





Block being removed :





Block tidied up :





Block re-glued :





The sides now had their kerfing glued on and sanded flush on one side, checking for twist/high/low spots on bandsaw table. These are then glued on, one side at a time, using an 'interesting' clamping arrangement. Of particular use is a piece of 1" (I think) birch ply that acts as a caul, spreading the clamping load over the whole side. Makes for a much less "will I crush the sides with a clamp" stressful glue up. You can see the dining table comes in handy again, as does a Warburtons Toastie bread wrapper to prevent inadvertent glue up to said table. I am not too bothered about excess glue squeeze-out as I can worry about aesthetics next in the future. For now, I want a good glue joint.





Both sides now attached, an arch now needs to be introduced to the rear edge of the sides. I did this (in the manner of Cumpiano/Natelson) by marking a primary facet (using some stiff sandpaper), cutting this away then using a large sanding board to fair in the curve. Once this has been done, and checked for symmetry and no gaps, the rear kerfing is glued on and planed/sanded flush. Then the back can have its' braces trimmed and the soundbox glued up, never again to be opened.

Marking the primary facet :





Gluing on the kerfing once the arch complete (only 18 months, and already helping out  ). Please excuse the just-out-of-bed-look and dressing gown. :





Planing the kerfing flush :





The next few images attempt to explain the bolt-on system for holding the neck in place. Initialy, marked on the external centre-line, a hole is drilled through the neck block. The hole being about 2mm wider than the bolt going through (the apparently large gap to allow for misalignment of neck/hole drilling). Next, the neck is offered up to the body, checked for correct alignment, then a brad-point drill bit passed through from inside the soundbox to make a mark on the heel end of the neck. Two further holes are then drilled in the heel of the neck, one (vertically in this instance as I am using a butt-join) to accept the barrel nut, and another to accept the bolt. In theory, this allows for a very strong compression join that is easily separated. For the final instrument, the underside of the fretboard will also be glued to the top of the soundboard, which will also aassist with alignment.
First 'mock up', and it works. However, the spacer is there as I had yet to trim the bolt. The neck has had essentially no shaping work done on it yet, neither is the heel trimmed to length :





From the other side, showing the vertical hole :





And to re-instate a little of the lost strength, the next post will show a dowel being glued into the barrel-nut hole/

Cheers,
Adam


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## Kalimna (27 Jan 2014)

The dowel (a piece of apple from my boys' chrimbo rocking horse) being glued in. Not very exciting I know, but I am trying to record most steps of the build. The bolt will now remain attached to the neck so as not to lose it!






Finally, for this update, are a couple of colour samples (please see my other thread on shellac and staining), all using Chestnut spirit stain. The first has an initial black stain, which was then sanded back before either a blue or a green stain over th top - a little dark, but shows promise. The second is either clear, green or blue on its own, covered with a pre-mixed shellac. As I now know, some of the stain has been lifted and contaminated the adjacent areas. But you get the idea.

Black then stain :





Clear, or colour only (I think the flash significantly enhances the ripply-ness of the maple, and deepens the colour a little.






And lastly, the current state of play - two uke bodies, one bound and sanded, and one neck, fretted and nearly finish-sanded.






Thank you, again, for reading, and as always please comment/criticise/query anything you see fit to.
Cheers,
Adam S


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## devonwoody (28 Jan 2014)

Thanks for posting this project thread, and it is going well.

There are so many exacting requirements building these sort of things. 

I've got a forty year old guitar up in the loft, unfortunately the nut board cracked some years ago, I have never attempted to repair knowing the stress that it has to hold.


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## marcros (28 Jan 2014)

what other colours do you have Adam- I think that an orangy yellow- colour, sanded back with clear over the top might look good- a vintage maple colour.


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## whiskywill (30 Jan 2014)

bodge":r46qiwq2 said:


> went the skinflint route and made my own as essentiall it is very simple. I used a round aluminium billet which was drilled length ways to accept a 600w cartridge heater (300w would have comfortably done the job) and wired through a household light dimmer switch to control the temperature. I then did a crude calibration with a cheap infra red thermometer from eBay. The whole lot cost less than £30.
> This was an upgrade as I started out with (yes, you guessed it) A length of exhaust pipe held in the vice and heated with a plumbers propane torch.



I also started with, and still sometimes use for sharper bends, a piece of pipe held in a vice with a gas blowtorch stuck in its end but also have one of these. It warms up quickly and is easier to control. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Luthier-Cello ... 452wt_1057


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## whiskywill (30 Jan 2014)

Kalimna":3l59sgc7 said:


> (unfortunately I was a little over zealous with a block plane and managed to trim a little *too* much in places - though you would be hard pushed to tell where)



A tip. It is better to make your binding ledge slightly oversize so that you have to sand/scrape the front/sides/back to the binding instead of scraping the binding. That way the binding width and height stays the same all round.

An excellent WIP. If you want plans for concert, tenor or baritone ukes, let me know.


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## Journeyman_uk (31 Jan 2014)

It looks amazing, so jealous. 

J


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## Kalimna (31 Jan 2014)

Marcros - I now have a selection of Liberon water based dyes, so I could probably mix up any colour. I like the idea of an orangey sunburst, but I may end up changing my mind and going for plain FP. I think I need to get some fresh flakes - the batch I made up last week seems too soft when a test 'puddle' is left overnight (used on the OBrien online tutorials). I have plenty of maple I can test with. My biggest issue (other than zero FP experience) is using the dye without bleeding over the binding.

Whiskywill - thanks for the tip. It's a shame I hadn't read your post a little earlier as I have bound the second uke. But your suggestion makes sense, so long as there isn't too much to take off the sides. As it is, there are quite a few ripples I will have to leave. My other looming problem is that the soundboard has taken a unilateral dip on the treble side of the lower half. Clamping the bridge might sort it out, but even working out how to insert clamps through the sound hole is awkward. The further I get through these builds, the more I am surprised by the cheapness of luthier built ukes. Compared to acoustic guitars, certainly.
I do currently have a concert uke plan (from Georgia Luthier Supplies), and I may take you up on your offer, but for now, I haven't even played a uke! What I do fancy doing is to build a uke-sized instrument but with guitar tuning. Maybe a baritone uke would be a good way to start there.

Journeyman - thank you, but let's see how it looks/plays when finished first 

Cheers,
Adam


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## whiskywill (31 Jan 2014)

Kalimna":3mqjglgc said:


> What I do fancy doing is to build a uke-sized instrument but with guitar tuning.



That would be a guitarlele.  
https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=guita ... B300%3B237


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## Kalimna (31 Jan 2014)

Ahhh, that rather makes sense 
The other problem (don't these seem to be mounting up) I will have to , whilst not losing any length, remove the stacked heel, glue up another longer one and then square off the butt-join area. Oh what fun 

Adam


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## devonwoody (3 Feb 2014)

Kalima, if you need the music and scores for playing the uke I found this midi site this morning, right click a tune and "save target as" loads the music and then you can find the melody line or whatever in a midi app. 

http://jbott.com/


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## Kalimna (3 Feb 2014)

Thanks for the link - it probably is a good idea for me to listen to some uke music before I try and play it 

Cheers,
Adam


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## Kalimna (20 Feb 2014)

Greetings folks,
Just a couple of photo's for this update. I am now well into the finishing section for Uke no.1, and barring a little sand-through on the reverse head veneer and oddly-placed tuner holes, I am quite happy with the progression.
First piccy is a clamping mockup, and whilst I am not convinced it is the best way of doing the job, it should work. And I like the creeping-up-on-clamping-pressure you can get with the quick-grips. The heel-body joint is a butt join, and Im using a couple of de-headed nails in the heel to positively locate on the body and prevent slippage. These are in a later photo. Very low technology, very effective, assuming pre-glue-up is done well. The cork cauls were used as I couldnt think of another way to spread the load and also not dent the uke.





Next up is a close up of the locating pins. For this I just drilled, slightly undersize (checking both nail and drill bit with digi calipers), two holes in the body into which were hammered a couple of nails. The neck was then carefully aligned and pressed onto the nails, the resulting marks deepened with the same drill bit. I will be finishing both the body and neck prior to glueing the two together, and the masking tape is where the glue will be going, slightly undersize to hopefully eliminate squeeze-out.





Following a thorough sanding to 400 grit, here is the body with several wash/sealer coats of 1lb cut shellac in IPA. I think the grain is showing up nicely 





And lastly, the neck as well. This has been finished with around 12-15 coats tru-oil and I plan to leave it a week or so, then go over the 'neck' bit of the neck to give it a more satin feel. You can also see the sand-through in the headstock. Im not sure what the veneer is, but soft would describe it well.





So there you have it. Still a fair bit of the french-polishing to go, a glue up, some fretwork and a bridge to make, but the end is in sight at least.

Cheers,
Adam


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## devonwoody (20 Feb 2014)

Adam, superb workmanship and qualifies in my mind as a work of art.

Should not be long now when you post us a tune at You Tube.


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## Kalimna (20 Feb 2014)

Thanks DW  I'm not convinced about the work of art though - anyone can sand and put a bit of finish on some nice timber! I am quite enjoying this French polishing however. The particular technique is from a Robert O'Brien tutorial as part of his online guitar building tuts. I have no idea how it differs from traditional FP, but I am finding it quite relaxing, and it is showing the grain nicely.
I will try and break my YouTube cherry with a short video of it when finished, though don't expect maestro levels of playing -I'll be happy to play a chord of any type, to be honest.

Cheers,


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## flounder (20 Feb 2014)

Adam, I see you have not fitted a truss rod, but have you used a reinforcing CF or ebony strip in the neck at all?


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## MIGNAL (21 Feb 2014)

The Ukulele is a very low tension instrument, with a very short Neck. No way should a truss rod (of any description) be necessary. My opinion (and only my opinion) is that far too many builders of Ukes take the lead from modern Guitar makers. But the Uke isn't a modern Guitar with it's string pull of 40 Kg +. 
As for the 6 string Guitar sized Uke. It's been done and long before Yamaha and their Guitalele. Actually around 1860, if not before. I made one around 4 years ago and hopefully this year I'll be making one based on the 1860 model.
Anyway, nice build. I like most of what's been done. Just be extremely careful of applying dye/stain directly on figured Maple. Whilst it enhances the figure it can also kill it stone dead at the same time. A lot of electric Guitar makers use the effect without really understanding the nature of the wood. The people who really know about finishing Maple are the Violin makers. They've been using the stuff for 400 years. Try the stain on an off cut. You will lose much of the holographic effect and the wood will have a burnt in look.


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## Kalimna (21 Feb 2014)

Flounder - as Mignal says, there just isn't the tension in the nylon strings of a ukulele to warrant any specific neck reinforcement.

Mignal - thank you for your input. As for the couple of staining tests I have done so far, I am not universally happy with the results, and I understand what you mean by deadening the figure. Though a short test of a rattle can cherry/yellow sunburst effect was ok. However, as lacquer is another technique I am new to (and the current season doesn't lend to an easy application), I may just opt for TruOil for the second instrument, as I am, if not proficient, at least familiar with it.
If I may ask you - you say you like most of what's been done, and I thank you for that, but what is it you would suggest I could improve upon? Design? Build process? Accuracy of woodworking? I would be grateful for your thoughts/critique, and I wonder if my own observations match with yours.

Cheers,
Adam


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## MIGNAL (21 Feb 2014)

It seems a little too flat across the top block. I know some Ukuleles are built like that but to my eye it looks a little awkward. Probably just a touch more of a curve across that area. 
The struts look heavy/high. See what it sounds like. It actually may be a good thing for a Ukulele. I doubt that it needs to be that heavy for the string tension but Ukuleles use heavier soundboards than virtually any stringed instrument that I know of. The rest of the stringed instrument world uses relatively lightweight Spruce/cedar. The theory being that weight dampens the sound, lightweight tops react faster to the string. A lot of Ukes employ the much heavier Koa/Mahogany. Your heavy struts might actually work in your favour. 
Most fiddle makers subject the figured Maple to UV light. You can obtain a lot of colour that way. The rest is a pigment in the varnish itself (they tend to use Oil or Spirit varnish), of which there are countless methods but the figure has to be well sealed before putting on coloured varnish coats. You can stain directly on to Maple but it has to be very subtle. After staining the figure should still 'dance' as you move the piece of wood in relation to your eye. I once tried a tea stain direct on Maple. The first application was OK. It was a subtle change in colour. I let it dry and did a further application of the tea. That was enough to kill it. The life had gone out of it, even though the figure was enhanced. Try experiment with some figured Maple off cuts. Some with a fairly clear varnish. You should notice how the figure changes as you move the piece of wood. Then try a strong stain. See how that works. 
Here's a fine example of not such a good way to finish Maple, PRS or not:

http://www.guitarmania.co.uk/prs-custom ... 1168-p.asp

That's what Violin makers call the 'burnt in' look. It appears very unnatural. It's though they've tried to pop the flame too much.


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## Kalimna (21 Feb 2014)

Mignal,
Thank you for your advice, again. To answer your design/construction suggestions, the flat area at the neck block was intentional. Despite certain body shapes having a curve at the neck/body join, I wanted to eliminate at least one potential stumbling block and make my life a little easier by having a flat join. From the large variation in ukeulele shapes (trimmed-down-guitar to box to pineapple) out there, I didnt think this would impact too much on the sound. As for aesthetics, I take your point that it might be a little awkward, but in the flesh I dont think it is too far from the small dreadnought shape I was after. Probably for the next one I shall reduce the size of the flat area, which is determined by the neck block width, and finesse the aesthetics a little.
As for the struts (I assume you are using a synonym for braces, as that is the term I am familliar with), I actually thought I had left them a little short in cross section. Also, I think I gave the ends of them too much of a slope i.e. too much mass in the centre and not enough towards the ends. Having said that, the blanks were derived from the plans I am following, and I attempted to shape them whilst trying to achieve a fairly consistent tap tone across the plate. As you say, I shall see how it sounds.
I hadnt realised that, compared to other acoustic instruments, ukes have a heavy soundboard. Obviously koa is quite traditional (as are other hardwoods) but then again, Martin have a history of using mahogany in some of their acoustic guitars. The soundboards on these two ukes are spruce, but I do have the remains of a nice yew board that I would like to use for back/sides/top at some point, as an experiment if nothing else.
Regarding the finish, i think I understand what you mean. As it happens, I do quite like the PRS-style figure-enhancing-stains, but having seen some stunning examples in the flesh, I quite agree that they do not 'dance' as you move them in relation to your eyes. I am really pleased with the french polish effect on uke number one so far, and it really does feel alive as you move it. More trials are called for on offcuts, but I am certainly swinging more towards traditional.

Again, many thanks for your input, it is greatly appreciated.

Adam


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## Kalimna (30 Apr 2014)

Greetings folks,
Sorry it's been a while since the last update on my two ukuleles - but they are now finished. Woohoo! There hasnt been much of interest to photograph since my previous posts (essentially application of finish, gluing of necks and sanding/polishing), so the following photos are of the completed instruments. On the whole, I am rather pleased with them, but there are certainly some glaring 'issues' with both.
For both ukes, I tru-oiled the necks/headstocks, with a glossier finish on the maple to show off the ripple. The necks were also finished separate to the body to allow, in theory, a neater heel-body join. The photos tell a slightly different result, however. Whilst I employed a bolt-on approach for one of them, I did in fact glue both, using Titebond I. I think epoxy may have been a better choice, but time will tell how strong the join has been,

Anyway, here is the first one (to be handed over to Isaac, my youngest at 22 months old). It has been french polished (-ish), but I was unhappy with the final level of shine and ended up using sequential polishing compounds to bring the finish up to a gloss. No further colour was added, beyond that provided by the FP. You may just be able to see where (on the 4th string (furthest on the treble side) runs over the nut at an angle off to one side - poor location of the tuning machine..... The nut was shaped using a combo of disk sander, sandpaper and jewellers files.





A view of the back





A close up of the rear of the headstock, showing the veneer (a new technique/detail for me) and where I sanded through around the edge.... And whilst I am quite happy with the headstock outline, I do need to improve the positioning/direction of the tuners.





The following three images show the front of the body and the bridge. The bridge was produced from an offcut of padouk I had lying around, and overall I am very pleased with it. Making the bridge was probably the trickiest, for me, single part of the process (with the possible exception of the neck-body join). Thicknessed on a drum sander, saddle slot cut with a dremel (the first slot had to be filled in and re-routed as I had forgotten to add a compensation to the saddle position for the scale length....) and the remainder shaped with rasps and sandpaper. Apart from needing to re-rout the slot, I think I could have done with making the slot deeper. The saddle itself (bleached bone) was fashioned using a combo of disk sander, sandpaper and fret-crowning file. I think it still needs work to round off some edges and finesse the scale length compensation.















This, last, image shows a small gap at the body-heel join. This gap was not present when I did a trial run, and I can only hope the glue inside will keep things together. I used a couple of cut-down small nails as locating pins, so should the neck remove itself from the body, hopefully it wont be *too* hard to reattach. The fretboard end was glued to the soundboard also, and this was a much more secure join.





Once strung up and tuned (and tuned again and again and again), it does seem to sound like a ukulele. Possibly a little less projection than a proper instrument, but I am happy with it. The main problems I have already documented, and I think I have learned not just several new processes, but also several areas where more care needs to be taken, and where pitfalls, not always obvious, may be present.

Cheers,
Adam


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## Kalimna (30 Apr 2014)

And finally, here is Sebastians' ukulele. There is very little difference between the two instruments. This one has a Brazilian tulipwood fingerboard versus ebony, a pink ivory bridge versus padouk, a neck made from afromosia versus maple and a nitrocellulose lacquer versus french polish.
The lacquer was applied using rattle cans, with a sealer coat followed by a couple of colour coats, and finally several clear coats. This was then left for a month before flattening off and polished with sequential liquid compounds and buffed by hand. There are several areas I can improve upon for future builds - despite being maple, I think a pore-filling stage would have been beneficial, as would further coats of clear and a more careful approach to flattening the clear coats. If you look carefully, you can see a few areas where the yellow colour isnt as deep, and I think I may have slightly sanded through. However, as all coats are nitrocellulose, I left as is and polished anyway.
Unfortunately, and despite using a bolt on neck-body join (and also a dry-run), the neck slipped laterally at glue-up which has left a sliver of unfinished body adjacent to one side of the heel. Shouldnt effect playability. Does effect aesthetics.

So, here we are at the front :






The back :





Neck_body close-up :





Further close-up showing a gap where I accidentally rounded-over the body whilst sanding the joint area :





Close-up of the bridge (I am rather pleased with the shape, but I hadn't left enough 'depth' at the rear to leave enough space to tie the strings off as well as I might have done).





Close up of the nut area, showing the headstock-veneer slippage issue...:





Close up of headstock area showing where I rasped away too much material. Possibly a problem had it been a full size guitar, but I hope the reduced string tension of nylon on a small body wont cause any future problems here.





Fingerboard end and soundboard :





And lastly, a view from the end of the uke :





When strung up and tuned, this one sounds almost identical to the maple-necked one. The necks feel similar too, in profile.
There's not much else to add, but I may post up a video when I can play a chord or two (and learn how to post to YouTube!), so I shall leave it there.
As usual, any comments/criticisms/queries gratefully received.

Thanks for looking,
Adam

...now all I have to do is start on my full-size acoustics, and the twin-neck uke I have planned in my head somewhere.....


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## nathandavies (1 May 2014)

beautiful work, well done sir.

bit too good to give to kids, perhaps hand them over for a couple of snaps for the album, then hide them away until they are say.... 30/35 they should properly appreciate them by then.

nathan


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## devonwoody (1 May 2014)

Lovely pictures and workmanship, finish and appearance of instruments look super as well. I know how accurate the work needs tobe and to get the tuning to work. 

=D> =D> =D>


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## Woodmonkey (1 May 2014)

=D> beautiful well done, not sure if I would be able to hand over to a 22 month old after all that work!


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## Kalimna (1 May 2014)

Thank you for the kind words  I think that if I can overcome the errors on my next build, I'll be over the moon . However, they were made with the twin purposes of practice and an instrument for each of my boys, and the look on their faces when handed over was indeed priceless. Like Christmas morning all over. And if they get scratched/damaged/broken then it shows they have been played with, and isn't that the point? It would also give me repair practice! They can save care and attention for the full size guitars still to be built.

Cheers,
Adam


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## joethedrummer (2 May 2014)

Hi Kalimna,,,,
Magnificent,,,,thanks for the story,,,,quite agree about the scratches, etc, on a much played and loved instrument,,,looking forward to following a guitar build,,, wished I lived closer so that I could hear the results of your labour,,
,,,,joe,,,,,,,


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## birchwood (10 May 2014)

hi, really impressed, I have been trying to find plans for a balakiala, not sure about the spelling, every site seems to have its own spelling.Anyway, so far unsuccessful, the one I would like to try is the triangular shaped one with the curved back.Any info re plans would be appreciated. regards bw


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## flounder (10 May 2014)

http://www.luth.org/images/plans/pl25.jpg

How about this one?


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