Search results

Oh, but one bending hint now. The final inch or two of each side is always reluctant to bend, so cut the sides over length by 4 inches if you can to make life easier.

That's a nice looking mantelpiece, and good grain orientation. And the neatest bookmatch will put the most vertical grain along the centreline, which might be a good thing. To join the boards I take a bookmatch pair, open it out, and plane flat the two faces I see. Then I join the boards, and...

Backs and soundboards are usually book matched, because vertical grain wood the right width for a single piece is hard to come by. And if there is a pretty figure in the wood, then book matching can make it even prettier. Top and back from different woods is increasingly common - there really...

Most finishes aren't actually waterproof. Your varnish allows water in, just very slowly. So your timber eventually looks just the same as unvarnished timber left outside, but it takes longer and happens in patches, not evenly. There is no magic way to stop wood weathering! If you want to keep...

How does it sound? Video ... No excuses!

I've built a few musical instruments with WRC. Sounds nice, but dents if you sneeze at it! Just a touch with a fingernail leaves a mark.

I'd make a stick 10x5mm and 13 inches long (to allow for errors). Mark out my taper on one side. Stick it to a sacrificial piece of timber so that the 0mm end is at its end and clamp to my bench so that the angled plane will miss the end of the bench. Then plane down to the line (probably...

You can choose whether to put a small dome in the top, and if you do the easiest way is just to put a slight curve on the main transverse brace. A rise of maybe 2mm is all you need. Such a curve helps with humidity changes - if the top gets wider the dome rises, if it shrinks the dome flattens...

One final thought .... If your daughter is the right age (impressed by shiny and/or sparkly), you can build a surprisingly decent uke using only 1.5mm birch ply for the body. Here is one I made as a raffle prize - a "camp" uke shape, floating bridge which removes the big challenge of getting...

Other woods which I know work well: Lacewood Yew Meranti (But splitty) Maple (can be a bit shrill though) Walnut Lots of possibilities. Make sure the grain for top and back at least is near vertical (see my thread for why). Rosewood is too dense for tops, though can make nice backs and sides.

But don't be fooled by guitars, which mostly use softwood tops. If you want the traditional uke sound you must use a hardwood top. The first ukes were all koa, then when they began being made in the US (late 1910s), mahogany. But most non-dense hardwoods can be made to work - I've used oak...

The Grellier plans are pretty good, and a free download - Grellier soprano ukulele plans But it's generally agreed that the top bracing is far too heavy, and I'd certainly make the bracing narrower and reduce the height a little. You might find some useful thoughts in this thread of mine...

By cabinet I thought you had in mind a box with base, sides and top, with a door at the front. Along every right angle (except the door, obviously!) run a batten (on the inside of the right angle, or if you don't want them seen, recess base, top and back and place them on the outside where they...

Have I understood - this cabinet is big enough to hold two people standing up? (2m X 1.6m X .6m) If so, 6mm plywood is barely strong enough to hold it up, let alone putting heavy things inside! Not sure whether you want 12mm or 18mm, but certainly go thicker. And if it doesn't have to look...

I checked on eBay - no 10/28 UNS machine screws I can find, but tap and die sets are just over £5 from China. Admittedly, that's a 3-4 week wait. But cutting a thread into a length of steel rod is easy, even I can manage it! Cut a slot in the end, fix in a 1p coin, apply a washer, and you're away.

That looks very smart. I predict the cat will refuse to go inside, but will spend hours asleep on the roof :)

I see a clear answer. "Bog standard" is whatever the sellers think they can sell. It's no standard. Recently all your local sellers have changed their supplier, so what they offer is different. It's their new bog standard. That's why. No-one knows where to get what you used to buy. Maybe...

We're guessing because we don't know what they are for. If these are for May day, garlanded with flowers, then make the arches from ply with scrap spacers in between. No-one will know past the flowers. If they're load bearing, that's something different. If they need to stand up to years of...

You might find 13 mm at the bridge useful if you want to fingerpick. I wouldn't bother building in a preamp. Buy one in a separate box, then you can use it for both ukes, and it will be far better quality of sound. But beware - I know a couple of people who play electric ukes, and a whole...

Based on the Risa stick? Looks like it will do the job :) You'll probably want to invest in a preamp if you're going to play it through a PA - that will match impedances and also get rid of the piezo "quack" from the pickup. One suggestion if you ever make another - taper the neck to get...