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Just a thought about glue, for when you build your second harp or if someone else is thinking of building musical instruments. Ideally an instrument will still be being played in a hundred years time if it's any good, so builders need to think about repairability. For example, I suspect that...

Mainly ukuleles, Keith, so as far from harps as stringed instruments get! Your body looks pretty stout to me, so I don't anticipate any major distortion from cross-grain swelling. The top will be domed up by string tension, so any swelling will just raise that slightly. And given the short...

When you glue the soundboard on, do it when the humidity is low. This reduces the risk of your soundboard cracking. In higher humidity it will try to expand but the body will resist this, and at worst your soundboard will dome slightly so the harp goes a little flat. US luthiers aim at around...

What follows is all guessing, without seeing it. I think this probably means the poly finish is losing adhesion there. Try finger pressure on the cloudy patch to see if you feel movement, or if the shape or degree of cloudiness changes. The other possibility is contamination underneath at that...

A 1mm veneer would bend to fit your drawing if heated - I'd use a heat gun. I can bend close to that in 1.8mm solid wood using a hot pipe. For 1mm construction veneer, warm the wood to hand hot, and as it relaxes, ease it to the curve. Oak has (so far) bent for me ridiculously easily. Walnut...

Ah, but I used a Spanish heel joint for my uke! If your centre line is 5mm out then you really need to start over. Glue a shim to the dovetail cheek where you've removed too much material. Then mark out the dovetail correctly and recut it (or more likely, use a chisel to take away the excess)...

I'm entirely self taught, and on a good day can reach the dizzying heights of "adequate". I've never found a useful guide to getting started. After my initial foray into paperweight planes (Amtec!) I bought a couple of planes which are decent and was able to make a start. But those planes...

If you want thin and flat boards then you need them to be vertical grain, or very close to it. The board might still be a bit cupped from internal stresses released when it was cut, but once it has stabilised to your workshop humidity (a week is plenty for a thin board) you can plane it flat and...

If you want thin and flat boards then you need them to be vertical grain, or very close to it. The board might still be a bit cupped from internal stresses released when it was cut, but once it has stabilised to your workshop humidity (a week is plenty for a thin board) you can plane it flat and...

Depends on the window. From experience i can say that with single glazed windows and a cold night it's very comforting if the headboard is high enough so the cold air rolling off the windowsill falls behind the headboard, and thus not on the pillow!

The rule in lutherie is soft finish over hard, never the other way round. With hard over soft, say poly over oil, the hard finish is likely to crack through wood movement. Furniture would be finished thicker so this might not be an issue, but ... Also I'd worry about adhesion between the two...

Laminates for proper instruments are quite different from ordinary ply, and range in quality from poor to very good indeed. Kiwaya make an all laminate ukulele which costs as much as a Martin and is of comparable quality - i believe the laminate costs them more than solid wood. Decent laminates...

Now, now ... Looks more like the material i bought from Buildbase, 3.4mm hardwood ply at £12 per 8 x 4 sheet. From which i just made a decent sounding tea chest bass, so it's not entirely unmusical stuff!

Once wood has reached equilibrium (ie properly seasoned and allowed to adjust to its environment) it doesn't "dry out" any more. What happens is that if the atmosphere becomes more humid the wood absorbs moisture and swells. If the air becomes drier, the wood shrinks. Almost all this movement...

A couple of things to try (the second still catches me out sometimes): 1. It's essential that the back of your chisel is flat at the tip. There are religious wars about how far back it needs to be flat, but for your purposes 1/2 inch or so will be workable. Your pics are blurry, but it looks as...

I thought it wasn't bad, as a 30 minute programme aimed at the general population. I'd have liked to know how the fish tail was clamped for glueing, but 99% of viewers wouldn't have cared. I think it got over two messages: 1. Decent quality things can be fixed, even if they seem very broken...

I use a large diaphragm condenser mic for two voices + 2 acoustic instruments. Think bluegrass band all standing round the one mic. Budget option is the Beringer C1 at about £40, but a mic stand and shock mount plus cables will be another £25+. Friends use Rode NT1 mics @ £155 each, very...

As an alternative thought, you can have fun with pink on the cheap! This is 1.5 mm birch ply, stained with red ink and finished in Tru Oil. Pinker and less blue than the photos show. The neck is mahogany and hardwood ply, salvaged from a wardrobe. Dressed up with celluloid from China it...

Michelle, I'm going to echo what Bugbear says. Looking back on my first attempts at ukulele making, I realise that I made my life difficult through my choice of woods. Anything with figure or reversing grain is difficult to work, and it really helps if you've polished your skills on several...

I have strap buttons on my resonator uke, baritone uke and tenor guitar. Primarily for performing standing, as these are all awkward to hold and play (though it can be done). I also use the strap if i play sitting, because it completely frees my fretting hand from doing any work to support the...