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

[Kalimna]

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

 

[devonwoody]

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.

 

[marcros]

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.

 

[whiskywill]

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

 

[whiskywill]

(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.

 

[Journeyman_uk]

It looks amazing, so jealous.

J

 

[Kalimna]

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

 

[whiskywill]

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

 

[Kalimna]

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

 

[devonwoody]

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/

 

[Kalimna]

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

 

[Kalimna]

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

 

[devonwoody]

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.

 

[Kalimna]

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,

 

[flounder]

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?

 

[MIGNAL]

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.

 

[Kalimna]

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

 

[MIGNAL]

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.

 

[Kalimna]

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

 

[Kalimna]

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