Concert Ukulele, out of the mold

Took the uke out of the mold this afternoon and trimmed up the overhang.  The soprano I was working on is going to need to be redone.  I think the side wood I used was too soft and it got lumpy in spots.  Gonna cut that off and redo em later on.  So here's the current state of the Concert, I put the bridge on just for perspective with some dbl sided photo tape.

I'll be doing the bindings next week when they arrive. 

Concert Ukulele, part 4?

I can't recall how many updates I've posted on this one...  Sorry for the lack of updates by the way, I've been sending pics directly to the customer instead of posting them since most of this stuff I've done before.  I got both ukuleles braced over the weekend, and started doing the side bending today.  Got the soprano done, and as I started on the Concert, my heat gun blew up.  Had to sit around for a few hours until my sister got home so I could go get a replacement.  Ended up getting my new one, but decided to switch to a small propane torch as I've seen in videos online.

So now I've just finished up that one, here's a couple pics.  After its all dry, I plan to trim off the overhang.  Always better to have more room to work than less.

And yes, that is X-braced.  We decided to try steel strings on this beast.  I found a company that makes them for all sizes of ukes, proposed the idea, and she went for it.

Here's the soprano while i'm at it:

Concert Ukulele, part 3

This morning after my sister left for school, I got the top and back roughly cut out, and also made the spreaders for later when I do the sides.  Ended up falling asleep all afternoon/evening because between my senile screamapillar cat, and running out of non-drowsy allergy meds, my sleep schedule is wrecked right now.

A little while ago I cut and glued the bracing for the back.  This time I drew the outline on the inside so I wouldn't have to trim everything down to fit into the mold later like on Tom's uke.  I'll be shaping them later after the glue has had a few hours to set.

Concert Ukulele, Finished the mold

My mom is out of town, and my sister left for school at 5am, so I was able to work without worrying about waking anyone.  I sanded the inside of the mold and screwed it together with a couple plywood scraps.  Also drew out the outlines for the front and back on the piece of maple I'll be using.

The outside edges are still rough, I may or may not sand those later.

Concert Ukulele part 1

So in addition to the soprano I'm doing, I'll be building a concert sized ukulele for a friend/customer from Vancouver.  Today I just joined up the wood and rough cut the mold.  I'll be sanding it tomorrow.

The wood I'm using is a bookmatched set of maple that the customer picked out. It will be large enough to get front and back out of it.  I'll be using a separate side set which should arrive in the next couple days.

Soprano ukulele #2

 This one is currently unclaimed, so if anyone is interested, contact me at Callahanguitars@yahoo.com

So I've currently got plans to do a Concert Ukulele for a friend/customer in Vancouver, BC.  Unfortunately, the wood hasn't arrived yet, so I decided to get started on a 2nd soprano uke with some wood I got in last week.   It'll make it easier to do 2 at once, that way I only have to set up the bending iron once.  I won't be doing these posts quite as detailed as Tom's, but I'll try to keep up with progress.  Today I planed/jointed, glued up, scraped, and sanded the top and back, and sanded the sides.  The top and back are bookmatched 1/8" maple, while the sides are 1/16" maple from the same guy I bought Tom's walnut from.

It's kinda hard to see my pencil marks on there, but the sound hols most likely won't be that big, I just drew it on for reference.

Holy Shitar!

Just finished up the Lou Shields Shitar Deluxe.  Strung 'er up, but I'm not sure how Lou wants to tune it, so I'll leave that part to him. 

Here's some specs on this little beast:

• Bookmatched tobacco burst maple top
• Plywood back and sides salvaged from Lou's vert ramp
• Masonite fretboard and skunk stripe salvaged from the ramp
• Maple neck with 1/4 x 3/4" steel reinforcement bar
• Ebony bridge in the shape of the Vans off the wall logo
• Skateboard axle saddle, held in place by bearings
• Poplar bindings
• Classical style slotted headstock
• 26.5" baritone scale length
• Ted Crocker custom cigar box guitar pickup
• Gnarly lookin skull soundhole
• Kingpin nut

Here's a few more pics:

Lou Shields Shitar Deluxe: almost done

So Lou had ordered a custom pickup from Ted Crocker guitars.  Ted makes custom cigar boxes and pickups, and after seeing a couple clips with the pickup, I could see why Lou wanted it.  I got the body routed and started finishing it over the weekend.  After I felt it had enough coats to where it's sealed, but not too glossy, I started installing everything.  The hardest part was the pots, those were a pain in the ass to get installed.  I had forgotten that I had a similar hard time when I rewired my old es-335.  Anyway, here it is with the pickup and pots/knobs in.  I still have to get the bridge done, and it should be complete by the end of the week I hope.