Steel String Concert Ukulele

So the past week has been a nightmare.  I was almost done finishing the ukulele when I noticed some dull/dry spots in the finish.  It took forever, and multiple failing efforts, but I finally realized the finish I had mixed up got a hair in it and started to solidify.  I mixed up a new batch, and within a day and a half, I managed to fix it.  So here's the specs, and then some pics:

• 15" scale length
• Shape based on the classic Gibson L-00
• Bookmatched maple green burst front and back
• Matched maple sides
• Maple neck with steel reinforcement bar
• Slotted headstock with classical style tuners
• Ebony fretboard and bridge
• Mother of pearl inlays
• White plastic binding
• serial number #003

Thats all I can think of off the top of my head.  I still need to make the case for it, I would've had that done by now, but the problem with the finish cost me a week.  Anyways, here she is

Steel String Concert Ukulele finish update

So I said earlier that I would post a pic of the top once I flipped it over.  Just put another coat of finish on it and snapped a pic.  Starting to look good.  Should be done in 3-4 days.

Traditional Concert Ukulele update

So I've been trying to catch up on this one so I can do the finish on both ukes at the same time.  I've been slacking on taking pics with this one, but its almost identical to Michelle's, just getting nylon strings, and has slightly different neck dimensions.  I stained and attached the neck earlier.  Just took it out of the clamps about 20 minutes ago.

I have some touchups to do on the black areas.  I'm not quite happy with the blend on it yet, and the headstock will need some as well.  I'll get that done tomorrow and probably put the bridge on and start cutting the inlay for it.

Concert Ukulele, nearing the end

So a few nights ago I cut out the inlay for the headstock after doing all the neck shaping and slotting the headstock.  I still need to dye the faceplate on the headstock before I route it out and glue in the logo.

I still need to clean that up a little bit to remove some sloppy edges. 

Last night, I did the cleanup work on the neck to remove a few tool marks.  That took way less time than expected, soI dyed the back of the neck with the Dark Green to match the sides, Managed to get the color right and only really needed 2 coats.  I let that dry overnight.

I was supposed to go skate this morning, but a combination of heavy winds, and a very sore back put me out of commission.  I ended up sleeping all day, but when I woke up, I got right back to work and glued in the neck.

I let that set for about 90 minutes, and just took it out of the clamps.  It feels pretty solid, so I'm gonna let it set another hour or two before I finish up the fretwork.  As you'll see in the next pic, the fretboard looks pretty messy, I still have to level and crown the frets, as well as finish sand and buff up the fretboard. 

Not quite sure why that posted vertically.  Weird.  Oh well, thats all for now.



Concert Ukulele, Neck shaping *UPDATE*

So last night I got the fretting/binding done and glued the fretboard down onto the neck.  Slept forever today and woke up at 3:30pm, guess my cat decided to let me sleep for once.  Took my allergy meds and got to work immediately downsizing the overhang so the neck and fretboard were as flush as i could get em.  I had planned on using my orbital sander like I did on Tom's, but the sandpaper I bought isn't as high quality as 3m, so I ended up block planing the crap out of it.  Once it was smooth enough for my liking, I went at it with my rasps and files.  Last weekend I had watched an episode of The Woodwright's Shop with Roy Underhill and they were taling about how handcut rasps seem to cut more thoroughly than machine cut, so I tried out my shitty 3 dollar Harbor Freight rasp set over the more expensive Home Depot set.  Needless to say, I no longer think the cheap ones are so shitty.  Anyways, here's a bunch of pics, there's still some more filing and sanding to do, but its about 90% done.

And here's today's work so far.  As I said, still a little work needs to be done to clean up as many tool marks as possible.

I'm going to try to condense the next several blog posts, I have something special planned for my 100th entry.

*UPDATE*

Just slotted the headstock and drilled for tuners.  Learned a new technique involving the drill press and chisels, so I can ditch the sloppy routing.

Now to sand out any rough spots.

Concert Ukulele fretboard

So I started slotting the fretboard this afternoon with the saw I used on Tom's uke.  About halfway up the board, I heard the mail truck come by and went out to see if any of my orders came in.  Fretwire was in one of the packages, and I guess I didn't check the size of what I ordered, and this stuff is super narrow.  Too narrow for the slots I had cut even.  So, I started over with a razor saw and a makeshift miter guage to make sure I cut em straight.  Finally finished up a few hours ago, and glued in the inlay dots while i was at it.  While those were drying, I went to work shaping the dovetail joint on the neck, and also cut out the female joint on the body.  I don't have pics of the neck at the moment, my batteries died after shooting pics of the body.  Here's a few others for now:

Since I got pushed back a few hours having to recut the fret slots, I'll do the binding tomorrow.  Its too late now to be using the belt sander to flush up the sides.

Overdue post

I've been kinda slacking on the blog lately, Had mainly just been sending pics of the steel string uke straight to the buyer to show her progress.  I've got the body dyed and bound now, here's where that one is at currently:

It looks kinda blue in this pic, but when I put the finish on, it will mellow out to a nice green shade since the shellac I have has a yellow tint to it.

I've also cut out the necks and laid out the headstock shape.  Right now i'm waiting for a new bit to arrive so I can inlay it, as well as a better sawblade for cutting the fret slots.

This will get sanded to clean up the rough cuts.  Since I'm going with steel strings, I've added a 1/8 x 1/2" steel bar for strength against the string tension to avoid it bowing.

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 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.