JohnG Posted July 23, 2019 Report Share Posted July 23, 2019 I've mentioned this project in passing a few times and received some interest so I'm making a journal for this. This post is just some background and info, the pictures will come in later posts. A relative of mine has made 15 or so ukes which always fascinated me. I used to live near him, but unfortunately that was before I was woodworking. While I've always wanted to be a musical person, I simply am not- I know a lot more about musical instruments now than when I started this project, but I still can't name more than a couple parts of the uke. Once I got into woodworking, I thought it would be fun to build a uke but I knew I wouldn't take the time make all of the jigs needed or spend the money to buy all of the specialized tools, so I figured this would be something I would make in a couple decades or never. I recently was back in the area for a wedding (his daughter) and proposed an ambitious plan of trying to build a uke in the few days on and around the wedding. The true goal was to complete most (or all) of the steps that require a lot of specialized jigs and tools. We did some prep work in advance. He found a nice piece of cedar for the soundboard, roughed out a neck from sapele, and did a bit of layout and marking on those. I selected the material for the sides and back, and cut those to rough size. I have some interesting walnut from my dad's property and wanted to use that. The material I wanted to use for the back was highly figured and was giving me trouble in bringing it down to size, so I brought a backup piece for the back (which was used). Obviously with the wedding and me wanting to see some old friends/coworkers from when I lived in the area, time was tight. This was like a class, he would give me instructions on the next few things that needed to be done, and I'd crank away in his shop while he did other things (prepare for wedding, visit with family, etc). When I needed help or was finished with my tasks, I'd find him and he would give me advice or the next few steps. When he could, he would come out and help me. He provided most of the materials needed for this project, which was incredibly generous of him (cedar soundboard, sapele neck, ebony parts, abalone parts, binding strips, frets, tuners, and much more that I'm forgetting at the moment). He also gave me free reign in his shop, which was also very nice of him. (we stay in touch regarding woodworking projects and he knew that I can safely use the tools). I ended up having most of a Friday (except for a few hours mid-day), Saturday, a couple hours Sunday, and most of Monday to work on the uke. We did complete most of what needs specialty tools and jigs before I left, and I was able to safely transport it back home. My rate of progress after leaving town has slowed to a crawl, as I've had to order some tools and supplies to continue on. I also stalled for a while on some steps, nervous about ruining all of my hard work, but eventually overcame it at moved forward. We have a baby coming within the next couple weeks, so I'm motivated to make more headway before my shop time will be nonexistent for a while. Pictures and some further explanation to come. I have a bunch of photos saved in an album but need to go through them and pick out the good ones. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post JohnG Posted July 23, 2019 Author Popular Post Report Share Posted July 23, 2019 Initial Prep- Here is the walnut board I chose to make the back from. This walnut tree was on my dad's property in NC and he had a local sawyer mill it. He had planned on having a furniture maker use the wood for a custom piece, but they didn't want to use material with unknown history. It has been sitting stickered in a shed for a few years, and I recently became the happy owner of a few boards of it. The other end of the board, not seen in the picture, is relatively straight grain and I used that area for the sides. The right side of this board is heavily figured, as can be seen, and was my first choice for the uke back. The plan was to bookmatch it like below. However I was rushed in preparing the material before flying out, and ended up with a lot of deep tearout. I left it thick in hopes that we could save it once I arrived (on the drum sander or HH planer). backup option was the left side of the board, still very cool figure for a bookmatch, but not quite as dramatic. Sides- ' Meanwhile, he had repared a rough neck and inserted a carbon fiber truss rod. He also selected a nice tight grained piece of cedar for the soundboard- I packed my suitcase full of wood (edge grain cutting boards as a wedding gift, 2 options for the back, sides, and a the highly figured section of the sequential cut walnut board as a gift- seen in the pic with the sides) and headed across the country. I was curious if TSA would say anything or ask about all the wood in my suitcase, but they didn't seem to care. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post JohnG Posted July 25, 2019 Author Popular Post Report Share Posted July 25, 2019 Day 1 - Started out the day by going over the initial plan of action, general overview of steps, and into to his shop organization and layout. Then began the attempt to save the back. After a lot of time working on the back, it became quite clear that the back I had chosen was not meant to be. After spending a lot of time at the drum sander getting the back toward final thickness (2mm), it became very brittle because of all the undulating grain. After assessing the damage, I was able to break several more pieces out of it with only gentle pressure. Good thing I took a backup! Used his 14" laguna bandsaw and resaw king blade to resaw the new back pieces (holy cow, that blade leaves a nice finish!). Back to the drum sander. I was quite pleased with the result- Then worked on the rosette. Sealcoat around the groove keeps the super glue from soaking into the cedar soundboard. Also cut back to rough shape. Then started on shaping the neck using some files and shinto rasp. Shaped a little section at the top and bottom of the neck, then worked on connecting the two with a concave spokeshave. Then moved on to sandpaper to blend and clean things up and. Starting to look better- Next came the tone bars. Rough cut on the little bandsaw, to be shaped after gluing to the soundboard. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post JohnG Posted July 25, 2019 Author Popular Post Report Share Posted July 25, 2019 Day 2- Sanded the rosette flush and the routed out the sound hole. Then glued the tone bars to the soundboard. Also glued on a reinforcing piece where the bridge will be. Glued a piece of ebony to the headstock. Brought the sides down to final thickness (2mm) at the drum sander Back and sides- Cut kerfing. Started shaping the tone bars. You can see the bridge reinforcement in this picture. Glued tone bars to the back, also creating the curve for the back. Back to the drum sander to bring the ebony fingerboard to final thickness. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drzaius Posted July 25, 2019 Report Share Posted July 25, 2019 Beautiful grain selection. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wtnhighlander Posted July 26, 2019 Report Share Posted July 26, 2019 Man, that"s coming along quickly! Surprised to hear the components are only 2mm thick. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post JohnG Posted July 26, 2019 Author Popular Post Report Share Posted July 26, 2019 Day 3-3.5 A lot of cool jigs and fixtures were used on this day. Bending the sides. I don't have many pictures of this process since it was a rush and stressful. Once the sides were bent I slowly crept up on the final length of the sides. This same jig was used earlier in the day (or maybe the night before?) to glue the neck to the soundboard. Once the sides were to final length, the soundboard side kerfing was glued just proud of the sides, then sanded flush. Lots of little clamps! Then the kerfing is notched out to allow clearance for the ends of the tone bars. Then the sides were glued to the soundboard. While the glue was drying, I switched gears to work on the fingerboard. Cut the fret slots and the drilled holes for the abalone dots. Pressing the frets in place The sides were firmly glued to the soundboard, so it was time to cut the profile. The uke is narrower toward the neck, widest just below the waist, and then narrows a bit toward the bottom. Used tape to lay out the shape and tried to match both sides. Then start sawing... this was a sweaty palm operation. Glued and flushed the kerfing for the back. Glued the back to the sides. Bent the binding pieces. Then packed up and ready to fly home. This was a long day, worked in the shop from about 9am until 2:30am with a short break for lunch and then dinner with family/friends, then up at 4am to head to the airport. Doesn't quite fit under the seat in front, but they didn't notice! 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnG Posted July 26, 2019 Author Report Share Posted July 26, 2019 52 minutes ago, wtnhighlander said: Man, that"s coming along quickly! Surprised to hear the components are only 2mm thick. It was the most productive shop time I've ever had! They do seem way too thin! I was always nervous handling the cedar soundboard, worried I would accidentally snap it in half. It's all pretty flimsy until you add the tone bars and glue the body together. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coop Posted July 26, 2019 Report Share Posted July 26, 2019 I’ve never seen so many jigs used on one project. This is really a neat deal! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnG Posted July 26, 2019 Author Report Share Posted July 26, 2019 After returning home, progress has slowed to a crawl. Next step was to cut the soundboard and back flush to the sides. I don't seem to have any pictures of this. I was afraid to use a flush trim router bit for this since the back isn't flat and the soundboard is prone to tearout. I ended up using a small saw to cut as close as I dared and then used chisels to get mostly flush and then sanded the last bit. This took a while but I felt more comfortable going this route. Next up was the binding- I tried contacting a couple local luthiers to see if someone would help me cut the binding channels. I didn't want to make or buy a bunch of stuff to do this and was very nervous about the operation. One replied and said they would do it for $200, which I thought was a bit steep. So I ordered a StewMac dremel attachment for cutting binding channels. All-in it was about $75. After it arrived I avoided committing to making the cut for a while, but eventually worked up the nerve. It went rather uneventfully. I ended up with some shallow areas, so I tried to even those out with a chisel and sandpaper glued to a block. Then the binding was cut to final length. This was another series of sneaking up on the perfect fit, which I missed. At the top I had to shape the binding to fit around the neck. I also cut a groove at the bottom to receive a piece of binding. The binding was glued in place with a lot of tape and a couple clamping blocks at the waist. I am currently at the stage of using a card scraper and sandpaper to make sure the binding is flush everywhere. It'll need some work where the binding intersects. I didn't end up with the perfect fit I had imagined. I shaped the bottom end of the fingerboard. Rough cut on the bandsaw and then spindle sander refined the shape. Also doing some finish testing. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnG Posted July 26, 2019 Author Report Share Posted July 26, 2019 10 minutes ago, K Cooper said: I’ve never seen so many jigs used on one project. This is really a neat deal! There are a lot! Probably not all necessary, but they certainly help. He had many more jigs and templates than I have in the pictures, and I'm sure there are many more he would like to have! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnG Posted July 26, 2019 Author Report Share Posted July 26, 2019 Just remembered - Also done on the 3rd work day of my trip was rough cutting the bridge from ebony, routing a groove in it for the bone, and sizing the bone for the nut. I don't have any pictures of those parts, but will take some when I continue to work on them. I may go back and add more explanation to the earlier posts, but feel free to ask any questions before then. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post JohnG Posted July 29, 2019 Author Popular Post Report Share Posted July 29, 2019 Had some more time in the shop over the last few days. The bridge and nut as they were when I returned. Had routed the groove for the bone and rough shaped the nut. I shaped the edges of the bridge, then made a quick jig for holding it securely in place. Used the router with edge guide to have a solid reference edge for routing a groove for the strings. Flushing up all of the binding was rather tedious, but it looks pretty nice now that it's done! I did a bit of work to make the bottom look better, but may go another route for fixing it. Made an ebony cap for this part of the neck. Then I made a clamping block for the fingerboard. Pretty simple and effective. Gluing the fingerboard in place. It was positioned so the nut is just too thick to fit in place, and will be sanded for a tight fit later. I put a couple pins in the back of the fingerboard to keep it from sliding around during glue up. The neck is left just wider than the fingerboard until it is glued in place, then some final shaping brings them flush. Nut is sized for the gap. Now the measurements can be taken to locate the bridge. I'm waiting on a couple things before I glue the bridge in place. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wtnhighlander Posted July 30, 2019 Report Share Posted July 30, 2019 Did you make the fingerboard, or purchase it with frets and markers already installed? As I recall, fret layout requires a lot of math, or a significant investment in gauges / jigs. Or both. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnG Posted July 30, 2019 Author Report Share Posted July 30, 2019 2 hours ago, wtnhighlander said: Did you make the fingerboard, or purchase it with frets and markers already installed? As I recall, fret layout requires a lot of math, or a significant investment in gauges / jigs. Or both. He already invested in the jigs and tools, so I was able to make it. Started with rectangular ebony stock, drum sander to bring it down to final thickness. Then cut the fret slots with a special blade and jig from StewMac. The jig and blade makes it pretty easy. He had a pin set in the fence of the crosscut sled about 3/8”or so off the surface. You double stick tape the jig to the fingerboard stock, flush on one side. The jig has notches cut in it, and the pin registers in each notch. You just work your way down the jig and it takes care of the spacing for you. After the slots are cut, I cut the tapers on the fingerboard so it is just narrower than the neck itself. Then drilled for the 5mm abalone dots and glued those in place and sanded flush. I cut fret stock to length and I used his fret press to install the frets. Lastly flushed up the frets to the edge of the fingerboard and filed the edges at an angle. Super thin blade, just barely sticking up above the sled. Heres the spacing jig and index pin on his sled. I only cut 17 frets. All fret slots cut. Pushed through the blade and then fingerboard is picked up before returning sled to avoid wider cuts. No pics of drilling the holes for the abalone dots, but after- Pressing frets. Here you can see a test hole on the end of the fingerboard to make sure the drill depth was correct. This part was to be removed later anyway. Fret press made it easy to install the frets, though I’m sure it wasn’t cheap. It was pretty beefy and heavy. All frets installed. Piece behind was to test fret slot depth and test fret install before cutting the real fingerboard. Shaped the end of the fingerboard after determining final length. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post pkinneb Posted July 30, 2019 Popular Post Report Share Posted July 30, 2019 Very cool! I am loving this community from firewood storage, surfboards, lamps, flag boxes, cigar boxes, and now ukulele's, and many others I'm sure I have missed, we have some talented folks on here with tons of diverse projects. Amazing stuff! 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnG Posted July 30, 2019 Author Report Share Posted July 30, 2019 Mostly finished the bridge today. I got the 5mm drill bit in the mail, so I drilled a hole for the screw. The screw will go through the bridge, soundboard, reinforcement plate, and into the tone bar. The head of the screw will be hidden by a 5mm abalone dot, like the ones on the face of the fingerboard. Just needs final sanding and holes for the strings. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnG Posted August 1, 2019 Author Report Share Posted August 1, 2019 I wasn’t satisfied with my fix on the bottom, so I decided to turn the mistake into a decoration (with a little mineral spirits to make it pop) I sanded everything up to p600 in preparation for finish. I’ll be using Tru Oil. I also found the final location for the bridge and taped off a slightly smaller profile of it. I’ll apply a couple coats of finish before gluing the bridge in place. Along with the other supplies, he gave me a set of Grover tuners to use for this. However, I have been very pleased with how it has come out, so I treated myself to some nicer Waverly tuners. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wtnhighlander Posted August 1, 2019 Report Share Posted August 1, 2019 That is looking really sweet, JohnG! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnG Posted August 1, 2019 Author Report Share Posted August 1, 2019 49 minutes ago, wtnhighlander said: That is looking really sweet, JohnG! Thanks! It’s been very interesting and a fun detour from furniture items. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pkinneb Posted August 1, 2019 Report Share Posted August 1, 2019 Looks awesome great fix! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Art Posted August 1, 2019 Report Share Posted August 1, 2019 That looks great! My current project is an electric bass guitar for my daughter, but as I was researching it I realized that the neck in particular was more than I wanted to take on for my first one, so all I'm really doing is the body. I just bought all the electronics and a pre-made neck. I'm making the body out of walnut, so my biggest challenge will be making it fairly light. Anyway, I've enjoyed your journal, and it's inspired me to build the whole thing for when I build her a second one. Thanks for posting. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnG Posted August 3, 2019 Author Report Share Posted August 3, 2019 So if you saw my post in the ‘What did you do today?’ thread, you know that our son was born yesterday so progress will probably be slow for a while. However, before we left for the hospital, I was able to apply one coat of Tru Oil to everything except the back. I’ll try to oil the back tonight. Then for future coats I’ll focus on either the body or neck and apply all the coats I need and then do the other. When we returned from the hospital I had a few goodies waiting for me- the Waverly tuners, strings, and an electronic tuner. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wtnhighlander Posted August 4, 2019 Report Share Posted August 4, 2019 Man, you must have one very understanding wife! 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnG Posted August 4, 2019 Author Report Share Posted August 4, 2019 47 minutes ago, wtnhighlander said: Man, you must have one very understanding wife! I certainly do! Though at the time of me applying the oil, we were just waiting around for it to be time to head to the hospital. Her goal was to spend as little time at the hospital as possible, so we waited until it was really really time to go. But she is generally very understanding and supportive of this hobby (addiction). 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.