Best selling wood projects - Building a Ukulele Part 6 The Parts Come Together

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Things have slowed down on the ukulele building front, while I have to attend to other matters, but I have found time to keep chipping away at it in little bits.

The neck needed some shaping around the heel, and after many attempts with different tools, I found an old fashioned sloyd type knife to be the best choice.  I think I got this one with an AWR subscription years ago.  It is a beauty.
This part of the heel is awkward for handtools, and the knife handles it easily.  I will be using it even more now that I have realised how versatile it is.

Here is the shaped neck at the heel.  Not your conventional tapered point, but will suit me for this - my first ukulele.  It resembles the heels on cutaway ukuleles, and will provide more surface area for the glue -up of the neck to body.

Here are the parts prior to glue up of the end blocks and curved sides.  End blocks are cedar, and I have pre-cut the slot in the heel block to take the tenon on the end of the neck.
The near finished back is also shown in this photo.

Here is the body glued up in the mould with end blocks in place.  This shows the body as it is seen from the back.

Making the Soundboard

The soundboard is made from western red cedar, that has been ripped from planks from my brother in laws renovated kitchen.  I was really lucky to score some old growth, tight grained timber that had been quarter-sawn.  Look how tight those growth rings are on the timber below.  Perfect.

Before I assemble the soundboard, it is important to lay it out, and mark the position of the sound hole.  The sound hole patch has to be glued on to the back before the sound hole is cut, but it is a good idea to drill a small marker hole in the soundboard before gluing, so it can be found again for the cut.  This is because the drawn circle will be covered by the sound hole patch, which is there to re-inforce the area around the sound hole.

Good old Millers Falls Buck Rogers 308 to the rescue.

After the re-inforcing patch is dry, it is time to cut the sound hole.  I use the rosette cutter that I made previously, and I cut from both sides.  Here I am cutting the front. The rosette cutter does a nice job.  I am very happy with it.

OK, going to take a break for a few days now while glued things dry.  Next task will be to brace and finish the soundboard, before adding the linings to the body.  The linings will provide the surface area for the front and back to attach to the sides.

Not long to go .............
Cant wait.

Love life and live .......................
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Best selling wood projects - Building a Ukulele Part 7A Body Assembly continued

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Yes, I know, glaciers move faster than this, yet things are happening.

Somewhere under all those clamps is the back of the ukulele attached to the body, which is held in the mould.  Use your imagination.

 

Here it is after the glue has dried - and before the edges are trimmed off.  As you can see, I have given the inside of the back a couple of coats of shellac to seal it. 

I will do the same for the inside of the top, and the interior of the body, before the top is fitted.  

I am hoping that by sealing both sides of the timber, I wont have as many issues with seasonal  timber movement.

Here is the back in all its glory - after trimming the edges.
Things are starting to look encouraging.

The linings for the top are attached in the same way as those on the bottom - good old clothes pegs!
Here, I am planing the linings level with the sides.  The top is flat, and I dont want any sticky-uppy bits in the lining to spoil it.
Some parts of the lining drifted upwards on the slipperiness of the glue before drying - no problem, easy fixed with the Lie Nielsen 101 small block plane.  This is such a good sized plane for this job, when even a regular block plane would be too large.

OK, the neck has to be fitted before the top goes on, so that I can get clamping room - to hold it while it dries.  The second reason is simply that the top gets glued over the heel block, and the neck tenon.
Here is a trial fitting.
That little piece of raised tenon has to be removed, while the neck is raised to the level of the finished top.  This is important, because the fretboard is glued on top of both - and they must be in the same plane.

Next step will be to glue the neck in position, before adding the top.
Starting to get exciting, isnt it!

Thats all for now, the glacier needs to rest.
Love life and live ...............
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Best selling wood projects - Making A Boat Paddle Tenor Ukulele Part 12 The Parts Come Together

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Well, it has been quite a while -  what a marathon - haha.
OK, here we go with the fitting of the back, the front and the neck.
The bridge will be added last to assure that it is square to the main axis of the instrument, as well as the precise distance from the nut for tuning.

The back is fitted first, and acts as a brace for the body while the other parts are glued in place.
The neck has to be fitted before the front (the soundboard).  This is because it is so much easier to trim and fit the neck tenon into its mortice, without the attendant problems of working around a covered in top.
There is enough space for clamps and it is simply easier to accomplish.

The soundboard (the top) also has to align with the upper surface of the neck as the fretboard will be glued over both of these.
So they must finish in the same plane.

I use a scrap of wood from the top as a guide to setting the height of the neck above the body - leaving space for the soundboard.

Once the neck and the front are securely glued in place, the fretboard will be added.
Here is a trial fit.

The position of the bridge determines where the re-inforcing will be glued on the back of the soundboard.

The re-inforcing strips are simply scrap pieces from the body construction which will be glued with the grain running at right angles to the grain of the soundboard.

Here they are in position prior to glue and clamp.


Laying Out the Fretboard
.............this will be the next task while the glued parts are drying.



The final tasks will include:

1. Final sanding
2. Lacquering and finishing
3. Fitting the headstock tuners
4. Stringing ...... and
5. Voila ............... playing

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Best selling wood projects - Making A Boat Paddle Tenor Ukulele Part 14 The Finishing Touches

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Final Steps

1. Lacquering
2. Fitting the tuners
3. Stringing
4. Play

Lacquering
I have used Mirotone spray lacquer  for this finish.
Because mango is such an open grained timber, I first gave it two coats of sanding sealer followed by Mirocat three coats.

 The beauty of this finish is that it is dry enough for re-coating after 15 minutes.
A light sand of 400 grit paper between coats was all that was needed.

The tuners are added to the head. I had previously spent time drilling out the tuner holes before the lacquering took place.  This gave a handy hook hole to hang the instrument while spraying.

The headstock has come up rather beautifully with the application of the lacquer

Adding ths strings is done incrementally, and the nut and bridge are adjusted for height to keep the strings at an appropriate height above the frets and to prevent buzzing.

I had to sand the back of both to lower the action before I was happy with it.

And finally - here is the finished product.
It is a super-tenor ukulele, as the scale length is 19 inches.

The intonation is spot on, with the 12th fret exactly an octave higher than open string tuning.
It has plenty of sustain and volume, and I will be looking forward to playing it once the strings stretch and keep their tuning, and the timber settles down and gets bedded in.

Happy trails partners
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