Year: 2013

Carter’s Cigar Box Uke

Carter asked me to help her work on her cigar box uke the past couple of weekends - she didn't want to wait for the boys. We actually finished hers up yesterday - it came out really good! She's very proud of it.

Cigar Box Ukulele

I made my own cigar box uke before the kids started theirs, to figure out how they would go together and which parts the kids could do themselves. I finished it a few weeks ago but forgot to post a picture of it - so here ya go! For fun I ended up mixing tuner sets and inlaying a few coins in the fingerboard. It actually sounds half decent, too!

Cider Hill Farm

Yesterday we headed out to Cider Hill Farm to pick out some pumpkins for carving - and of course I had to avail myself of some warm cider donuts. It's a good thing we only go there once a year, or I would get twice as chubby on those things!

Rockingham Recreation Trail

Lori, Dad, and I rode our bikes from Epping to Manchester today along the Rockingham Recreation Trail - about 18.5 miles total. A sunnier day would have been nice to really make the foliage pop, but it was still a very nice ride.

Mt. Osceola

Mt. Osceola is another of NH's 4000 footers that I haven't tried yet. Some of the guys from work and I headed up to try it. Luckily the rain held off long enough for us to get up and down again before it started. The view from the top was better than I expected - much more open than the pictures I saw online led me to believe. The foliage was pretty colorful - but it would have 'popped' a lot more if the sun had come out.

Cigar Box Ukuleles

I've been looking a longer-term project to build with the kids, as they've really taken an interest in joining me in the shop these last few months. Guitar box ukuleles seemed like a perfect fit - easy to build, and very forgiving of mistakes. My nephew Ryan showed an interest in joining us too. We got started last weekend - there is still a lot to do on them, but for a first session it went pretty well.

Mt. Moosilauke

Mt. Moosilauke has always been on my list, and yesterday I finally got a chance to try it. Some friends from work and I took a day off of work and headed up to try it out. We got perfect weather, and somehow had the trail almost completely to ourselves - even though there were a couple dozens cars parked at the trailhead. The view from the top are amazing. A good chunk of the summit is all alpine meadow, so you get great views in every direction. At over 4800 feet, Mt. Moosilauke is the 10th highest mountain in the state. I wish the foliage had been a few weeks further along - as it was we could see only a little color. But still amazing, and definitely worth going back sometime.

Electric Ukulele – Part 5

I finished the wiring and assembly of the electric ukulele over the weekend. The first time I tried it I heard nothing - which was a letdown. Turns out I had a few minor problems with the wiring, and they were easy to fix. It sounds great! I've still got some adjustments to make to the action and the intonation, but she is essentially done! Came out looking real nice, if I do say so myself!