Category: Wood

Got the cavities routed in the electric ukulele body. I drilled out the bulk of the waste with a big Forstner bit, and then used my palm router to clean up the cavities and get them to final shape. Next up, the pickguard!

Did some more work on the electric uke yesterday. Got the fretboard thicknessed, shaped, sanded, fretted, got the marker dots installed, and got the whole thing glued to the neck and sanded down flush. If that wasn't enough, I got the body shape cut out, got the neck pocket cut, and filed in the body contours. Next up is to route all of the body cavities (for the pickup, pots, etc.) and drill some holes for the various piece-parts (strap buttons, jack, bridge, etc.).

While starting to prep stock for the tenor acoustic ukes, I've also started messing around with building an electric ukulele. I've decided to go with a concert uke size - a 15" scale length. I started by drawing out my pattern full size, to make sure I liked the look of it and that I knew where I'd be able to fit my components. It's going to have one single-coil pickup, with a single tone knob and a single volume knob - I'm going to keep this first one nice and simple. I've ordered some hardtail-style adjustable saddles, but I'm going to have to fabricate my own bridge as I can't find any four-string ones at any of the usual online suppliers I typically use. The first big step - which I did last night - was cut out and shape the neck. That went pretty well - although the headstock ended up being a little smaller than what I had drawn, and I had to order a different set of tuners in order to get them to fit on there.

I've made some progress on the carved multi-uke hanger since the last time I posted. It's going pretty well so far. It's a nice relaxing activity, and one that I can do when I'd prefer to have a lot less noise and dust than working with the power tools. Still no idea when it will be finished, but there is still a lot to do.

A few days ago I finished the last of the trio of soprano ukuleles I've been building. This one has got a maple neck and cherry top, sides, and back. I'm getting better at getting the action right on the first try - it's pretty near perfect on this one, with no real tweaking necessary. Now it's just a question of what to do with it - as I've already got two other sopranos I have built (this makes three). But at least I've cleared this one off of my plate and can start the tenors I've been itching to build.

I've started on the carved multi-uke hanger I mentioned a little while back. I found a nice wide mahogany board, printed out my pattern and used spray adhesive to stick it down. Then I started carving the first flower and leaf. I've got a lot to learn, but this project seems totally doable. It will take a while, but it's sort of a relaxing activity. I'm in no rush to finish it, so I'm just going to chip away at it as the mood strikes.

I've been waiting for the lacquer to cure on the cherry soprano uke before I can finish it up. While I've been waiting, I started working on something I saw in a recent issue of Make magazine - a banjolele. It's a cross between a ukuelele and a banjo, as you might have guessed. It is essentially a ukulele with a metal resonator rather than a wooden body. It was super quick to build - only took a half-dozen hours on a weekend - and is pretty fun to play. I figure the whole thing cost me maybe $30, and it sounds surprisingly good too. There is no proper fretboard - the frets are just laid right into the neck itself (which is some leftover quartersawn cherry I had lying around). The resonator is just a pair of aluminum cake pans!

Now that I've been finishing some of the new ukuleles - and I've got plans to build a couple more - I need to come up with a wall hanger that can hold more than one uke. I've seen a few online, but for the most part they are pretty boring - just a long board with multiple hanger hooks screwed into it. I had this idea to do a bunch of Hawaiian flowers in a sort of flowing, irregular blob-ish shape, and relief carve them into one 4-5 foot board and then add four or so hangers to that. I've always wanted to give relief carving a try, so I figured here was a decent excuse. Below is the pattern I put together in Photoshop. I've ordered my tools already. I'm going to try and post pics as the project progresses, so you can see the process as I go. This will be my first time - so I suspect I will do some things that aren't quite the normal way to do it, but it should be a lot of fun!

Three days ago I finished the second of the trio of new ukuleles I've been building. This one is for me - it's got a mahogany top, curly maple back and sides, and a curly maple neck. I love the look of that curly maple! I've been playing it for the last couple days and it sounds pretty good. I've got a couple of very minor buzzes to work out - I think the saddle needs a sharper crown on one end. Pretty minor change, but I'll need to take the strings off to do it and I don't want to stop playing it. :) It's got a nice bright sound due to the maple back and sides, the intonation is really good, and the action is really low. Now just one more of the trio left to go! Think I might start a tenor size once the cherry soprano is finished.

Just finished the first of the trio of new ukuleles I've been building. This was the one for my dad for his brithday. It's got a mahogany top, zebrawood back and sides, and a maple neck. I strung it up a about a week ago to give the top some time to break in and open up a little, then gave it a try a couple of nights ago. On this one I did a better job on the fretwork and was able to get the action down really low. It sounds fantastic - no buzzes, bright sound, and great intonation - and is a joy to play with the action so low. Now I've got to get on the ball and finish one of the other two, so I've got a better one to play too!