A ukulele build (as requested)

Well I was asked to show how I build my soprano ukes, so here's the thread :grin:. I just started this build a little while ago (about an hour or two ago) so not much has been done, but I should be ready to string it up within a week and a half, so expect progress rapidly.

First I plane my top material (carpathian spruce) to thickness using my 1870's pre lateral adjustment lever Stanley no. 5. The no. 5 is great for heavy stock removal.

http://i905.photobucket.com/albums/ac255/hendersonisgo/AA59128A-75E9-4187-8C68-C4BD34936074-10328-00000E9AC1C30DF2.jpg?t=1345427045

Then I use a low angle smoothing plane to plane to the final thickness:

http://i905.photobucket.com/albums/ac255/hendersonisgo/ABC9F507-FDAB-4A3B-BAF3-A846BEC2E7E4-10328-00000E9AC86BAE94.jpg?t=1345427049

Then I scrape it clean:

http://i905.photobucket.com/albums/ac255/hendersonisgo/4D333145-9108-4D2F-AA69-CF3B067CD261-10328-00000E9ACE4E137B.jpg?t=1345427053

And then use a random orbit sander to sand it smooth:

http://i905.photobucket.com/albums/ac255/hendersonisgo/07CCDA73-0FC1-4D6E-BF17-89974DD4DAAE-10328-00000E9AD47DAF6A.jpg?t=1345427057

Then I trace my shape onto the top and cut it out to the rough profile on the scroll saw:

http://i905.photobucket.com/albums/ac255/hendersonisgo/F087A4D1-C9F9-48D7-903E-42C77BBD8E8C-10328-00000E9AD95CB84F.jpg?t=1345427062

http://i905.photobucket.com/albums/ac255/hendersonisgo/BDF3D010-C7DF-4FBA-A0DD-7822027C05D2-10328-00000E9ADE978867.jpg?t=1345427065

http://i905.photobucket.com/albums/ac255/hendersonisgo/7293C6D7-6677-4660-BD08-13246D367ECA-10328-00000E9AE4158FFB.jpg?t=1345427068

For the back I'm using a scrap walnut acoustic side.

http://i905.photobucket.com/albums/ac255/hendersonisgo/67A3DE4F-888B-4A7C-9A77-377AE4D0AE9A-10328-00000E9AE82FA081.jpg?t=1345427071

I first cut it to length:

http://i905.photobucket.com/albums/ac255/hendersonisgo/D80C84EB-4887-468D-829F-9B4BD3BB0283-10328-00000E9AF1B08DA8.jpg?t=1345427077

Then trace the body shape and cut it out on the scroll saw:

http://i905.photobucket.com/albums/ac255/hendersonisgo/2E771FC0-CFA8-43AE-89C3-0AC93C3BD2B1-10328-00000E9AF6408568.jpg?t=1345427081

http://i905.photobucket.com/albums/ac255/hendersonisgo/1FA909CB-3DD4-437A-AA64-E1870E7A3022-10328-00000E9AFEC25EFB.jpg?t=1345427087

Using scrap, I cut out two wings to give the back the needed width for the lower bout:

http://i905.photobucket.com/albums/ac255/hendersonisgo/8050572B-6F58-4B66-A759-C02D7353A1E8-10328-00000E9B0316A7A7.jpg?t=1345427090

Then I use my no.5 to shoot the wings and where the wings will be glued:

http://i905.photobucket.com/albums/ac255/hendersonisgo/430029FF-E8A9-4533-88AA-0011A278826E-10328-00000E9B07ED3202.jpg?t=1345427093

And then the wings are glued on using the tape method:

http://i905.photobucket.com/albums/ac255/hendersonisgo/E621CC77-AE63-4387-8991-5393F87180AC-10328-00000E9B1DB91D02.jpg?t=1345427109

more to come :smile:

Subscribed! This will be fun to watch.

hey cool. now if that was a thin line. and had six strings, pezio, 1/4 jack for the vox acoustic head phone amp. i think id have the perfect practice tool for the doctors, laughs. * i know i go on about it, on and on.. but man 2 to 8 hours a month at the doctors is a total bore* good luck on your build.
yeah im gonna follow this one too.
chris.

Thanks for doing this Brian.
Chris, maybe this IS what you need during those long visits.

Thanks for doing this Brian.
Chris, maybe this IS what you need during those long visits.

yeah, size seems right. just noise and thickness. would have to be solid top peizo for the head phone amp so other patients no complain. ( i can say iv donated my library of books iv read once already this year to the local library, and now iv already read 60 books in the last 3 months. sigh ). im just thankful none of you guys have to go through what i do every month. i would not wish it on my worse enemy, not that i have any. to darn mellow. whats the saying. things that may bug most people slip off my back like a duck or something. the one thing i have learn. if you do not have a sense of humor in this medical system. you will lose your mind. ( to put it simple, you are not treated very well when you have a major disability/pain doctors/regular doctors/etc... and pharmacist think they are judge, jury, and executioner.. all because each one of my pain pills has a street value of 80.00 a pop. and to me they are like aspirin.. guitar helps much more but iv been on them so many years, ill just shut up i talk way to much. o well :( )
stay healthy my friends, im gonna go to bed before i talk my self off the forum for being to darn open.
peace.

chris.

Chris, I know where you are coming from. Whenever I mention pain to my doctor she wants to prescribe one kind or another of painkiller in low dosage. I tell her to prescribe Smarties, they work just as well as the junk she wants me to take.
Hang in there.

Sorry Brian, didn't want to hijack your build thread.

Ukuleles are so cool! Just wondering, if you wanted to do a 25.5 scale, so a guitar, how would YOU do it? I was thinking just kinda a neck through type thing.

Ukuleles are so cool! Just wondering, if you wanted to do a 25.5 scale, so a guitar, how would YOU do it? I was thinking just kinda a neck through type thing.

I'm not sure what you're asking, but a neck through would be a horrible idea on an acoustic instrument.

Oh sorry, I meant putting a guitar neck on a uke body. For a travel guitar type thing. I guess acoustics just have bracing... I just can't wrap my head around that!

I was in Hawaii a couple weeks ago for work. I could not walk by the ukulele shop without going in. I did not learn to surf, but I came home with a Uke. It is such simple fun. I will be watching your build attentively.

Oh sorry, I meant putting a guitar neck on a uke body. For a travel guitar type thing. I guess acoustics just have bracing... I just can't wrap my head around that!

You're better off buying or making a "guitarlele," which is basically a uke with six strings. Scale length is about 17 inches or so. Ukes come in a few sizes; Brian's building the smallest one here.

A guitarlele with a Fender scale would look very disproportionate.

This is for sure something i want to learn how to do.

The world isn't ready for sparkly ukuleles. Give us a moment to get used to the idea first.

The world isn't ready for sparkly ukuleles. Give us a moment to get used to the idea first.

Oh! But, the world IS!!!

Definitely!

I was in Hawaii a couple weeks ago for work. .

Got any openings in your shop??:mrgreen:

Oh! But, the world IS!!!

Definitely. Bit of a revival going on it seems. I just can't fall in love, I bracket the uke with the recorder, sadly.

Definitely. Bit of a revival going on it seems. I just can't fall in love, I bracket the uke with the recorder, sadly.

vLfvSVf-GsM

This guy plays one pretty well :-)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x8m97D0AVcY&feature=related

Hey Brian,

I was in Kauai two years ago and found a great uke shop. On my way in I thought to myself, I bet a nice one is $800 which seems outrageous for something so small. When I walked in, the place was filled with stuff made by pro builders on the island with native Koa everywhere. The wood was incredible and $800 wouldn't have bought you a cup of coffee in there. You could drop $1500 without even trying. Needless to say, I walked out as Im not in love with that instrument. The builds were impressive however.

Great build. I'm watching this one.

Rob

I'm a bit surprised at the lack of ukulele plans out there. I was thinking of ordering this Martin Early Style 1 blueprint from Elderly Instruments (only $4.00):

http://elderly.com/books/items/113-28.htm

Brian, do you think that would be a good starter? Or do you have another recommendation?

I found plans for a 5 string but I would leave out the 5th string: at the page bottom:
http://www.crane.gr.jp/CRANE_etc/CRANE_Plan_E.html

I did find free plans here... if you don't mind French... and metric...

http://www.grellier.fr/plans.php?lang=fr

Translation of the description on that page:

"This plan was made after a Martin ukulele from the 40's. But I have no idea of the real neck to body joint, so I drew a dovetail mortise and tenon."

I haven't been home much and the humidity has been crazy, so work has halted for a little while.

For plans, I used the Grellier plans and then modified them to suit my aesthetic preferences. The price is right, and the plans are really accurate:
http://www.grellier.fr/plans/Soprano_ukulele/Soprano_ukulele_fr.pdf

$800 will get you the bottom of the line kamaka uke: high quality ukes are surprisingly expensive. You could drop $10,000-$20,000 on a vintage Martin 5K uke and new ukes by people like Chuck Moore start at well over two thousand. Ukes are still a lot of work, and although their small size makes buying materials a little easier, the operations to build them are just as hard if not harder than a guitar because of the uke's size... Mine start at $350 if anyone was wondering :grin:

Thanks for putting this together Brian, I've just got a couple of questions...
What is the dimensions (length width and thickness) of the timber you use for the top, sides and back of a ukulele and for an acoustic guitar?
Is the uke potentially a bit harder because of the tighter curves needed? I'm keen to build an acoustic ______ but just wondering which you would recommend.

Definitely. Bit of a revival going on it seems. I just can't fall in love, I bracket the uke with the recorder, sadly.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2rX8FIBqKiM

The recorder is an awesome instrument. Vivaldi, Bach, Handel...when they wrote 'Flauto' in the score, they meant the recorder. It has tons of concertos and chamber works written for it...and can play works for oboe or transverse flute as well.

...just don't think that the horrible, squeaky thing that spotty kids play has anything to do with the real instrument.

Thanks for putting this together Brian, I've just got a couple of questions...
What is the dimensions (length width and thickness) of the timber you use for the top, sides and back of a ukulele and for an acoustic guitar?
Is the uke potentially a bit harder because of the tighter curves needed? I'm keen to build an acoustic ______ but just wondering which you would recommend.

I'm not to sure off the top of my head what the dimensions of the wood are, but the plan I posted before is really accurate. For the thickness of the top and back plates, I typically base that on the deflection of the wood and thickness it accordingly. Ukulele tops and backs typically range in the .06 inches to .07 inch range while I typically keep the sides at .07. On a guitar, the thickness of the sides are the same, but for my tops I usually go around .085-.09" and for the backs I stay in the somogyi rhelm of thinking and typically make the back around .07-.08"; again it all depends on the piece of wood.

I wouldn't say a uke is harder, it just makes side bending a little (emphasis on little) more difficult (not that side bending is difficult). I'd recommend trying a uke first because of the lower cost of materials, easier build process, less bracing, and over all fewer things that can go wrong.

I'd recommend trying a uke first because of the lower cost of materials, easier build process, less bracing, and over all fewer things that can go wrong.

+1. It's making ukes that got me into this hobby (and onto this site) in the first place. They're also fun to play and easy to get rid of; tooling up for my first build cost a bit of money, but materials only wind up costing $20 or so (mostly tuners); you can make them out of other people's offcuts sold cheaply at Rockler. They make awesome gifts for your musical friends.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2rX8FIBqKiM

The recorder is an awesome instrument. Vivaldi, Bach, Handel...when they wrote 'Flauto' in the score, they meant the recorder. It has tons of concertos and chamber works written for it...and can play works for oboe or transverse flute as well.

...just don't think that the horrible, squeaky thing that spotty kids play has anything to do with the real instrument.

She's a great musician, as are all those playing the ukes in the earlier posted vid, and I have and thoroughly enjoy albums by many of the individual artists in the Wellington Uke Orchestra, though not playing ukes.

It doesn't change the fact that neither hold appeal to me. The sound just doesn't float my boat. They both sound to me as though they are trying hard to sound like more "grown up" instruments if that makes any sense!

Course, as you say, it doesn't help that these instruments are frequently used in teaching kids music, so there's that cacophonic element that I find difficult to get my head around. :wink:

Despite all that though, it's always a pleasure watching Brian build things, regardless of what they are. His squeaky clean workshop disturbs me though. Boy ain't right. :mrgreen:

I'm not to sure off the top of my head what the dimensions of the wood are, but the plan I posted before is really accurate. For the thickness of the top and back plates, I typically base that on the deflection of the wood and thickness it accordingly. Ukulele tops and backs typically range in the .06 inches to .07 inch range while I typically keep the sides at .07. On a guitar, the thickness of the sides are the same, but for my tops I usually go around .085-.09" and for the backs I stay in the somogyi rhelm of thinking and typically make the back around .07-.08"; again it all depends on the piece of wood.

I wouldn't say a uke is harder, it just makes side bending a little (emphasis on little) more difficult (not that side bending is difficult). I'd recommend trying a uke first because of the lower cost of materials, easier build process, less bracing, and over all fewer things that can go wrong.

+1. It's making ukes that got me into this hobby (and onto this site) in the first place. They're also fun to play and easy to get rid of; tooling up for my first build cost a bit of money, but materials only wind up costing $20 or so (mostly tuners); you can make them out of other people's offcuts sold cheaply at Rockler. They make awesome gifts for your musical friends.

Thanks for the tips guys I'm going to start a build sometime soon

Hmm, no updates?

Hmm, no updates?

I've had other stuff I've been working on... plus other non lutherie related stuff. Once school starts next week, I should be able to get back to work on this thing.

I did string up this uke yesterday though

http://i905.photobucket.com/albums/ac255/hendersonisgo/4D2702BC-E324-4A52-8390-A03CA5A1D140-15340-000017BDBFD44758.jpg?t=1346261319

http://i905.photobucket.com/albums/ac255/hendersonisgo/EB5CFA7B-6300-4F0A-8531-1B0C131C9750-15340-000017BDC4F5F697.jpg?t=1346261321

Darn that looks nice!

I need me some uke action!

Seriously bad.

On the top you scraped then sanded?

I'm hesitant to question someone as obviously skilled as you but...

Isn't that kind of like suspenders and a belt?

Darn that looks nice!

I need me some uke action!

Seriously bad.

skU-jBFzXl0

On the top you scraped then sanded?

I'm hesitant to question someone as obviously skilled as you but...

Isn't that kind of like suspenders and a belt?

Well having your pants fall down wouldn't be very fun :lol:

In all honesty, it was still a little too thick, so I just sanded it to thickness.

I don't mean to steal the spotlight (not that I expect to, you're far more talented than I), but I thought you might like to see the banjo-ukulele I got back into playing shape for my friend. It's a Slingerland MayBell from the 1920's and hadn't been playable in over 20 years. Only bad part is that the tuners are one of the banjo parts of the instrument. Makes it very hard to tune well.

http://i1230.photobucket.com/albums/ee497/patpat1231000/2012-08-31171637.jpg

http://i1230.photobucket.com/albums/ee497/patpat1231000/2012-08-31171709.jpg

http://i1230.photobucket.com/albums/ee497/patpat1231000/2012-08-31171718.jpg

Hi Brian, any more work done on the Uke?

The world isn't ready for sparkly ukuleles. Give us a moment to get used to the idea first.

Yeah, it's strictly traditional looks for us.
http://www.fleamarketmusic.com/store/scripts/prodList.asp?idCategory=6

I got fed up with the intonation on my Lanakai soprano a while back, and made my own saddle. It gets pretty close for a uke (~ 10 cents at the 12th fret). The short scale and high tuning (I use aDf#b - up a step from "normal" gCea uke tuning) both cause problems as you go up the fretboard.

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8483/8213642279_590ea4886f_m.jpg