Stewmac Ukulele Kit - The Opposite of an Epic Build

[Stefanovich]

I have some experiencing fixing guitars, enough to know that I like it, but am not very good at it. I thought a good intro to building would be the Stewmac ukulele kit. Way cheaper than the guitar kit, and hopefully much easier. My mom graciously bought me the concert ukulele kit for my birthday so I am off to the races! (Moms are great no matter how old you are)

I let the box sit in my basement for awhile before opening it. I pretended it was to let the wood acclimatize, but really I was too busy to get to it. When I opened it, this is what I found.

Removing the instructions, I found a kit of surprisingly high quality. There are cheaper kits out there, but my first impression was this kit offered good value for money. The solid mahogany top is nice, and all parts seemed reasonably good.

I had already read the instructions online many times, so I got to work on the first step (gluing back braces) right away.

The supplied pattern tells you where to put the braces. The instructions tell you to use pins to make tiny holes on the back, but I just laid the back over the pattern and it was easy to tell where the braces were supposed to be located.

I followed Stewmac's advice of using masking tape to minimize glue overflow and am glad I did. I also learned that my pathetic collection of clamps was going to be barely adequate for the job. But barely adequate is good enough in this case, and I soon had a back that was braced.

Step one done successfully!

 

[tery]

The finished kit will be very rewarding .

 

[ukepicker]

I’m looking forward to this one - Subscribed!
I’ve been wanting to try one of these myself.
Thanks for sharing

 

[2blue2]

I thought a good intro to building would be the Stewmac ukulele kit. Way cheaper than the guitar kit,

I’ve been wanting to try one of these myself.

Yes! me too! Been eyeballing this kit and the mandolin kit, post lots of pics please !
I'm so excited to see this!

Thanks for sharing

 

[Stefanovich]

Step #2 is gluing the back braces. I don't have a go-deck, so this will be a two or three step process. I didn't take a shot of the braces in place without the clamps, but here is what the first step of bracing the top looks like. The two braces fall on either side of the sound hole, and are ladder braces. I am not sure the spring clamp is providing as much pressure as I would like, but it all seems to be OK. The clothespins at the ends are absolutely necessary because the braces are slightly radiused. The clothespins at the end pull the top into a slight cylindrical shape. Getting glue squeeze out from underneath the clamping caul was impossible. I need a better method!

 

[Old Tele man]

Measure twice...three...fours times if necessary, CUT/DRILL only ONCE.

 

[Stefanovich]

Got the other top braces glued into place. The camping "system" is a bit unorthodox, but everything seems OK. Again, the problem is I cannot get to the squeeze out. You can see the squeeze out in the braces around the soundhole. I realize it is only a cosmetic thing (that no one will ever see anyway) so I am not getting too worked up about it. If I worked for Collings or Martin I would probably lose my job for braces this messy!

Got the Irwin clamps for $2 at a garage sale. $2 well spent!

 

[guitarbuilder]

I've clamped things like that before. Harbor Freight has diffent length deep c clamps which work well for braces. They are heavy though, so you need to use care in how you set them down. I remove the clamps after 30 mins and use a chisel to get the cheesy like glue off.

https://www.harborfreight.com/12-inch-deep-throat-c-clamp-45919.html

 

[Stefanovich]

So the top is braced now. Squeeze out isn't ideal, but I can live with it.

Next step was making the "jig" that holds the sides in place. I got to use my 6$ table saw. It is actually a decent saw! It's a Beaver from the late 40s. The fence is stable and straight, and the table, blade, and fence all align nicely. It obviously lacks the safety features of newer saws (or any safety features) so I use it sparingly, and tend to use the cross-cut sled whenever I can. It certainly encourages me to keep my hands away from the blade, and my body out of kickbacks way.

The plywood was a scrap piece I had laying around, but I had to buy some angle brackets and dowel to make the rest. I decided to lay the Stewmac plans on to the board as a reference.

The sides were pre-bent and machined from Stewmac and needed no adjustment. Amazing!

The neck block and tail block were much too tall, so I had to cut them down to size. Stewmac instructions says the two pieces are identical, but mine weren't. I put the thicker piece as the neck block. At this point I had learned that a bandsaw and scrap pieces of wood are incredibly useful to have around. Making clamping cauls, and cutting the neck and tail blocks to size was so much easier with a bandsaw than doing it by hand. Here they are being glued. Squeeze out was a problem here too.

 

[Stefanovich]

The squeeze out from the sides being glued to the neck and tail block is pretty bad. I would definitely be more careful if I were to do this again. At the neck block it will be covered by the neck, but at the tail block it will be visible. Hopefully, the finish will hide it to some extent.

Next up was gluing the kerfing. The kerfing supplied is not really kerfing it is a thin strip of some sort of flexible plywood. It came slightly too short, which was the perfect length as it made fitting easy. The instructions recommend 12 clamps, and say you could get away with 8. I honestly don't see how you could do it with 8 clamps. I think 12 is a minimum. Maybe if you made some cauls you could use less.

Through carelessness I snapped the kerfing strip at the waist. This is why the clamp there has a caul and wax paper. I used glue to make the strip whole again.

 

[Digital Larry]

I'm having a wood shop olfactory flashback... mmmmahogany and ggglueeeeee......

 

[Jdelys]

I have the same kit. Having finished mine some time ago it looks like you're doing a fine job on this!

 

[Macrogats]

Great thread. Loving the detailed pics. Keep em coming.

 

[Buckocaster51]

I have the same kit...still in the box.

Keep the photos coming!

 

[Stefanovich]

So the kerfing is done (I don't know what to call these strips. They aren't kerfed, but the purpose is the same as kerfing).

The next step is sanding the rims flat. Thankfully, you don't seem to need a radius dish or anything complicated. I glued some 120x sandpaper to a piece of plywood.

Once this was done, I penciled the rims and kept sanding until all pencil marks disappeared. This took about 10 minutes (max.). Not exciting - but necessary. I don't have any photos of this. Once the sides were ready I laid them on the back and marked where the back braces needed to be trimmed and where the kerfind needed to be notched. Both jobs were done with a utility knife. I swear that sandpaper and utility knives might be two of the most important tools for a woodworker.

I don't have any photos of me trimming the back braces. I think the Stewmac instructions said to use a saw, but I found the utility knife to be easier and I felt I had more control. Once I had dry fitted the back and was satisfied it all looked good (no gaps) I glued it up and clamped it down. I used the two giant rubber bands that Stewmac include with the kit as a clamp.

I am sure the extra 2.5 lbs of weight did nothing, but whatever...

 

[guitarbuilder]

Those strips are called "lining". There is kerfed lining and solid lining.

 

[ukepicker]

Man I wanna try building on of these. I’m excited about the top and the neck and stringing it up! Thanks again for sharing this process

 

[2blue2]

Moving right along,
Look! its just like a Guitar only Smaller!
So cute.....
Keep em pictures coming.

 

[oldrebel]

That is really looking good!! Seems to be going together nicely.

 

[Tonetele]

I used to turn out one a day when ukuleles were ( and are) a big hit.So I speak with considerable authority. Not bragging, it paid for Xmas .
You Must make a template for the base by gluing the cut out onto MDF. Then put dowels, brads ( small nails) around the outside.The tricky part, only one, is that slight curve where the neck meets body. It's almost square shouldered ( like Martins) but it is not.
This is critical to the neck joins that also have wooden dowels. That tiny bit actually has a curve and must match the neck perfectly. Also check the string height after neck dowels/gluing, so you don't end up with a bridge an 1" high. The Mahogany is good and they sound is as good as expensive ukeleles.

My point is, make sure that the ukulele matches the plans ( template) given. A fraction of an inch WILL count and trying to shave joint the neck is a no no. I made one bad one and the rest have been customer happy.
Good idea trying to learn this way . I made a Stewmac version of a Martin D-28 in 2004 and the owner only just brought it back, after he'd made a small repair, and it sounds really good. Stewmac were very good to me/us in replacing some pieces ( FREE!!) when things went wrong. I wanted to buy the guitar back but owner says he's never selling. We did everything twice, and it is now a guitar that rings.

Back to you. I notice you bought the concert size, good choice, as they come with real chrome tuners, not the peghead style of the old Soprano ukulele. Finley sand the frets, not really needed, as a ukulele is not that delicate. Good luck and look forward to seeing more.
Now the real test, a Stewmac Martin type kit. One piece of advice for that, measure everything twice and nuts are not easy to make ( but at least they are bone). Good luck Amigo. Tonetele

P.S. Contact me through the Conversations avenue if you want any advice. I have built about 100 electrics but much more prefer working with wood on guitars and ukuleles, violins, mandolins etc. Cheers.