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Realized I didn’t start a build thread for my third ukulele build (first from scratch build!) so let’s fix that. First up- the wood! Koa body, khaya (African mahogany) neck, rosewood binding, spruce bracing
This koa is the “worst” wood I got in my order, needless to say I’m pretty pleased
Built a plate joining jig and used it to glue the top and back plates together (after jointing the glue edge). Jig works great and big enough to do up to size 5 guitars
Top and back immediately after gluing- each was about 3mm-3.5mm thick. Scraping/sanding down to around 2mm
I didn’t take a picture after thicknessing? Wow I suck. Will take one this weekend.
Here is me measuring up the scarf joint cut for the neck. Yeah nice cut along the angle I will glue them back together to make the angled headstock - went with a 14 degree cut line
Here is me measuring up the scarf joint cut for the neck. Yeah nice cut along the angle I will glue them back together to make the angled headstock - went with a 14 degree cut line
Cutting the scarf joint- tough to keep this straight with a small hand saw but did ok. Need to clean it up and then glue to make the headstock
Gluing the scarf joint— as ridiculous as this looks I really need more clamps...
Pretty happy with this for a first scarf joint- after I thickness it down to size and add the veneer it should all look pretty clean
also this thing right now is 3in/76mm wide and 3/4ths in/19mm thick. After shaping it'll be closer to 44mm wide/12mm thick. Lots of material to remove!
Thicknessed the headstock area down to 12mm- next I need to lay out the scale length and cut off the excess I’ll use to make the stacked heel
Decided on a 15” (381mm) scale length, measured out to the 12th fret at 190.5mm. Added ~30mm for the heel block and then cut the remainder into thirds. Will glue the excess together to make the heel
Also- realizing I should have sanded the heel block sections before cutting... ah well
Also the 15" scale length is a slight deviation from the plans I'm following, which calls for a 14.75" scale length. But either should work for a concert uke as long as I remember which one I picked!
Thicknessed the neck to 12.5mm at the nut and 17mm at the 12th fret. Bit of cleanup to do but planing went way better today- look at all those shavings!
Gluing up the heel stack
Glued! Trimmed the excess at the end but didn’t get it square, will have to clean it up a good bit. Also re-marked the break line, the nut line, the 12th fret line, and the center line
Cut side slots, set the width of the neck block, and rough cut the heel— even with only rough cutting this was the hardest construction step by far
Gluing the headstock veneers, I swear there is a ukulele neck somewhere in that nest of clamps
Needed to reglue the other side because it lifted a bit?!? (I knew I needed more clamps...)
Still, nice to see how the rosewood and maple trim looks, I’ll be duplicating that in the binding and backstrip
Still, nice to see how the rosewood and maple trim looks, I’ll be duplicating that in the binding and backstrip
while I wait for the glue to dry, it's dawned on me that the tuners I've been using will 100% not fit this headstock
fuck
fuck
There we go, that’s looking alright
Starting to rough out the headstock
It’s not perfect, but prettt damned pleased with it for a first try
Finished roughing in the neck, done with it until I can attach the sides
Jig making interlude— made headway on the adjustable solera! Should fit a soprano uke up to a size 5 guitar. Need to make more of the adjustable blocks and shape some for the tighter curves
Bought some scrap/test wood to practice bending sides- tonight I rough cut a pair to size and then thicknessed to around 1.8mm. Will try bending tomorrow if I have time
also this rosewood is really pretty and it kind of kills me that it's "scrap"
Test bending sides! I think they ended up crooked in the jig but besides that it’s going ok
