Uncle Mike's Soprano Uke

[liam_fnq]

I met one of your earlier ukes today Liam. I was wandering around the Australian Wooden Boat Festival, on in Hobart at the moment, and on one of the exhibitor's tables, not looking at all out of place amongst the yachts and dinghies, was a rather nice looking ukelele. The proud owner, a chap called Peter Sutcliffe (I think) really loves it, and when I told him that I knew you personally from being on the same forum, he asked me to tell you how pleased he is to be its owner.

Well aren't I as pleased as punch. Thanks Mike.

[Steve]

Mmmmm...jaffa-flavoured fretboard. What is that Liam? It looks great with the blackwood.
Steve

[liam_fnq]

A bit of maccassar ebony there Steve.

[auscab]

Hi Liam, Ukulele looks great,
The binding must be Ebony as well ? how did you get it to go around those curves in the bouts ?
I was playing with ebony a while back and gave up,

I tried it

Heat with a heat gun dry, then wet

Steamed in a steam pipe for 15 minutes

Soaked in Ammonia for days

all three basically snapped like a cold match stick and the stuff was only approx 3mm x 3mm
the grain in the stuff I had did run out all over the place

cheers Rob

[liam_fnq]

The bindings are plastic Rob. After discussing with those in the know as well as threads here on the ANZLF I decided not to go the ebony binding route. My meager ebony stocks couldn't face the decimation of soprano uke binding diameters.

BTW, I wouldn't attempt to bend ebony at anywhere near 3mm. Half that maybe. Also, anything full of runout (espec. ebony) is going to be a pain in the arse to bend.

I'll give you my method of bending wooden bindings while we're at it. I use a heating blanket and a solid form. I clamp the binding(s) at the tail then spray water on the underside, just a little ahead of the bend. Gradually I work my way up to the neck end, using a cork sanding block to force the binding to the mold. I clamp at the waist and the neck block end. I can feel the timber "letting go" so I can go slow or fast depending on what the timber is telling me.

[auscab]

It's plastic! thought I could see tear out in the grain.

Thanks for the bending info.

I would be interested to know, how long does it take to build a Uke like that ?
Once you have made a few and have the tools and jigs set up? I would take a guess at
35 to 40 hours ?

cheers Rob

[liam_fnq]

I've never kept a record. If I knew the labor vs the price I can sell them for I'd probably lose motivation.
If I spend all of my spare time on an instrument it can easily take 3 months.

[DarwinStrings]

"Soprano sized dog"

Jim