Steph's Tiger Tenor Uke

[kiwigeo]

My sister plays uke and has often asked me when I'm going to build her one. With my return to work delayed for a few weeks I decided to get started on Steph's uke a few weeks ago. Not many pics but here's where I've got to. The Honduras mahogany neck was rescued from a failed steel string neck. The back and side set is Tiger Myrtle...from Tim I think. Top is bearclaw sitka. Fan braces are still a bit chunky and need some meat taken off them.

[Allen]

Looks very sweet Martin. All that work on classicals is showing.

[kiwigeo]

Thanks Allen. Yes it's a mini classical I guess.

Has anyone done any Chladi pattern work on ukes? I did a quick bodged up free plate test and got activity on the top at around 83 and 130Hz. Couldnt see a clear monopole or dipole pattern as I need to make up a jig to hold the top properly.

[Allen]

David Hurd did a lot of work with them. I must confess that a lot of his talk to us was over my head. The Albany crew have the equipment from his lectures. Don't know if much happened with it. What say you Mr. Maddison?

I think a few of the guys on UU have, but most of those I consider the real pros seem to go by experience and feel.

[John Maddison]

... What say you Mr. Maddison?

I'm with you Allen; all that science left me (and most other makers in the room) cold and bamboozled. I built a replica of David Hurd's rig prior to his arrival in Albany, however much to David's disappointment could only lay my hands on a hand-held signal generator with FIXED frequencies rather that a generator which would SWEEP through a range of frequencies, however the show that David put on for us DID demonstrate the fundamentals of investigating Chladni patterns. I ratted an old stereogram for the amplifier and loudspeaker - worked like a bewdy. Pictures of DH's rig, and associated science, that were the inspiration for our test bed can be viewed here.

Martin - if you go to David Hurd's Site Map and click on all of the sub-links under 'Technology - Science & Engineering for Complex Lutherie Problems' you will discover a world of elaborate data & equations which I have since discovered is the best cure for insomnia.

... I consider the real pros seem to go by experience and feel.

Yep, Allen ... after 11 uke builds I'm now a dedicated student of the Bob Connor School of Advanced Lutherie Science & Technology where he teaches a most magnificent philosophy: "keep hitting the bloody thing till it goes Boinnnngggg".


You've got a great looking uke build in process here Martin ... am looking forward to following this thread with interest.

"Small Is Beautiful" - E. F. Schumaker (1973) ... his principles apply more to economics but it's still a catchy phrase that sums up the joy of building little instruments.

Cheers

[kiwigeo]

Thanks very much John for answers to my questions. Ill pop over to David's site and have a poke around as suggested.

Cheers Martin

[Kamusur]

Martin the Tiger myrtle should look good and seeing the tape protection adjacent to the braces is a good reminder too.
John using the tenet of "keep hitting it till...." is almost universal and unlimited in its applications and definitely worth remembering.

Steve

[auscab]

It Looks to me like Ukulele's are a fun thing to build , to me who has not made one yet, it looks like all the challenges are there but it's smaller and faster to build . I'm looking forward to trying it out.


Thanks for pictures.

[kiwigeo]

A bit of progress on the uke. Sides bent and fitted to top and today the back linings got glued in. Yesterday a parcel arrived from Stewmac containing some lovely Waverly tuners....they really are works of art.

[Allen]

One wonders if they did away with the fancy packaging we would be able to use them more often.

Steph is certainly going to love that uke Martin.

[Tod Gilding]

Martin, Can I be your adopted sister,..... please

[auscab]

Hi Martin,

Is the lining same size as would be used in a guitar ? and what make is it or did you make it?

I can see with the top joined Kerfed lining it looks like a strip of wood has been glued to a thin veneer ,and the cuts taken through to the veneer.

Is the veneer same species ?


I looked at your pictures on my phone , the pictures come up small at first , I thought those tuners looked like jewelry at first , Gold ear rings ?

[kiwigeo]

Hi Martin,

Is the lining same size as would be used in a guitar ? and what make is it or did you make it?

I can see with the top joined Kerfed lining it looks like a strip of wood has been glued to a thin veneer ,and the cuts taken through to the veneer.

Is the veneer same species ?


I looked at your pictures on my phone , the pictures come up small at first , I thought those tuners looked like jewelry at first , Gold ear rings ?

Hi Rob,

The top is fixed to sides using tantellones.....in this case theyre just chopped up kerfed guitar lining. For fixing the back to the sides Ive just used lengths of guitar kerfed lining. My construction technique is plain vanilla flavoured Spanish method working top down on a workboard.

I assume the veneer youre talking about is the one on the back of the headstock. It's Indian Rosewood. On the front of the headstock is some Tigermyrtle....offcuts from the back.

[auscab]

Between the kerf and the side, I thought it must be part of the kerfing ?
Like a flexible back strip , possibly ?

[kiwigeo]

Between the kerf and the side, I thought it must be part of the kerfing ?
Like a flexible back strip , possibly ?

Its part of the kerfed lining....this stuff has a flexible back strip. Think it came from Stewmac or LMI.

[kiwigeo]

Martin, Can I be your adopted sister,..... please

She's stubborn and feisty like me......might not be your cup of tea.

[kiwigeo]

One wonders if they did away with the fancy packaging we would be able to use them more often.

Steph is certainly going to love that uke Martin.

The box is snazzy...and it's my favourite colour as well.

[kiwigeo]

First back glue up using HHG......wouldn't have worked without the trusty heat gun. The date of the build...22/01/12.....my 54th birthday. Steph's Tiger Tenor Birthday Uke

[charangohabsburg]

That's going to be a very nice uke. Glad to see a uke being built on a solera.
Assembly seems to be much quicker than that of a lute.

Between the kerf and the side, I thought it must be part of the kerfing ?
Like a flexible back strip , possibly ?

Oh, I thought this was the glue line...

One wonders if they did away with the fancy packaging we would be able to use them more often.

Even fancy packaging is quite cheap, maybe $ 5.- or so for this box. But surely they couldn't charge 90 or 100 $ if they offered these tuners just wrapped in a piece of newspaper.
Normally the box is pink. For a box with Martin's favourite colour one has to pay 20 $ more.

[kiwigeo]

A frustrating day. Went to rout out binding channels with my new Stew mac binding jig and the screw holding the bldi Bosch Colt trimmer in the cradle flew off and the cutter started chewing into the plastic guide ring. I managed to killed the trimmer before it chewed up the uke and it's now sitting in disgrace in the corner of the shop. Sometimes there are machines that you just don't like......the Bosch Colt is one of these machines. Couldn't be bothered setting up the Williams style jig so did the channels with the trusty T5 Trend router and LMI binding cutter.

Bent up some some maple bindings and test fitted them...and hated them. I then had a long hard look through the gallery and found a Tiger Myrtle uke made by Allen with plain ebony bindings...tomorrow I'll bend up some ebony bindings and see how they look.

[Allen]

Hate to burst your bubble Martin, but they were plastic. I could never get any piece of ebony that I have to bend without snapping. It's the only wood I've never had any luck with.

[kiwigeo]

Hate to burst your bubble Martin, but they were plastic. I could never get any piece of ebony that I have to bend without snapping. It's the only wood I've never had any luck with.

Yes that thought crossed my mind yesterday. Ive had issues bending ebony before...but sometimes you get lucky and Ive got 20 lenghts of ebony binding so maybe 4 of them will behave.

[ProfChris]

Stepping back to the discussion on Chladni patterns, my reading suggests that it's hard, maybe even impossible, to transpose that work to something as tiny as a ukulele. The top, back, sides and bracing interact so much, certainly on sopranos, that I suspect that the research on guitars may not be much use.

But I write from very little practical experience - I've made only a dozen ukes. However, the most recent ones turned out well, in that they are much louder than you'd expect while still producing a good tone. In all of these the back and side vibrate like mad when playing - it's clear that the whole body is working together to make the sound, rather than it coming mainly from the top. This also seems to be true of the good ukes belonging to others which I've played. If the whole body doesn't come alive when playing, it usually sounds pretty meh.

Ultra-light construction seems to be the key, with top/back/sides thickness (in hardwoods) in the 1.5mm to 1.8mm range, and probably at the lower end of that range.

This one looks very nice, both in appearance and in construction (far more accurate than I can manage). I hope it turns out sounding as good - I gather that even for very experienced uke builders, whether it turns out to sound excellent,or merely good, can be rather a lottery.

Searching for the BOING seems like a good strategy!

[Alastair]

A frustrating day. Went to rout out binding channels with my new Stew mac binding jig and the screw holding the bldi Bosch Colt trimmer in the cradle flew off and the cutter started chewing into the plastic guide ring. I managed to killed the trimmer before it chewed up the uke and it's now sitting in disgrace in the corner of the shop. Sometimes there are machines that you just don't like......the Bosch Colt is one of these machines. Couldn't be bothered setting up the Williams style jig so did the channels with the trusty T5 Trend router and LMI binding cutter.

Bent up some some maple bindings and test fitted them...and hated them. I then had a long hard look through the gallery and found a Tiger Myrtle uke made by Allen with plain ebony bindings...tomorrow I'll bend up some ebony bindings and see how they look.

Hi Martin,

If you have no luck, I've got some Imbuia, (I think also known as Brazilian Walnut). Used on both my builds to date. Dark as most ebony, and can be bent to uke dimensions, (even by me!)

[kiwigeo]

Hi Martin,

If you have no luck, I've got some Imbuia, (I think also known as Brazilian Walnut). Used on both my builds to date. Dark as most ebony, and can be bent to uke dimensions, (even by me!)

Thanks for the offer Alastair...most gracious of you mate. If I end up breaking all 20 lengths of binding I have on my shelf Ill give you a shout.