Nuke Build

[ozziebluesman]

Hmmm, very interesting Dave. Yes I ment the pic of the uke top in your go bar deck. Cork aye! So if I wanted just a slight radii say 25' on the top and back of my uke would about 2mm of cork around the edges and sand a slight radius on the bottom of the braces do the trick?

Cheers

Alan

[Dave White]

Alan,

You could use the "pack of cards" jig that I have seen somewhere but can't remember where. Essentially you cut paper or card pieces (like playing cards but smaller) and splay them out overlapping each other. Radius the bottom of your brace then lay it on top of the card pieces and "re-splay" them until it matches the bottom profile of the brace. Then put a piece of masking tape over the cards to keep the profile. Make a few of these and place them under the top/back on the go-bar deck to give the shape when you glue the braces on.

[ozziebluesman]

Thanks Dave your a champion! I'll go with that idea for the time until I get the dishes built.

Cheers

Alan

[Dave White]

Well I know I'm stubborn and headstrong, but I also listen and think a lot. So I've had helpful input from people here (thanks Michal and David Hurd for the pms) and thought a lot particularly about the bridge-plate. The stiffness resulting from glueing two thin veneer strips on the top has surprised me and I think that it is too stiff. So this morning I took off the top and the braces, sanded off the bridge-plate and started again. This time I used one cross grained Lacewood veneer strip and rounded the side edges. I then re-braced the top two ladder braces and waited to see if the lower bout would hold the curvature I wanted with just these two - the reason for the brace I had above the bridge-plate was to keep this curvature:



Carving the two braces left the top in the shape I wanted so I stopped there. The tap tone and response is freer. The top has taken some "collateral damage" with the removal but should be fine:



The box was closed up again using fish glue and as my friend Colin Symonds has let me have a spare tape roll, the tape was a little bit more genteel and less punk this time. The top in the bridge-plate area is a lot more flexible - if this were a steel string I'd be very worried - but hopefully will be fine with 4 nylogut strings. If not I have enough Lacewood to make a new top:



Meanwhile I proceeded with the neck. I had a longish scrap carbon fibre rod off-cut that will serve as a truss rod and the slot for this was routed and the rod glued in using fish glue:




The stacked heel pieces were glued up using fish glue:



The Rio Rosewood headplate was thicknessed, angled where it will meet the nut and glued on using fish glue:



I also spent some fun time with the hot-pipe bending the Rio Rosewood bindings:

[DarwinStrings]

Thanks for going to the time and effort to Photo document this build Dave. It is great to see how differently people do things from the way I do them. I would hope to hear all these Ukuleles that are being built at the moment. It was 20 years ago that I saw a 26 piece Ukulele Orchestra in London yet it seems only recently that they have become less twee, cool even. I will be taking all these builds into consideration when I finally join the Ukulele makers club.

Jim

[Stephen Kinnaird]

Good stuff, Dave.
Need more!

Steve

[PHANTOM]

more pics

[Dave White]

Jim - if that was The Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain then they are still going strong and there are lots of clips on Youtube.

Steve/Phantom - as it's Panto Season then as Aladdin's Genie would say "Your wish is my command"

Well - this will be a close thing. I might have to invoke the clause that Christmas starts on the 24th December and lasts 12 days - the Sanity Clause as the Marx Brothers called it (Ho Ho Ho ). OK so the top and back are trimmed flush and then it's into the binding jig to cut the channels:



Next the end graft slot is cut with saw and chisels, and the Rio Rosewood end graft checked for fit:




The end graft is glued in and when dry routed flush with the binding channels - this is the first instrument I've done without side purflings. The bwb purfling channels on the top and back are routed using the binding jig. Then when I'm happy that the bindings/purflings are a perfect fit, they are glued in using fish glue and brown tape:




While they are drying I make the fretboard. The fret positions are marked and the side tapers drawn - allowing 1mm extra each side for the bandsaw blade kerf. The sides are cut and trued and then the edge on each side - that will be the bindings - are cut. The fret slots are then cut by hand:



The two side bindings are then glued back on using fish glue and brown tape:



When dry the tape is removed and the fretboard sanded flush. The soundhole ends are marked and the matching curve cut using the same jig used to cut out the soundhole:




The stacked heel has the tennon cut at the right angle and is then glued onto the main neck shaft using fish glue:




When dry, the fingerboard extension support is cut to the right width, the heel is roughly shaped and the headstock cut roughly to shape:

[Localele]

Looking good Dave and you wouldn't be feeling the Xmas pressure at all.Is your binding cutter on a parallelogram hanging off the wall.I would be interested in some more photos of it .Maybe as a new post.

[Kim]

Is your binding cutter on a parallelogram hanging off the wall.I would be interested in some more photos of it .Maybe as a new post.

Dave has this info on his site

http://www.defaoiteguitars.com/page38.htm

Dave, this is a great build to watch and the uke is going to be awesome I am sure. Thanks for the effort.

Cheers.

Kim

[Dave White]

Well I'm definitely invoking the Sanity Claus. Here's where I've got to. The Rio Rosewood rear veneer was thicknessed, bent on the hot pipe to match the volute and then glued on with fish glue:




Then I made the bridge using a very lightweight piece of Rio Rosewood. The blank was cut to size and the saddle slots marked. The slots were then routed using my slotting jig. I got intonation details from David Hurd's website and worked out a split saddle arrangement that meets the intonation:




The bottom of the saddle is matched to the top dome as best I can - tricky on such a thin top:




The back of the bridge behind the saddle slots is angled down and then I drilled the string holes:



Here's the finished bridge - it weighs around 13-14g:



The fingerboard is glued onto the neck using fish glue and left clamped up to dry for a day. The neck is then levelled to the sides of the fingerboard and 2mm MoP side dots installed at the 5th, 7th, 10th and 12th frets. The neck is then carved and the tennon drilled for the barrel bolt to connect to the top:





Meanwhile the body has had Z-Poxy applied to pore fill. When dry this is sanded back with 240 grit sandpaper. Here's the neck bolted on - looks more like a uke:




The bridge is positioned in the correct place and the outer two string holes drilled through. Tooth picks will hold the bridge in these holes when it is glued on:



The body is then sprayed with pre-catalysed lacquer:




Next it's time to fret. I found that I had cut the slots too shallow and there was nothing for it but to cut the frets deeper all the way through to make the bound fretboard unbound. The frets were then pressed in:



When dry the lacquer was sanded back with 240 grit sandpaper and then rubbed out with 0000 wire wool. The bridge aread was scribed and the finish underneath scraped back to wood:



I had to make up a clamping caul for the bridge and as it was a tricky set up I used fish glue rather than my usual hot hide glue. This was real key hole surgery and I hope nothing on the thin top and back plates has cracked. We'll see when the clamps come off:



Meanwhile the peghead has had the tuner holes drilled and reamed, the neck has been Z-poxied and the headstock veneers sprayed with pre-catalysed lacquer. If all goes well it could be strings on on Boxing Day. We'll see.

[Dave White]

Well the strings went on for the first time yesterday after drilling out the string holes, fitting the Gotoh tuners and bone nut and saddle. I finally remembered why I moved to steel strings - come back in a years time when the strings have finally stretched !! The strings are Aquila nylgut and the intonation is pretty good without any shaping of the saddles. I need to let it settle and sort out where the action is best for my playing style - the bottom two strings are currently a little low. Then I'll Tru-oil the neck and put the label in. It sounds sweet and is getting louder hour by hour but I have no idea what a godd uke sounds like. I'll try and do a sound clip later today and you experts can tell me. I like it - a very funky sound. Here are a few crappy shots - I'll get better ones when the neck is done and the label in. I didn't put a side sound port in but may well do when I hear the sound as it settles.

[Lillian]

You've made another beauty David. It was fascinating watching you build. But what's this about YOUR playing style? I thought this one was for one of the daughters. Was there a change of plans now that its all come together? I'd understand, I'd hate to part with it.

Looking forward to the sound bites.

[Dave White]

Lillian - thanks. The girls think it's "cool" and it will be around the house whenever they want to pick it up and play including honourary "girl" me. We'll see if one of them wants one of their own.

Well I spent all yesterday ressurecting my dead computer - these things are supposed to save us time right So I only got round to recording something today. It's interesting but nearly all of my instruments seem to have music in them that emerges when I get to noodle around and play them and this one was no different. My daughter Suazanna declared Nuke a "crap name" and so renamed it Pippin. It certainly is small and you can't help smiling when you play it so a Hobbit theme seems appropriate. In honour, the piece of music is called "Hairy Feet". It's track 37 on the Jukebox here on the Sounds page of my website. Pippin has to my ears a nice sweet sound with good sustain. I don't know much about uke sounds and if the Aquila nylgut strings have a different sound than others, but now they're stretched they're staying on for a while yet . Here's a few more pictures with the label in. I like the feel of the Z-Poxy neck so will leave off applying Tru-oil for a while and see how it holds up:

[jjh]

Well done mate another lovely sounding creation to be proud of

[Allen]

I love that little tune Dave. A great finish to watching Pippin evolve. Thanks for documenting it. A lot of us have learnt several things along the way.

[ozziebluesman]

Yep, a big thanks for your time and effort Dave. Another fun instrument! Beautiful tone and playing. Thanks for sharing.

Cheers

Alan

[Kim]

Yes Dave,

Thank you for sharing with us. Your builds never fail to entertain and are a joy to watch. Yet another fine sounding instrument added to the De Faoite arsenal and yet another great tune added to your sites excellent Juke Box.

You have explained that you are no uke expert so I do understand it would be difficult for you to provide an authoritative answer based upon any kind of comparative. But you mentioned earlier that Pippin was getting louder by the hour, how do you find the volume now, is it as loud as you hoped, is the volume still developing?

Cheers

Kim

[Dave White]

John, Alan and Allen - thanks.

Kim

I'm glad you enjoyed the building process. I think it's just the normal opening up process instruments go through. I've made a number of hardwood topped instruments and although they sound great straight out of the blocks, they are the ones that I notice the most difference in over time. I got the Sapele topped lap slide out and tuned it down to C thinking to do some overdubs on "Hairy Feet" and the increased depth in the bass and incredible sustain of the notes since the last time I played it gave me a very pleasant surprise.

Pippin is plenty loud enough for me - Suzy complains that she can hear it up in her bedroom when I'm playing it downstairs. What I like is the "sweetness" of the sound and it has a nice mid-range that seems to come with hardwood tops. If pushed to use "wine posing" terms it would be like a well matured Irish whisky The loudness test will be when I get to play live with other instruments and to see where it sits in the mix. They are like small dogs though - the sound I suspect will cut through. I think eventually I'll put in a small side soundport as this will give me more as a player.

Thanks for everyone's advice in the "less is more" for bracing. I can just about play this concert size and a soprano would just be too small. Not being able to play with bracing ultimately will frustrate me, so the solution is pretty obvious to me - add more strings. There's a Uke-build-along about to start on another Luthier forum and for that I'm going to do a Taropatch harp ukulele (called Ferdinand, as it's an Arch Uke ) based around some of the creations of Christopher Knutsen. Four pairs plus four sub-bass strings on a hollow arm using a baritone uke body size with tenor uke scale length. I have a Douglas fir top that I've been looking to use for something interesting and another block of Rupola lacewood. That should do the trick. You can see more about Knutsen's harp ukes here on Harpguitars.net

[DarwinStrings]

Thanks Dave, your hairy feet did well to cap off what was a great Doco to watch, its nice to see a instrument but nicer to hear it. The recording was very clear, it has left me thinking I need to do a little more to get better recordings. I don't feel there is any need to compare to other Ukuleles unless your aim is to copy the sound of another instrument. It certainly sounds very tidy.

Jim

[Dave White]

I don't feel there is any need to compare to other Ukuleles unless your aim is to copy the sound of another instrument.

Jim,

Thanks. That is the most sensible piece of advice I've had for a long time. Follow your own sound.

[Localele]

Following Daves build has been great and some of the posts very helpful.It left me with a few thoughts.
It seems to me that most pieces of wood of good quality have the potential to make a fine sounding instrument.Probably most true for ukuleles where there are smaller sizes and stresses.The input of the "woodworker/luthier" is in concert with the timbers potential not fighting against it.Once the body is closed up all the agonising and theorising over bracing and thickness is finished and the life of the instrument starts.You get to dream a bit more while you apply the finish and see the timber in all its glory.A final polish and then on with the strings for those first impressions.At this stage there is no doubting why instrument making is one of the greatest hobby/jobs on the planet.
Then the new owner takes over and from the start they get to bond with your creation.If they play a lot or a little the instrument still builds its character and their enjoyment of its changing and maturing goes on.They all have their own unique voice and subtlety.
I recently sold my personal uke (no2) to a lovely lady who plays the Harp.Of all the ukes on display it was the sound of mine that got her so excited. The offer of building her one the "same" was rejected and after two more visits to convince me to sell she was happy and my uke had a new owner.This uke had a crease in the waist from bending which I had left as a reminder to myself not dreaming I would ever sell it.That was of no concern to her as I explained how it happened and instead became a feature of my journey to make instruments.
Dave,I think your right about adding more strings so for me that means taking the next step and it looks like a 3/4 guitar coming up.I just hope guitars are as much fun to build as ukes.I will get the camera going and start a thread.
Happy New Year from Micheal.