Australian/New Zealand Luthiers Forum

This one hot off the bench. It's a prototype that I've been trying out some ideas on and didn't think that it would amount to much, but once I got it completed I'm pretty pleased with how it's turned out.

Karen (my lovely wife) found a K-Kraft style mandolin for sale that needs heaps of work but cost just $15. So she bought it for some inspiration for me. I like the design but wanted to modernise it and make it work for a tenor uke, which is my most requested size. So I started with the strings and designed the instrument down from them, with 14 frets to the body in mind, wanting the saddle to be dead centre of the lower bout, and holding onto the standard tenor ukulele dimensions in order to be able to find a case to fit the instrument. Who would have thought that it would have been so hard.

Lot's of body templates were tried out. Pushing and squeezing the ply template into a case...going back to the drawing board until I settled on this one. Then came the dilemma of how to build the bloody thing. Not only a one time build, but how to make it streamlined and accurate for future builds. There's a lot to think about when you want to do that sort of thing. Some inspiration came from Graham MacDonald's books. As well as heaps of other research and brain storming with other mates. Still some tweaking to do, and more jigs to refine. This one isn't perfect, but even with it's shortcomings I'm happy with its shape and especially it's sound. It's strung with a low G and I think it suits the big soundboard and volume of this instrument.

Now for the details.

Body - New Guinea Rosewood - Recycled from the dumpster
Neck - Spanish Cedar - Compliments fro Cyclone Yasi and the Cairns Botanic Gardens
Fret Board, Bridge, Headstock overlay - Indian Rosewood.
Strings - Hilo
Tuners - Grover 14:1
Finish - Satin Gloss Mirotone over WEST Systems Epoxy

That is very nice indeed Allen That shape has really got me thinking,I don't think that I have studied photo's posted on the forum as much as I find myself studying these Pictures, well done.

you have me wondering how that shape could be adapted to say an OM style guitar

Oh damn....now you got me thinking.

Great job as always Allen & what I've come to expect from BRG. I'm loving the shape especially the 'sweep' shape across the shoulders/headblock, headstock shape is nice too. Do I detect some of Craig's 'invisible' corners at the points?
Well executed and a wee stunner to boot, well done

Nick wrote: Do I detect some of Craig's 'invisible' corners at the points?

Thanks Nick. Just trying to keep up with the Kiwi's.

Very cool Allen. Like Nick ,I really like the shape and those curving lines of the upper bout . Yes , I can see you've put a lot of time into the design detail. Well worth it Allen and it really does show.

This one really is a winner ! The mitres aren't too shabby either

Great work Allen

Thanks Craig.

One point you made in your recent build was that the cutaway side was pulled in just a bit. I found that I had to do the same thing with this one to keep it looking in proportion. It's odd that if you make the sides identical, that the cutaway side ends up looking too large.

Another beautiful instrument from the Uke King !!!!
I love the shape of it very interesting, and pleasing to the eye, and incredibly well made, the whole upperbout must have been a bit tricky Allen?
great stuff !!!!

Cheers,

Christian.

Very tricky indeed Christian. I scratched my head so long I think I wore a spot right through trying to figure out the best way to do it. Making one and never visiting it again is easy, but I wanted to be able to replicate this design quickly and accurately. No CNC involved. Just jigs that are going to need more refinement for me to be happy with them.

Well it was well worth the head scratching !!! very exciting I can see this being very popular.
the first instrument is always the hardest eh! its only get easier with a bit of tinkering.
did you bend the shape by hand? or a did you have a bending jig for it?
Cheers,

Christian.

The lower bout was bent on a form and then I had to touch up the very tight waist as there was some spring back there. The upper bout was done by hand. I took it down to 1.0mm and it's laminated onto a neck block of Spanish Cedar that spans the entire upper bout right down to the waist. The block has been shaped in the guts of it so that the soundboard is a large oval. I didn't take any pictures of the build process on this one, but I'm starting another and will do some documentation of it.

I was thinking you could avoid the bending of the upper bout completely, and make the upper bout out of a solid piece,or laminate up a blank, that once shaped doubled as the neckblock, obviously it would have to match the lower bout,
just a thought to make construction simpler, if you have the materials.

Christian.

Very cool looking Uke!

If you want an idea of what it might look like in a larger form, check out http://www.beardsellguitars.com/models.html He uses a similar aesthetic on his mandos and steel stringers.

I had thought of doing that Christian, but it only would work for something like New Guinea Rosewood as it's plentiful here and reasonably light. For other woods like Honduran Rosewood it's not a possibility, so I went with the laminated option onto a really light neck block. Now I can pretty much use any type of wood for the back and sides.

Nice work Al. Great design,

What a great body shape and love the headstock too. Thought the same as Todd immediately, "wonder how it would look in guit size?". And thanks for the link Shane.

Steve