Australian/New Zealand Luthiers Forum

Hey guys, this was an instrument that I built whilst helping Tony Francis set up a bit of stuff for a ukulele building school that he's going to run for some locals in Kapiti. They'll be working off kit sets put together by him and Jim Lowe, a wood turner who works in the same building and also has an interest in ukuleles. This one was me putting jigs together and running a 'prototype' through from scratch to see what problems the students would likely encounter.

So, Sapele back, sides, top and neck, rosewood fretboard, ebony nut and saddle (Tony had quite a bit of sapele lying around). The neck joint is a spanish heel, and the finish is pore-filled with a dark brown oil-based filler and finished with tru-oil.

Nice simple little project there Sean, should go down well as a teaching tool. I'm surprised you made it out of Sapele though knowing how you hate the stuff
Nice tidy job, You'll be able to teach me how to make one when you return! Where's the binding though?

Haha thanks Nick, was a nice quick and easy build. Yeah one day I'll get away from Sapele, it keeps following me, probably because I'm a poor student. No binding because it's a style O, and to make it nice and easy for the students to do, not just because I didn't want to thank you very much! (Though you must admit, no binding here does look pretty neat on the all sapele body)

Very nice!! I like.
Looks a lot like my Martin Tenor (T-17)!

It looks great, very neat work!
The stealth bridge makes clear that this must be something superior than an original Martin Ukulele.

Simply elegant, Sean ... a really nice build!