Cairns Uke Festival Course 2010 Underway

[Allen]

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Day 1 of the course, and I took as many pictures as I could.

As you may imagine, it's a lot of work keeping an eye on everyone and still making good progress on the day. That said, I'm amazed at the progress that was made today. We are ready for the backs to go on tomorrow morning and will be under clamps before smoko. The box being completely closed up.

We have 14 students, and a few more women than men. Many with little to no woodworking experience which and this is who the class is designed for. They have come from most corners of Australia, one from New Zealand, and another from Thursday Island.


Here is a picture of the components of the uke that the students will be assembling.

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Kaya Mahogany back and sides, Western Red Cedar top. Mahogany neck, Purple Heart fret board and peghead overlay. We were to use a Purple Heart bridge as well, but they didn't make it into the case during packing, so I've pulled out some ebony and Indian Rosewood that will be used instead.

Just random shots throughout the day, trying to capture moments of everyones progress and some of Ricks commentary and demonstrations.

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Mug shot of myself on the right, Rick Turner front and centre, and Gaby on the left.

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Allen R. McFarlen

[Kim]

That looks fantastic Allen, everyone in the images looks real happy to be at work learning something new and Rick and yourself looks real happy to be a part of it guiding them on the journey.

What a great thing it must be for these people to walk away from this experience after a few days of fun with something in their hands to be proud of and a lasting testament of their spirit to escape the daily drudge.

Well Done to you and Rick and the whole class.

Cheers

Kim
_________________
ĆϾϿƆ
_(ӧ) ∩
_ڔ ڔ
Pull me Finga

[ozziebluesman]

Good on ya Allen. That looks like a real fun time there! It must be such a blast for someone even with no woodworking skills be able to create a great instrument. It is obvious that the idea is a winner!

Seeya on the weekend.

Cheers

Alan
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"Play to express, not to impress"

Alan R Hamley

[Lillian]

What a great turn out! You know that they will go home with great memories and stories and a uke that they won't be able to put down for a month.

Good on ya Allen for getting this all together.

[Allen]

Been up most of the night excited about getting back to it today. I imagine that there will be one or two in the class in the same boat.

I can't take credit for putting this all together on my own. Gaby, Rick and many at the Woodworkers Guild have gone to a great deal of work to pull this off, wanting it to be a success, and the participants leaving with fond memories of their time with us.
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Allen R. McFarlen

[Nick]

Great effort everyone (& Allen! I suspect you've put a bit more work in than you're admitting to). I love it when a passion can be passed on to hopefully become someone elses. clapping clapping clapping
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A handmade Guitar for $300 ? Phftt. Sure, give me a chunk of wood, a hammer & some 6 inch nails & I'll see what I can knock up for ya.

Nick Oliver
www.oliver-guitars.com

[DarwinStrings]

Looks like a great way to spend a couple of days Allen. Nice to see a couple of Darwin faces in there and I look forward to seeing and hearing their finished instruments when they get back up here.

Jim

[sebastiaan56]

Looks great Allen, love those northern safety boots!
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make mine fifths........

[seeaxe]

Good on you Allen, what a great thing to do. I beleive you get out of life what you put in, and this is clear proof of that. You can sense the enjoyment you will be getting from doing that because you can see the students are loving enery minute. It would be worth going to your course for the camaraderie alone.

Well done Allen Rick and Gaby, more power to your collective elbows.
Cheers
Richard
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Richard@seeaxe

[Allen]

Day 2 and the boxes are closed, fret boards inlaid and fretted, and lots of sanding.....lots and lots. More again tomorrow but I don't think that they want to know about that.

Long day as we had to be at this point to progress tomorrow, as we must have the bridge on before we knock off so it can be strung up on Thursday in time for a get together at a local hotel for participants to show off their new hand made instruments.

I took lots of photos, so please excuse for the number, but I wanted to include everyone as well as show their progress. This page is being linked to some Facebook sites so we might see a bit of traffic to it.

And while I'm at it, I just want to let you all know that I consider myself the luckiest guy around for the opportunity to work with Rick Turner. Each and every day that I've spent time with him, I've learnt several new things that I may have never thought of even years from now. Real "Ah Hah" moments.

And here's a paired down selection of the pictures I took today.

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I got roped into making a label for everyone at the last moment, so knocked up one last night. Both Rick and myself signed each label, as well as each of the students on their own instrument. Look for them to show up on eBay in a few days. They'll be hot commodoties I tell ya. Cool

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Rick giving a fretting demo. Watching him, it's pretty obvious that he's done thousands before. Makes it look like you could do it with your eyes closed.

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Fret boards are pressed in between 2 steel plates. Making them all level, and rarely needing any more work. Rick is putting a drop of CA on the end of each fret, letting it wick in.

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Allen R. McFarlen

[liam_fnq]

I'm feeling a bit shamed at the lack of speed in my building schedule now.

if I built one a week since i started I'd have 1,2,5,12,19,20,21.............I've run out of things to count on...........

fantastic work allen, what's the plan for Thursday arvo. can't wait to see them.

Liam.

[Allen]

Having dinner at the Cape York Hotel and then some drinks and strumming I think. Hope that you can make it too.
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Allen R. McFarlen

[Bob Connor]

Looks like everyone's having a ball, yourself and Rick included. I look forward to seeing the finished products and the proud looks of achievement on those doing the course.
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Bob, Geelong
_______________________________________

If Becks are a sponsor next year I guess we'll just have to give East Augusta a miss.

[Pete Howlett]

I recognise that vibe - I'll be doing the same thing in Finland next month. I'll post some pics on this forum.
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Make 'em. Play 'em!

[Nick]

Loving the pictures Allen, nice to see people smiling and enjoying things. The Ginga with the mutton chops looks hard shot! Nice touch with the labels to, both those signatures will be worth a fortune in a few years Wink

By the way, if you looked at my fret work close up, you'd think I done it with me eyes closed as well Laughing
_________________
A handmade Guitar for $300 ? Phftt. Sure, give me a chunk of wood, a hammer & some 6 inch nails & I'll see what I can knock up for ya.

Nick Oliver
www.oliver-guitars.com

[sebastiaan56]

Would you provide some more information on the fretboard between the steel plates method Allen. Ive not heard of that at all before.

Thx
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make mine fifths........

[Allen]

These fret boards are flat so it works well on them.

One tap on each end of the fret wire to set it in the slot. The fret wire has a large radius rolled into it. Not flat like you get in the tube from StewMac.

Use wooden caul on the back side of fret board with frets facing steel plate. Squeeze together in vise, or as Rick is doing here, with 4 bar clamps and doing 2 boards at a time.

Basically you are making a large flat fret press that does all of them at once. Brilliant solution for these small fret boards, and many to be done in very limited amount of time.
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Allen R. McFarlen

[Rick Turner]

Rick here...loving every minute of being here and enjoying the best hospitality in the world.

It's been wonderful working with Allen; it feels like we've been working together for years. We started on Saturday with making the soleras on which to build the ukes and with the help of one of the Woodworkers' Guild members, we knocked them out in practically no time finding a work rhythm like old team mates. The facility is perfect for this...nicely equipped with power tools and a nice indoor/outdoor space with the workbenches.

We've had a few minor disasters...like me forgetting to bring the bridges and the folks at Dunlop not sending me the fret wire in California, but no problem...Allen came up with wood for bridges, and my friends at Dunlop FedEx'd the fretwire to Gaby. We had a couple of broken ukes...they got dropped and the tops broke on either side of the neck blocks before the sides went on...but that just meant a couple of lessons in instrument repair.

The first day we got to our day end milestone an hour early. Second day went just past our eight hour mark, but we got everything done that needed doing. Today it's peghead design, neck carving, a lot of sanding, and by the end of the day, it will be bridge gluing time...not bad for three days and a bunch of folks who have never done this before. Tomorrow we'll make the nuts and saddles and do final setup, and tomorrow night we'll have 14 new ukes with stretchy strings all up and playing at the pub.

Huge thanks to Allen, the Woodworker's Guild, and Gaby for making this possible.
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Rick Turner
Guitar Maker, Experimenter, Diviner
www.renaissanceguitars.com
www.d-tar.com

[Allen]

Day 3 photo's a little late going up because some of the folks coming to town for the Ukulele Festival have shown up, and we got to talking, playing and of course a few beers.

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We got the peghead overlays installed first up, then we had a talk about finishes that both Rick and myself do. Pro's and cons to each of them, and options for the students to apply on their instruments once they take them home.

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End of day 3 and all that's left is to drill for tuners and install, make string nuts, install saddles and put the strings on. Easy....so what's left after mornning tea? Cool
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Allen R. McFarlen

[liam_fnq]

after morning tea should be learning a theme song and beer. Cool

well done to Rick, Allen and the whole crew.

can't wait to see them later tonight.

Liam.

[Kim]

Well Done Everyone!!! Cool

Top effort by all the students and the whip crackers alike. Must say what a wonderful level commitment to the craft has been demonstrated by both Allen McFarlen and Rick Turner.

For Rick to agree to fly out for the event and take this on offers some insight into the level of his generosity and no doubt he has injected an incredible amount of knowledge into the uke class. To top it off his involvement has offered a great deal of credibility to the entire festival and the organisers must be thrilled to have him as a guest to kick off the inaugural event of what we all hope will be a long future for The Cairns Uke Festival.

Again, well done to all involved.

P.S. Allen, I just put a red spot in your account, can you share a beer with Rick and John Madison for me Wink

Cheers

Kim
_________________
ĆϾϿƆ
_(ӧ) ∩
_ڔ ڔ
Pull me Finga

[Allen]

Just got back from a session at a local hotel with some of the students, Rick, Gaby, John Maddison and son Sam, Liam too, and a heap of uke players from the local club, as well as others who have come to Cairns for the Festival.

Will get some more pictures up in the morning. Been a very long day.
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Allen R. McFarlen

[Allen]

The last shots that I managed to get of the class. showing some of the final steps and getting the strings on.

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Thanks for taking the time to look everyone. For those that are following this and have never built an instrument before, I hope that it provides some impetus and confidence that you can tackle a project like this.
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Allen R. McFarlen

[Nick]

Allen wrote:
img~

"So you take your stash and insert it in some poor chumps luggage"
Laughing Laughing

Some nice looking Ukes resulted from the course there Allen, the lady in black's headstock is rather a nice design, I like. You guys (both you & Rick) should be rightly proud of yourselves. Not hard to spot the Kiwi amongst the builders either! Wink
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A handmade Guitar for $300 ? Phftt. Sure, give me a chunk of wood, a hammer & some 6 inch nails & I'll see what I can knock up for ya.

Nick Oliver
http://www.oliver-guitars.com

[Allen]

And here is a shot of the happy class with all their completed instruments.

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A very big thank you to Rob Williams. He's the fellow in in back row in the green shirt. He arrange the shot and then managed to duck out and get a copy printed for each of the students, plus had 3 framed up for Rick, Myself and The Cairns Woodworkers Guild. Mine has gone straight into the Pool Room
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Allen R. McFarlen