Michael's Zircote Tenor

[Allen]

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"Originally Posted on:Wed Aug 11, 2010 7:59 pm"

I'm posting this so that Micheal, who has commissioned this instrument can follow along with the build progress, as well as the rest of you if your interested.

I was contacted a few months back about building a tenor ukulele to the owners specifications, and after my moving house, and 2 uke courses behind me, I've finally got some time to get to this one.

After some deliberation about wood choices, Zircote was settled upon, with a Bearclaw Sitka top. Micheal wanted a wood rosette, and I had a piece of spalted Avocado on the shelf that has a very similar color palette to the Zircote, so that was installed and levelled a couple days ago.

The neck is mahogany but still has the clamps on the laminations at the moment.

Anyway, here are the components that I've prepped so far, and hopefully I'll be able to get some more happening to this by Sunday.

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[christian]

thats some beautiful wood there Allen,look forward to seeing it progress
looks like the mother of all spiders landed on the Ziricote back in the first photo hahaha.

[DarwinStrings]

Here, here. Nice wood, water strider was the fist thing I thought of. Lucky Micheal.

Jim

[Pete Brown]

Allen, sure looks beautiful, but let's hope your ziricote doesn't live up to its other name, i.e., Mexican Crack Wood. I read of others who flood their ziricote with thin CA in an attempt to seal any invisible cracks, but have no first-hand experience. Perhaps others will chime in.

[Dennis Leahy]

Spectacular material!

Dennis

[J.F. Custom]

Beautiful stuff Allen.

The timber is amazing - spider was my obvious impression too. Ziricote has to be, I think (though there are string contenders), my favourite looking timber. Just the spectacular varied and striking patterns in the various shades of black/grey/brown. Stunning stuff. That spalted avo doesn't look too bad either Wink

Very coincidental btw, as I have also started a Tenor Ukulele in Ziricote as well! I've cut out and braced the back; cut, tapered and bent the sides. Just have to work on the top now. I'll post a pic of the grain here tomorrow - if you don't mind it going on Michaels thread that is. Otherwise I can always do another thread. I've got two more sets of Ziricote cut to use as well - one more tenor and a concert.

What style bracing are you using on this unit? I note the 'standard' soundhole as opposed to your 'tear-drops', so is this to be a fan braced model? I have another I've already started in Figured Blackwood front, back and sides that will be a Kasha style so am thinking I'll do fan brace on the Ziri unit.

Finally Pete, yes, Ziricote is a very brittle timber and prone to fine cracks - particularly running from the exposed end grain. They can be difficult to see too which is a pain. Still, working with care, I haven't seen the necessity to soak in CA as yet, though I haven't had that much experience either. Once braced, it seems fine. On the plus, it bends relatively easily. Cool

Cheers,

Jeremy.

[Bob Connor]

I built this about three years ago. no cracks, no problems bending it. It behaved itself quite well actually.

I like working with the wood and I like the way it sounds.

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[Allen]

Going to be a conventional fan braced instrument Jeremy. And no worries if you want to post some pictures of your offering here

[J.F. Custom]

Well then, as mentioned, here it is. The back as it is at present -

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And the sides -

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I just love the look of the stuff. I am using a spruce top on this model too. Possibly a silver ash neck though I have options and therefore have not committed 100% yet. I hope to continue on it soon though it is not the highest priority as it is not a commission. I'll see how I go.

Good luck with yours Allen. I'll be watching with interest.

Cheers,

Jeremy.

[seeaxe]

Wow and double wow!!

If Gandalf had had a Ukulele, it would have had been made of this wood!

These are amaziing - does it sounds as good as it looks???

Thanks for posting those, can't wait for it to get to the Gallery

[Allen]

The piece I have has a really good ring to it. Very hard and glassy like surface. It's a bugger to take down in the drum sander, though it doesn't load the paper.

[Allen]

A bit more progress made this weekend along with all the other stuff going on in the shed, and around the house.

Top is all braced and pretty much ready as well as the braces are on the back, but the pictures were pretty ordinary, so won't bother posting them. Neck is well on it's way to being ready, and as it's a Spanish Heel build, it's got to be at least mostly done at the heel end before the body gets assembled, it's the next order of business.

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Vacuum bagged the braces on. The upper bout is flat and the lower bout has a radius scooped out in the board. Don't ask me how much because it was all done by eye and feel. It's the same as I use for the lattice braced instruments, and If I had to guess it starts out at 15' but relaxes some after it's out of the press.

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[Rob J Williams]

Looking great Allen,

Both the Zircote and Bearclaw Sitka look awesome

Oh and the detail shots look great too...

[Dennis Leahy]

Allen,

Maybe I have not been paying enough attention to ukes, but is that top bracing, with the peaked fan braces bridging/arching over the bridge plate a new soundboard bracing scheme? I can't remember seeing that before.

Dennis

[Isabelle]

I am having wood envy!

Love the photos....
Isabelle

[Lillian]

Love the avocado rosette. I think it really compliments the Ziricote. Michael is going to be a very happy camper.

[Allen]

Dennis Leahy wrote:
Allen,

Maybe I have not been paying enough attention to ukes, but is that top bracing, with the peaked fan braces bridging/arching over the bridge plate a new soundboard bracing scheme? I can't remember seeing that before.

Dennis

You know me Dennis, not content to do the same old thing.

Actually, I've been looking at a lot of bracing patterns for nylon strung guitars and reading some discussions about them, and have seen this done on at least some of the braces in a set of 5 or 7 on many instruments. As the top on this uke is very stiff I decided that this would be the place to try it out.

Perhaps the engineers in the crowd will be able to comment if a brace that is built like this has less stiffness than if it was shaped and glued directly to the soundboard.
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[jeffhigh]

Allen, that will be plenty stiff at the bridge location.
Because the top plate forms one flange of the beam the total height is still what matters rather than the height of brace over the bridgeplate (within reason)
I have never really understood why some builders want to keep the fan separate to the bridge plate, there would be some detriment to strength and stiffeness in the area from this but probably not significant
Whether it is actually too stiff is up to what you want to achieve here

[Tim Mason]

That looks REALLY nice Allen! Thanks for posting I am eager to see how it comes together

[Allen]

Got a bit of a chance to do some more work on this one today.It's amazing how fast they go together once you have the components made.

Got neck shaped and the sides installed and linnings glued in.

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Ebony fret board with gold MOP dots. Curly big leaf maple bindings. CF reinforcement in mahogany neck.

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[Allen]

Interior shot with a few coats of Garnet shellac brushed on, then a light rub with a pad.

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The same done with the back and it was glued on last night.

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You can see the shim I place under the nut area of the neck to give me the proper set I want to accommodate the dome I've built in the top.

[Allen]

Body has been trimmed up, and fret board bound. Just sitting on the neck to give an idea of what it will look like.

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Putting some mahogany / maple / mahogany purflings on the bottom of some figured maple bindings.

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Hot hide glue on the two pieces. A quick clamp up for about 10 minutes, pull them out and let dry.

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The bindings are 2 mm thick, as is the purfling. I use the piece of acrylic on top to run it along the two pieces once clamped up to make sure that they are both seated down onto the piece of granite. Making sure that they both are aligned.

[Allen]

It's been a bit since I've got to do much on this ukulele. Had a lot of trouble with the first set of bindings. The figure in them had them snapping like they were made from ice. I made another set and managed to get them on with some heating just before installing, and a lot of luck.

Then I wasn't happy with the first fret board, so made another. It's got a 12" radius on it, and it takes a bit of a knack to fret it when they are bound and you have to trim the tang off something that short with that much of a radius, and get the fret to lay just right.

On top of that fret tang nippers don't work on ukulele wire, (to small) so each one has to be filled flush. Makes for a very time consuming exercise. Good learning and skill building exercise though.

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Got the peg head overlay gluing up right now. Will be binding it with curly maple as well. Then it's not far off to getting some lacquer on this thing.


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