Uncle Mike's Soprano Uke

[liam_fnq]

6 months ago I promised my uncle that I'd build him a Soprano Uke. In between buying a house (without a shed), working on said house and the stupidly wet dry-season we've had I've only just got the project started.

As I haven't built a soprano yet, the first thing to do was to draw up a plan and make templates and a workboard.

[liam_fnq]

Mike decided on blackwood as the back/sides and top. I'm building two ukes just because I can. We haven't discussed fingerboard, bridge and binding materials so whatever he wants, I'll do the other a bit different just to give me some feedback on what different fingerboard/bridge timber will do on a soprano.

the Blackwood is a guitar set from Bob. There's enough for 3 sopranos if things work out.

[liam_fnq]

neck materials have been left up to me. I'm doing one in some nice dense New Guinea Rosewood I liberated from a bin and the other in Surian Cedar I got from the local timber merchants. Mike will get the NGR because I haven't done a Surian neck and I just want to see how it goes.

[ozziebluesman]

Good on ya Liam! Glad to see you building again. Nice Blackwood mate! That will make a very nice soprano uke. My last concert size guitar was blackwood form Bob and the set I used is very similar to what you have there. My guitar sounds good. Surian cedar! Can you tell me more about that species please?

Cheers

Alan

[John Maddison]

Good to see you back into the swing of building, Liam, and that the tropical downpours haven't dampened your enthusiasm ... one of the best things about making ukes is you don't need a lot of space .

[liam_fnq]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toona_ciliata

Surian is Australian Red Cedar but has grown in Asia. It is supposedly lighter and less strong than the Australian stuff. I'm not sure if it's a little on the weak side for a neck. One way to find out...........

[John Maddison]

I'm not sure if it's a little on the weak side for a neck. One way to find out...

Have seen some classy ukes made by Scott Wise which had Red Cedar necks. I think for Soprano scale length you're gonna be fairly safe. If unsure then maybe try a laminated neck with a thin bit of something light & longitudinally strong?

[Allen]

I can't see it being a problem for a soprano neck. At the most you are going to have 25 lbs tension on the soundboard. On that short of a neck you are going to be fine with just about anything after a fret board is glued on.

[ozziebluesman]

Sorry Liam, I just realised I asked Bob the same question about Surian. Gotta get it in my head Toona, Surian, Red Cedar all the same thing.
I have built a concert Uke with Red Cedar and it sounds good.

Cheers

Alan

[Bob Connor]

I don't know if they are the same thing Alan. At least the wood that I was given as Surian is nothing like Australian Cedar. It is much less dense, extremely light and open pored and very, very fragrant like Spanish Cedar, but is even lighter and less dense than Spanish Cedar.

I thought the stuff I had was Toona Calanta not Toona Ciliata.

Funny thing is I've used Spanish Cedar linings in the Weissy so along with the top the smell of this instrument is quite powerful.

People in different areas have different common names for some woods which is oft times confusing

[liam_fnq]

It was sold to me as Surian Cedar. God knows what the botanical name is.

It's definitely lighter than my (quite small) stash of australian cedar.

perhaps it is a different Toona

[liam_fnq]

Howdy all, just a little update on the Uke. My Xmas holidays began a few days before Xmas and I've made it my priority to get the ball rolling on this project. I was also working on the old parlour rebuild I got from Jim viewtopic.php?f=23&t=2688
I was having a bitch of a time glueing up the cracks in the old guitar's soundboard. The weather in the week leading up to Xmas was all over the place. humidity was fluctuating from 60% to 100% every few hours. I'd get a crack all glued up and the next day it was popped open. Ggggrrrrrrr.
It was Xmas eve that I cracked too. I unwrapped presents til I found my dehumidifier. Within an hour I had the spare room converted into a climate controlled ukulele building facility all the parts for the parlour guitar and two ukes sat for the night to acclimatize.
By Boxing Day I was made aware that we would be having guests on the first and so the dedicated, climate controlled uke room would be shut down. All my focus shifted to Uncle Mike's soprano uke.
I had to cut the fingerboard to size so I could taper the neck so I could carve the heel so I could fit the sides into the slots in the neck. I use a Spanish Heel and a workboard. Once the neck was ready I glued it to the top. Then the top braces and bridge patch. The two back braces were sanded to 25' then glued aswell. The sides were bent one at a time and pressed into a half outside mold. This is where I glued on the solid linings. I'd previously had trouble gluing in the front linings in the workboard scenario. With the solid linings the sides were very ridgid.
Next the tail block went in. Just a small piece of pine. I put waxed paper between the sides/tail block and the top/workboard tail black support post so I didn't glue the sides to the top or workboard. Don't ask how I knew to do this.
Next the linings were let in for the braces and the sides glued down to the top. Pre-made cedar wedges were driven into the neck slots to snug the sides against the neck-heel. The back has also been fitted into the back linings and is glued on as I type. All with 24hrs to spare before the dehumidifier is turned off and the spare room turned over to pesky guests

[John Maddison]

Nice going Liam ... what species are you using for the solid lining strips?

I can relate to an influx of visitors ... at the moment Perth is sweltering under consecutive 40 degree days, while Albany is basking in the much milder mid-20s, so just about everyone I know up there is heading south like a flock of migratory birds! Just hope the liver copes.

[liam_fnq]

woops

[jeffhigh]

Looking Great Liam,
I used Australian red cedar necks on a classical and flameco pair earlier this year.
Unreinforced and standing up fine 8 months down the track.
I'm sure the surian will be fine on the soprano

[liam_fnq]

Thanks Jeff. I'd like to use some down the track for steel strings by adding CF and truss-rod.

John, the linings are western red cedar. I bought a plank a while ago that was 1500x150x50 for $50. enough for about 30 uke tops plus a heap of bracing, linings etc. the plank was perfectly quartered and 30-40 graim lines per inch.

I bent the linings at 3mm on a hot pipe, the sides 1.8mm on the pipe too. the WRC linings were a little tougher than the blackwood sides. It may well have taken longer to bend the sides in a fox bender.

I'm having trouble resizing the rest of the photos on my computer. Nero won't open the files? I'll get one of my boffin mates to have a look when he comes round for beers later.

[John Maddison]

...I'm having trouble resizing the rest of the photos on my computer.

Liam - have you played with Irfanview? It's a nifty little photo editor, and FREE to download.

[liam_fnq]

thanks John.

[DarwinStrings]

Sounds like the parlour is giving you a hard time Liam. I would not have tried to glue those cracks back together, instead I would have lifted the back off (easy with no bindings) then applied WRC grafts no more than 1mm thick to the cracks then flipped it over and rout the cracks out down to the graft or a smidge off at about 3mm wide then glued in splints and flush them back. Hope it works out in the end for you.

Jim

[liam_fnq]

Jim, its really the humidity that is giving me the dramas rather than the parlour guitar. I removed the top because I wanted to remove the fingerboard to add a trussrod. I used the braces to make the splints I inlayed into the worst cracks as is is a perfect match.

[DarwinStrings]

Ahhh okay I get you now, bummer, better hurry up and toss your guests out of that dehumidification room

Jim

[liam_fnq]

I've got a bit of a weird house. There are only six rooms, two of those don't have sealable windows. The two bedrooms, the bathroom and the toilet can be sealed. The bedrooms are off limits as is the bathroom. I was seriously tempted to dehumidify the toilet. Tomorrow I'm off to bunnings to get so black plastic to cover the lattice door and lattice window of the laundry. The empire will be rebuilt

[liam_fnq]

It's been a little while between drinks folks. Every weekend seems to have plans lined up for me, plus a cyclone and visitors so things are running a little behind. The box is closed, bindings on, neck rough carved and I've been getting re-acquainted with Mr Scraper. The frets are in and this week I hope to dress the ends.

Soprano size dog

That's a soprano uke next to the dog not a full size jumbo

[Kim]

Looks great Liam, the fretboard...outstanding

Also it is terrific to see Townsville NQ back into lutherical action so soon after the blow.

Cheers

Kim

[Mike Thomas]

I met one of your earlier ukes today Liam. I was wandering around the Australian Wooden Boat Festival, on in Hobart at the moment, and on one of the exhibitor's tables, not looking at all out of place amongst the yachts and dinghies, was a rather nice looking ukulele. The proud owner, a chap called Peter Sutcliffe (I think) really loves it, and when I told him that I knew you personally from being on the same forum, he asked me to tell you how pleased he is to be its owner.