Uke Build

[needsmorecowbel]

Started this one on Friday night when a friend asked if I could make her a uke. Should have the top, back and sides down to thickness in a few weeks ready for bracing on the go bar deck. Have made one radius dish at 24' but still need one at 15' and maybe a 20' for the uke top? May i suggest that if you are in ALDI and you see the clamp set: SNAP IT UP. I think you get about 2-3 large clamps (pictured to the left of first pic) and a whole bunch of little clamps. The little clamps aren't great but the big ones are worth it for the price they look really heavy duty.





Going with satin box for the bindings and a similar piece of myrtle burl from Tim for the headstock. I'm thinking of trying a classical headstock with a sandwich of myrtle and lace sheoak and black heart but will see how it comes along. The western red cedar has been a bit of a pain to keep free of dings. All of the routing for the rosette and rosette cavity was done with the big makita 3612c . Probably going for mahogany for the neck. Few little gaps in the rosette but should sort itself out when sanded to thickness (If not there is always the left over cedar dust and some glue)

If the sides are not 100% quartersawn will this present any problems during bending?

[kiwigeo]

Photo No 3 looks interesting.......looks like something you'd find in a hotel car park after closing time.

[auscab]

Go stu

First thing I thought of when I saw pic 3 was the map of Tasmania and yep I have seen them in pub car parks too.

Nice Wood stu.

And I see you got some of those printers block things ,? Quoins ? I was wondering what the T bar was for.

[needsmorecowbel]

Cheers Rob (wait till you see the headstock veneer). The Quoins make it a breeze and for someone like myself who knows very very little about joinery they makes things run very smoothly.

[needsmorecowbel]

Martin I only visit reputable Hotels hahaha

[Allen]

Blackheat Sass will bend like limp pasta. Your biggest problem with it will be spring back. The stuff just wants go straighten out with any bit of heat adjacent to an already bent area. Also will straighten out almost completely if you leave it on your bench in Cairns during the summer. Just ask me how I know.

On a uke the radius needs to be more than what you would think for both the back and top. Small body equates to very little dome as compared to a guitar. I use 15' on the entire back and what would be probably 12' in the lower bout on the top plate. I build on a work board with just a dish carved out in that area so it's not easy to determine exact radius in that area.

[needsmorecowbel]

Thanks Allen! looks like today will be filled with making radius dishes. Do you find that you use the 12' for anything other than ukes? Just thinking I could make a mini dish and save some time.

[needsmorecowbel]

Sorry Allen I misread your post. That is an interesting idea. Is there any other radius on the top other than at that area on the lower bout?

[auscab]

Stu,
With all this dishing , and if you like tool shopping ,a good tool for the job is the Stanley 113 compass plane.
They turn up on ebay for between $120 to $200. I did the front and back dishes for my first build with one. With a curve ground in the blade as well as the curve in the sole they eat through MDF or as in my picture Masonite beautifully .
I routed a center point out first to the exact depth first and planed till I almost got to that depth and at the same time out to the pencil line at the edge. From there I went with sand paper.
For just a small one off you probably don't need it , something to think about though

[Allen]

No Stu. The top is flat from the lower transverse brace through to the neck.

I just scooped out the area of the lower bout starting at the bridge position down about 2mm on a concert and up to 3mm on a baritone. Then it's tapered out to flat where the linings will sit.

[needsmorecowbel]

Thanks Allen!

[kiwigeo]

Thanks Allen!

I do the same on my classical workboards.

[Kim]

.......... Talk about shock'n the bjeezus out of a man Rob....First glance at the chocolate coloured shavings in that image and I thought you had gone berserk'n compass planed ur way right through a set of spruce and then on into the top of ur freak'in mahogany table.

Cheers

Kim

[P Bill]

Stu,
With all this dishing , and if you like tool shopping ,a good tool for the job is the Stanley 113 compass plane.
They turn up on ebay for between $120 to $200. I did the front and back dishes for my first build with one. With a curve ground in the blade as well as the curve in the sole they eat through MDF or as in my picture Masonite beautifully .
I routed a center point out first to the exact depth first and planed till I almost got to that depth and at the same time out to the pencil line at the edge. From there I went with sand paper.
For just a small one off you probably don't need it , something to think about though

Rob that is the same model I have. The beauty of the compass plane is when the desired radius is reached the plane stops cutting. In the past I've used it to make patterns for the router and spindle. Lately it's been used upside down in a vise to fit tone bars in mandos, set larger than needed because the bars aren't a constant radius.

[needsmorecowbel]

That looks like a really cool plane Rob but for the moment planes seem to hate me. Spent a good few hours doing some shooting yesterday (when I had no issues the other day). Ended up chasing joins that got nowhere. Plane blades definitely need a sharpen.

[Allen]

If the plane blade isn't ridiculously sharp you will never achieve great and easy results when shooting a edge.