building ukuleles

A few things on the go this week.

12" walnut banjo

Ive started cutting the area at the back of the headstock on my personal 12" banjo. this will be for the back strap. 

Also been getting everything lined up for size. Next is to cut a slot for the truss rod. Im thiking of trying out a carbon fibre non adjustable.

Mahogany soprano ukulele

Ive had some mahogany panels that i rescued from an old Edwardian wardrobe kicking about for a couple of years. Id always planned on making a couple of uke from them. This week i finally got started.

These are the side ribs bent using my home made bending iron (It works!). I definately need more practice at this.

The bend at the waist has  few creases which im hoping i can remove by sanding and scraping - being careful not to make the timber too thin. It was particularly tricky as i designed quite a narrow waist which i thought looked nice without considering the build practicalities.

Also this join could be a bit neater. but i can hide this with an infill using the same material that will be used for the binding.

Fitting some tulip wood kerfing also trickier than expected due to the tight curve of the waist.

New timber

A couple of week ago i came across some London plane that had been chopped down by the council... so i helped myself to a few logs.

Once quarter-sawn than planed they will be stored for a couple of years to season then used on future ukulele. Hopefully by then my building technique will be much better

 

Quater-sawn London plane reveals a very nice "lace wood" figure. Its also a very good tone wood so hopefully these are going to be some pretty sweet ukes.