Necks are on!

Necks are glued, bolted and awaiting final shaping together with the
sides. The heel will be flush with the heel block, and the back will
extend over it.

Maybe I'll bring one to show Robban and Ronald this afternoon.

Edit: sort of a Freudian slip to put them next to my three-year-olds Pippi umbrella. How will the ukulele ever gain respect if the connection with kids and toys never ends?!

Wood for tenor number 3

So I've picked some wood out for a tenor for Jukka. Mahogany neck,
back and sides, and a spruce top. If I get enough time for practice,
then maybe maybe I'll throw in some binding.

But that would mean building jigs, router attachments and all sorts of
stuff. I have to think about it.

Last linings installed

This morning I glued the last of the eight strips. I will continue
with shaping the back radius, and then the neck will be put on. I made
the back radius on the other one last night, maybe it shows in my next
post.

Necks, and thoughts on building a pair

There are advantages. I know there are advantages. There has to be at
least some advantages...

But next time I won't build two ukuleles that are similar, not at the
same time. Without jigs and dedicated routers it sometimes feels very
strange to repeat the exact same tasks when you've finished them on
one uke.

Oh well, I'll stick with the plan. It will be great to string them up
at the same time!

On the pic the necks lie on the Dust-E-Whacker. Roughly shaped. Now
it's too late to thickness-sand the back of the headstocks. Tomorrow...

Sides glued

Both soundboards have their sides on. If I do things like last time
the necks are next, after some arching of the bottom of the sides.
Back braces will be put in place before the backs.

Glueing the other one

And the other one as well. Everyone knows you can't have to many
clamps, but doing it this way works really well with just seven.
Surfaces are flat, the lined sides really steady, and the plywood
solera sticking out from the bench is super. Thanks Pete Howlett for
the video.

Forgot to mention, braces are spruce, patch mahogany.

Leaving for Vienna on sunday. Maybe I'll get something done before then.

Big thanks for reading!

Soundboards braced

Managed to put braces and bridge patches on today. And then I glued
the first one to a set of sides.

Rough cut soundboards

Cut the soundboards out with a knife, tried for a while to alter a
compass to a hole-cutter - but ended up drilling 30 or 40 small holes
instead. Next will be bracing.

And I have a tenor to consider... It will most likely have a one piece
spruce top, and the rest will be mahogany.

Dust-E-Whacker!

Of course this might be an answer for a question noone asked, but
after sanding the linings to be flush with the sides I had to do
something about the dust covering me and my shop.

So here's the solution this far: a box with a really stable top made
from a laminate (that looks like wood...) clad with sandpaper. Between
the strips are holes through the top, and the shop vac is connected
through a hole in one of the walls.

Preliminary tests says it's a winner - the sawdust disappears
magically even when the vac is at a really low and almost quiet setting.

And as you also see, both sides have been fitted with blocks and top-
side linings.