Finish, and a new beginning

The batch of five piccolos will get one or two more coats of tru-oil. I have a difficult time getting them shiny, more so than I thought I would from reading about it.

But underneath them, on the table, are a new set of sides for the soprano I'm making for Grant in England. The wood bent easily, but some oils came out to the surface. We'll see how it goes.

Reso full frontal

Ta-daa! Flanked by number 1 and number 29, the resonator uke looks quite big. It fits snugly in a concert case I had lying around. I felt so lucky when I noticed that.

Resonator biscuit

My best tip for those of you who build or just own a resonator uke is this: glue in a small pin in the hole under the biscuit. You're really supposed (I think) to screw it from the underside of the cone, but when adjusting height etc this arrangement makes it a whole lot easier to take it in and out.

Finishing

Outside my luxurious crib, the reso sucks up the second coat of Tru oil.

Resonator dry fit

Crikey! It lined up at first go!

I want a fretboard, I want one bad! Must make one... Must make the soundholes... Must glue the back on.

Resonator skeleton

It is sturdy. It was my impression that this was a good way of making it, but yesterday I saw on Pete Howlett's site that he has invented another and perhaps a lot better method.

Oh well. I could say "next time" I guess. But I only need one, so I'll stick with this method. It should be done quite soon, maybe some of you will see it this summer at Hollesley.

Fourth bridge

This is how I measure the location for the bridges. The clamped ruler secures it enough to drill the first two holes, where the brads go while glueing.

Stuff I made this weekend

I was at the big workshop today, and managed to get some things done. Ronald's tenor neck was stacked and sawn, the wenge neck for my reso was sanded on a belt sander - wenge is so hard to carve I just ruined some knives on it.

I also took two of the cedar neck blanks I bought from Pete to the bandsaw, and from each I got two soprano necks and one piccolo neck. I don't know for sure if I'm going to make piccolos with cedar necks, but now I got them.

Finally, I attempted to make fretboards of lilac that was cut outside my house. But it had a spongy core, and I need to measure carefully to see if I can get pieces wide enough without resorting to flatsawn boards.

Bridge blanks of alder

I had a cherry bridge lying on top of an alder piccolo yesterday. But it didn't look the part. So I'm making a blank now for two alder bridges. Alder's soft, so I'll let some superglue soak into the saddle area.

I could fashion a regular bridge with a small bone saddle, but can I be arsed? Can I hell.

Besides, the all wood bridge is part of the concept.

Soundwell bottom

The bottom ring of the soundwell is glued in this star shaped contraption.

Resonator soundwell

The laminated ring is glued to the top piece. I'll saw it to shape and cut some holes to reduce the weight. The wenge is almost resawn, I'll glue the plates tonight and maybe, just maybe, sand tomorrow.

But I have a load of piccolos crying for frets and bridges.

Argapa resonator

I leaked it on facebook, but here's the first proper post. Coverplate and cone, and other bits, from Colin Oldham of Delta Resonator Cones. And you can see the first part of the plywood skeleton. The pot/pan with the yarn around it is the inside mold for the laminated well in which the cone will be, I glue 0,4 mm plywood together. It's exciting, but I don't really know what I'm doing.