Piccolos gathering momentum

These two piccolos have been neglected the last few weeks, but now when those resos are done I'm gonna finish them. The necks were carved and sanded so this morning I attached them. I think there's at least one post about that so this is more of a report of the results. 

Speaking of repeating myself - I know I've given you this before but you can't get enough of ye olde EA Berg chisel eating away the soundboard overhang. 

And here's the same weapon slicing the heel down to the depth of the sides. 

And this is how they look. Next job is back braces, setting final neck angle and glueing the backs on. Then fret slots, fretting, bridges and tuners. Oh, and the shellac finish. 

Resos 79 and 80, done

Well gosh darn, they're all but done. Setting up resos with these coverplates is time consuming at best and frustrating at worst. 

I wish there was a way to remove only the buckle over the bridge, so I could access that for setting the action. Wait, weren't the DRC coverplates made thusly? Yes they were. If only I had gotten the six sets I ordered instead of being robbed for 500 quid! Not that I carry a grudge. Who would for three bloody years. 

Anyway, the Phils will get their resos finally! Number 79 and number 80 couldn't go to better homes or better mates. 

Some fiddling remains, and I'll have a go at a demo vid in a few days. Then it's shipping time. 

They look so good they could almost pass for the real thing, I mean ukes from a sweatshop in China. 

The mahogany is a one piece back and front, and also a one piece rim (remember the post about the two hour bending hell?). The ash is bookmatched all around. 

Fanx for looking! Don't write an email asking for a reso. 

Stringholders and coverplates

I thought to myself; it's only the nut left and we'll be rocking. But oh no, I forgot about the string holders. The coverplates that are available for me have the holes directly through the material and I don't fancy that since the strings break quite easily. 

Some might say that there are other, better, coverplates around, and even a bloke in England that spins his own cones. Well that bugger took 500 quid off my hands and promised to deliver six sets. That was three years ago.

So I make string holders and put them on coverplates I get from honest, upstanding merchants. The first pic shows the rebate I make with a tiny shoulder plane. 

Then I work on the profile with other tiny planes, here you can see a Lie Nielsen no.1 and a miniature block plane. 

I cut the profiled piece in two and shape the ends with a single cut file. 

The string holders are held in place by screws. The ones I thought would fit were long, so I put them through some scrap and sawed them off. 

Here you can see one of them from the underside of the coverplate. Before I screwed them down I also drilled holes for the strings. I want them close to the metal so the break angle is good over the saddle. 

For locating the holes I've made a see through template. There are no margins here and this is the only way I've come up with. (If the soundwell was totally exactly centered in the body I imagine this could be done with the actual coverplate, but hey - it's an Argapa. More mojo than precision.)

And this is a preview of the finished articles. Now I may think to myself; it's only the nut left and we'll be rocking. But oh no, there are a few more steps. Shaping the saddle, fastening the biscuit to the cone, making the ****** **** and putting it ** *** **** so the **** **** ****** and ******. 

The last step is the entire secret to why my resonators sound so bloody fantastic. Dead easy it is too.