Chris's uke and a piccolo

This morning I put the first coats of shellac on the vise soprano. Strange piece of wood this, but it looks good and sounds really promising. 

And what here? I started on a cherry piccolo, my most common model and one I really enjoy building. I've built so many I can put them together fast and smooth. I sanded the parts last weekend, bent the sides on Tuesday night, braced the top and glued in the kerfed linings on Saturday and glued the sides to the top on Sunday. I may seem prolific at times but I spend more time cooking and doing laundry than I spend building. If only I could cut down the amount of time I waste at the office. 

And here we are tonight; on the piccolo the sides are profiled to the somewhat radical curve I like and the linings are glued around the back edge. 

The soprano then. I spent some time pumicing (but not with pumice, as avid readers of this blog know) to fill the pores, and then I put more shellac on. By now I break all the rules I've sworn by since I learned about French polishing by reading the stellar articles by the Milburn brothers. Find them at www.guitarsint.com/articles

Even though I don't follow the instructions and recipes any more I wouldn't be anywhere without those articles.