Videos of number 75, and a few others

I sat down yesterday and made a demo of the recently finished koa concert, number 75.

And then later I grabbed a few more ukes and made this:

They might go in and out of tune but hopefully you can hear the differences, which were quite big at least in the sofa. My boy Johan was very excited and I might start using his newly fangled words next time I describe differences in sound!

Demo of the koa concert

Bridge glued on

The koa concert is soon done. I woke up quite early today and started rubbing out the finish, then I fitted the Peghed tuners, and then it was sort of just the bridge left.

Now I'm in a real hurry!

Saturday night action

After the kids had gone to bed I whipped out the shellac and muneca, the bending iron, and Robert's baritone. So look at the pics, in the first you can see the concert half way through the french polishing process. To the right in the photo you see Patsy's mahogany sides bent and put into the piccolo mould.

Second pic shows the baritone which had a loose brace end. I was going to sand the old glue away with a piece of sandpaper in the gap, but the whole brace fell out. That was so much better because I could then plane a new surface and glue it in again.

But..! What of the two latest resos that were in progress?! I know you were wondering. Look at the last photo, both tops are glued to their respective skeleton. This way of doing it saves clamps, and I really want them to move on side by side. (But maybe I just wanted to take a funny picture.)

Koa concert getting there

I think I'll make a cherry bridge to match the headstock overlay. Or maybe an ebony bridge to match the fretboard. 

Then it's just sanding, scraping and finishing! And a few other steps, of course. 

Fretting / fretboarding

The new clamping setup (even further improved by chucking it in a vise) was so successful and quick this time I missed the Kodak moment when the frets sunk in. But I rapped the ends down into the slots first, leaving the wire in a shallow arch over the board. This is ebony and not really a team player so with only one end in the slot the wire wanted to roll over. And I've heard that this approach forces the barbs sideways, thus securing the fret better.

Then I filed the ends off and turned to the next stage, sanding the edges. And this is a first (about bloody well time innit): I clamped the board against a piece of maple so it stayed straight. After fretting there's a backbow leading to uneven sanding results - typically the ends get more in contact with the abrasive and the edges get a curve. But never again.

I take the fretboard down to a red hair's width less than the neck. Then I can sneak up with a scraper to the neck and get a perfect fit along the edge.

Last pic, clamping with surgical tubing. And a few clamps. Wrapping minmizes slipping but I put some brads in the neck as well. Two staples from a staple gun, nip off the middle parts and you have four points to press your fretboard onto.

New screws - glueing back with upgraded solera

I assembled the long screws with wingnuts and the extra long nuts and put them on the carriage bolts holding the supports.

Then I stared blankly at the whole setup for a while. Until I remembered some thin basswood pieces that was left over from the inserts for the solera, how fitting! I cut slots and tried them on.

The last pic shows the back being held down. I added some gobars between the strips, I'll fix a caul for the entire edge at some point. But for now, I'm really happy with this.

Neck carved, sides shaped

I put in the kerfed lining strips this morning and tonight I shaped the contour of the sides in the radius dish.

Then I carved the neck. I cut a groove in it the other day and epoxied in a carbon fibre rod as reinforcement so I can make it pretty thin.

So I carved away. And guess what I found? A bloody worm hole! But I've got my sales pitch sorted: "why would I use wood that's so bad not even the worms would eat it?"

Shaping braces on the koa concert

This is the third concert I build, without doubt the rarest of Argapa models. So there are no rules or truths yet, just me guessing and using whatever feeling or instincts I've developed during my almost five years as a hobby builder.

The pic shows the braces and bars about halfway done. I'd almost forgot my larger Ibex plane, and the wooden brace place. Both came in very handy and I can see myself avoiding some nasty cuts in the next softwood top I make - I'll just have to remember to use these planes instead of some more square ones.

Progress on some of the current builds

I have a lot on the bench. I count two resos, one concert and three piccolos. One of which is a custom model, not my standard cherry job.

Tonight's pics show:

- The braces and the bridge patch on the koa concert in the go-bar deck

- The old mahogany and the ancient spruce for mr. Monteleone's piccolo

- A reso body. It's clad with wood on the sides, and I need to trim that flush with the top and bottom. I forgot to run it through the drum sander the other night, and I never grasped the concept of flush trimming with a router. So planing it is... But maybe I'll roll out the sander again. Even if it's cumbersome and noisy.

Last weeks going-ons

Since I bent those sides on monday morning, I've done a bit more. The Argapa soprano no. 1 excluded of course, it's just there for some measuring.

From left: the koa concert top with its nifty rosette, a piccolo neck, a piccolo top braced and with the rim glued on.

And then the major effort, the resonator sides are glued to the plywood skeletons. This is very very fiddly to get right with the bookmatched butt and the waist going into the curve of the plywood parts. But making the sides in two halves is a lot easier than making one-piece rims for these. I've done that a couple of times and swore a lot.

And to the right is a couple of neck blanks of ash and mahogany for the resos.

Brand new best day EVVAH!

This is post number...


666.


So there. And how fitting that I'm going to see Slayer live tonight here in Stockholm. Won't be the same without Jeff Hanneman of course but I won't quit if Kerry and Tom won't.

In the pic I put their epic live album from 1991, a Lego incarnation of Motörhead (made by Johan), and an angry monkey.

You can also see half of my rosette circle cutter wot I bought from Micheal Connor in Australia, a beautiful and well made tool.

And yesterday I did make my first rosette, of cherry and mahogany inlaid in the top for the koa concert. Seems of minor importance compared to the show tonight.

And the post number.

Which is...


666.

I've bent sides!

Fired up the electrical hot pipe and made these: two one piece rims for piccolos, one set of sides for a koa concert uke, and sides for two redonators of ash and English walnut respectively.

The resos are spoken for, one of the piccolos is too. But the koa concert I just felt like making. The wood came from Pete Howlett (all my koa did) and I was going to make a soprano but changed my mind. Maybe someone wants it.

I have gotten a lot better at hand bending. The piccolo rims take me just under ten minutes to make. One of the tricks was (of course) to wait until the pipe is, well, piping hot.

Also a big welcome to my new follower Jim!

Concerts done

What the... they're done! Strung up and labelled. And they've met their tiny ancestor. I have a fret to look at, and one of the pegs need some soap.

Before I send them I would like someone to play them for me. But soon they'll be on their way to Ben and Brian.

Finishing concerts, fretboard of juniper

Now how shiny does a uke have to be? If the answer is "glossy", "shiny" or even "rather smooth please", then consider calling someone else. These concerts will sound great, they'll be a pleasure to play and handle. But pores, tool marks and other character marks will make me deduct some.

It usually works like this: I know the price for the ideal uke of each size and configuration. When I'm done building I compare the result to that ideal, and the price drops with every flaw I find. Even though some of the flaws only will be apparent to me.

Then, the next pic. My koa soprano got a juniper fretboard with bar frets. Proper Argapa. Might be so much Argapa spirit it stays with me.

And some one piece tops and backs for piccolos. I got them sanded during the weekend and I'm a-gonna start making them.

First layer of oil on the concerts, and a go-bar deck!

And guess who finally learned to post two pics at once?! It only took four years.
So. The small bridges are on. The string through method lets me keep the footprint down, and therefore also the weight.

I chose tru-oil this time, I tend to avoid shellac every time I work on more than one uke. I don't think I could get equal results on two or more.


But tru-oil is at least as good. The first coat is also very satisfying, as the colour darkens so much.


Then on to the next topic. My workboard for different soleras is almost done, small refinements are made as I go along. I've decided to make a soprano to test it. It's koa, but second grade. And as it is a first for the new method I guess I'll have to keep it.

I made a go-bar deck that is mounted on threaded rods, and you can see the bridge patch being pressed down into the solera's dish, taking care of the domed shape of the soundboard.

I'm excited. But who wouldn't be?

Bridge / bridges

Looking sharp! Just the right width.

Bridge blank

This chunk of rosewood comes from the same board that gave me tje fretboards, so the bridges will be a good match. It's raw and irregular in shape, but some time spent with the low angle block plane gives smooth and parallel surfaces.

The light coloured sap wood won't be around in the finished bridges.

Fretboards cut, planed and fretted

Now I just need to file the ends smooth and glue them on.

Bridges will be of matching rosewood.

Backs are on, merry christmas

Both concerts got a one piece back, which is now trimmed flush to the sides. Tomorrow I'll try to sand a bit and choose wood for the fretboards.