Last steps on 103

Yesterday it was finally time to cross the finish line. Gathered round the uke are tuners, fishing line, bone saddle blanks and glass beads. 

I bought guitar saddle blanks that I cut down for nuts and saddles. In the pic you see the half pencil I use to dial in the height of the nut, the line shows the level of the frets. 

Then I use a ruler to lay out the outside string positions, marking them on the bridge. 

I divide the distance and use an awl to mark before drilling holes for the strings. 

My tiny drill is often known as a pin vise. But I think of it as a drill. 

I countersink the holes with a round engraving bit...

... and feed the strings through, put a bead on and tie the knot. 

That's as far as I got, photo-wise. The uke turned out great and it has a very nice voice. I'll see if I can get more pics up, or a recording. 

Finishing the koa soprano

Just a couple of pics showing tve progress. There are five or six coats on, all so far applied without oil. But the muneca starts to drag now so I'll continue using oil to lubricate. 

The figure has popped quite nicely. 

Bridge

I thought about not making the bridge until I got back to the workshop, the slot is very difficult to make without the mini table saw. But then I thought, nah I'll give it a whirl. 

I made two lines with a knife, and carefully sawed with the tiny Exacto saw down in each. 

Then with an equally tiny mortise chisel I removed the wood between the saw cuts. First bottle of beer can be seen in the background. 

After a good deal of faffing the bridge was done, the sourdough rye pot bread was as well, and the second bottle of beer was under way. 

Measuring and laying out as usual, we've covered this many times...

...and the bridge glued in place with my favourite clamps (from metmusic in New York).

Back braces, back and fretboard

Things are moving fast, I can't really keep up blogging at the same pace as I build the uke. Being at the no workshop cottage means I do everything by hand and that is a most welcome change from last year's batch building. 

In the first pic you can see the radius gauge I hastily made before going here, I couldn't bring the radius dish. So I shape the braces with a tiny plane. They're made from reclaimed wood from an old loom. 

I saw notches in the lining strips and then plane the ends of the brace to fit snugly. 

All three are done and glued in. Then I glued the back on, and by then the primitive conditions caught up with me - it went ok but was a bit stressful. I prefer my solera. 

And sitting on the porch I trimmed the edges and have sanded the body up to 600 grit. 

But I did forget something at home, my fretboard markers. So I rummaged through the cottage in search of something useful. Did I find a suitable replacement? You tell me. 

What's that I hear you grumble? Not enough saw action? Okay, have a look at the finished saws. More might follow. 

Fitting the neck

I started fitting the neck after some scraping and sanding. Close to the head I ran into some reversing grain so I had to use sandpaper more than I usually do for the final shaping. 

First I hollow out the heel a bit, with a gouge. 

And, demonstrating the versatility of the Zyliss vise, I clamped the neck carving jig with the jaws upside down and taped some sandpaper on it. Then I can drag the neck across, constantly checking the angles. Most of the hollowed out recess disappears during this stage but it being there prevents the neck from rocking. 

With low tack masking tape I mark out a centre line, which I don't have - this is a one piece top. 

And the jig I rigged up for a neck re-set a while back tells me I'm in the ball park. The jig was built for using on a neck with a fretboard but it works sort of. 

The drilling jig for the barrel nut and screw, also clamped in the vise. 

And the same jig used on the body for the matching hole. I had to enlarge this last hole a bit to get the neck perfectly aligned, but it won't matter. 

Restoring a couple of saws

Something must've happened to my local fleamarket - I've scored several quality hand tools lately. These two saws I got for just 50 kronor (4 quid or 6 dollars). The smaller one is filed for ripping and the larger is for cross cutting. 

They were rusty and the handles are grimy and a bit nasty to touch. At least the screws came out effortlessly. 

I scraped off the old finish and will use Tru-oil. The smaller one looks better and is more comfortable. 

I put the blades in vinegar over night, this was supposed to get the rust off. Scrubbing with a brass brush, I saw that it had worked. 

Then I rinsed them in the lake and scrubbed some more. 

This is were we're at, two coats of oil on the handles and a light machine oil on the blades. The etching on the smaller saw appeared but was a bit damaged by the vinegar. The saw is English, I recognized the stamp but I can't make the name out. 

What's that I hear you grumble? Not enough ukulele action? Okay, have a look at this cedar neck. More to follow, I promise. 

Vacation is here

I'm around 18 hours in so far and vacation is goooood (said in Darth Sidious voice). First a couple of pics showing where I left the body of the koa soprano, backside is contoured and fitted with kerfed lining strips.

It's gonna be a beauty. Look at the figure. 

Then we went out to the cottage, I brought tools to work on a cedar neck. (Remember the last time I worked on necks at a cottage..? http://argapa.blogspot.se/2016/07/dead-in-water.html?m=0 )

At the cottage is my larger workshop, with a big ass vise, chilly temperature and zero sea view. So I thought I'd upgrade the banjo porch with a vise to work in style. 

To attach the vise securely I put four threaded insert nuts in the deck. Three are of brass, one steel but all have the same thread. 

It's easy to think the slot at one end is for a screwdriver, but don't make that mistake - it will maul the insert and make parts snap off. Instead you should use a screw with a nut halfway up, as in the pic. 

The slot actually cuts into the wood, making the insert go down into a tight fitting hole. 

And then we use the specially enhanced hex key to screw the vise in place. What, you don't own one?

At the cottage I found some alder neck blanks as well so I'll start by planing them flat and square. Dad's no.7 will do. Or will it, he must have used it himself. Probably on some epoxy residue because the blade is shot. My Japanese whetstone is soaking as I write this.

Prepping various parts

I didn't get a pic of the actual process, as I was on my knees in front of the sander, but Johan and I got the resawn walnut down to thickness. 

We did three side pieces so we have one to break when bending, but the third back can rest in its original thickness. 

And we found some one piece spruce tops! These we didn't sand, I look forward to planing them. 

 

And that koa soprano, I sanded the sides and will glue them to the top tomorrow. 

Remember the Dust-E-Whacker..?

Bracing

It was a while since I braced a soprano top. I went with the, hopefully correct, muscle memory and it was no problem at all. I went with a spruce bridge patch but will consider hardwood patches next time because of the string through bridge I use. But spruce works, with beads above the knots. 

I deliberatly left the braces square because I enjoy shaping them in place. 

Blocking

We're enjoying a short holiday, weather's fine and it's nice and warm. We went south to the secondary cottage this morning, I brought some uke stuff. You might, as an avid reader, recognize the background - it's where I cut my hand last summer. 

In the first pic the first side is trimmed. Tiny saw, tiny bench hook, tiny square. 

Then the first side is used to transfer the line to the second piece. 

And here's the end block clamped in, neck block awaits on the step above, and I'm repeating the process for the second set of sides. 

I will post an update in a wee while, it's getting close to dinner time. 

It only takes one...

First One:

One deal gone wonky led me to questioning the whole building thing. And it wasn't the uke that came back for adjustments, it was before that. Some people are better as mates than as customers, and some are... just people. 

Building resos to sell is hard. As a small scale builder I must depend on hardware from suppliers, and the cones and coverplates are not only totally crucial for sound and playability, they are also very individual. I've compared cones from the same batch and some cones buzz, some sing and some are deadish. So from now on I won't send resos out, I'll only part with one if the recipient tries it out in my company first. 

Second One:

It only takes one kind message to lift my spirits up again. I got it last week from Darren, a short note with kind words  about this wee blog. 

It only takes one kind message, but I got two - today I got asked if I want to participate at a ukulele builders' event in the UK, running a workshop and whatnot. The remarkable Pete Howlett is at the helm and I am humbled. 

Third One:

Will it only take one koa soprano to get me back into building at regular speed? I think so, but hey - I've got two just in case. Pretty much erased all lists of prospects, these two I'll build for the fun of it. 

So tonight I bent the sides for the first. Because I've been thinking of Pete Howlett today I decided to try what I think is his method, bending on the pipe and setting the bend with the blanket. 

The koa is from... Pete Howlett. Anybody notice a theme? I left the sides at 1.8 or 1.9 mm when sanding ages ago, and bending them directly on my form with the heating blanket might give me creases at the waist, but the pipe won't. Especially since I have the spring steel bending caul to press with, a Ken Timms inspired tool. 

Sorry for the lousy pics, I will clean the bench. Soon. Here's the first side resting on the form. 

And here it is, cooking for a few minutes. 

I wish sometimes my form and blanket were wider to accommodate both side pieces at once. 

So there, in the holding mould to cool off over night. This cheered me up! Too bad it's time to go to sleep.