Progress on many ukes

Leaning on the bending iron is Melker's tenor, in the vise soprano no.
7 is being fitted with nut and bridge, and on the table are two
piccolos in the early stages of construction. One has been fitted with
linings and has it's top glued. The other one I bent today and it has
just a neck block yet.

Bridge on soprano 7

Preparing to glue the bridge, with slip-stop brass wire.

Fretboards planed

Next to a couple of ukuleles, my minuscule planer looks quite massive.
It's not, but did a fine job planing the fingerboards today. The long
one is rosewood and the shorter one is African walnut. Both are really
goodlooking and would go nicely on both the mahogany uke and Robin's
with the cedar top. But as I suspect Robin wants rosewood I've more or
less come to the conclusion that the more neutral look would balance
the fact that three woods are visible already (mahogany, cedar and the
ash stripe).

It's not a wild mixture really, and the rosewood is quite lively as
well, but, you know, enough is enough.

Robin; we're definitely going somewhere with this one.

(Also, check out ShapeWriter app for your new iPhone. It kicks butt
when you're writing in English. You have to copy and paste and stuff,
but it's faster than doing this with the typepad. Use free version.)

Thomas' soprano

It's one step behind Robin's uke, but progress is steady. They're
similar but not identical, so it's not as nerve wrecking as when I
built the pair for Rawbert and Rockonald.

Linings in place

At least along the soundboard edge. Once I get them planar I'll start
with the tops, one cedar and one mahogany.

Blocks and linings

So one got spruce blocks and the other one got mahogany blocks. One of
them will have a cedar top, so I have to decide which one is which.

Kerfed linings are made and I glued some.

Chisel, 2

I defy anyone that doesn't get goose bumps from this pic. Shaving is
cross-grain. The resulting surface underneath smooth as a china plate.

Oh the joy of sharp tools.

Now where are those kids... School starts in 5 minutes...

Sides cut to length

Every morning I swear that I'll go to bed earlier. So no blocks
tonight. But Robin's or Thomas' sides are shaping up to be quite nice.

Must decide on wood for the blocks. On the walnut uke I used spruce.
It is easy to work with and seem to go well with mahogany too. But
mahogany blocks are elegant.

A long day

This has been the best day since I don't know when. Apart from the
stuff already posted I put the neck onto the cherry sop, and also put
back braces and the back on.

In the background you can see the three-piece wenge back for Tenor no.
4, and somewhere there's also a laminated walnut/maple neck for
Markus' pineapple.

And in the holding form are four sides for the two mahogany sopranos,
for Robin and Thomas.

Side bending

Easily my best bend ever. Zero springback, after cooling for five
minutes! This time I soaked the mahogany for 15 minutes, with a drop
of glycerine in the water.

Thickness sander upgrade II

In order to fasten the paper better, I made the groove and fitted an
aluminium profile with threaded inserts. A piece from the mini drill
press holds the drill far better than it was before.

I took some pieces down to thickness. In one hour it was as follows:
- Top, sides and back for a mahogany soprano
- Back and sides for a mahogany sop that will have a cedar top
- A one piece rim of wenge for a tenor
- Three cherry sides for piccolo ukes
- One walnut fretboard

Whew!

Mahogany soprano for Thomas (no. 7)

And here are some scrap pieces of really nice honduran mahogany being
glued to a top for Thomas at the lumber yard. He gave me a discount,
started an account, AND ordered a ukulele! I promised him it during
the autumn, so it has sort of jumped into the queue.