Heaps of progress

I found some time between the larger projects, couldn’t decide if I should concentrate on the acoustic or the reso so I did both. Below there are pics of different stuff that got done, no clear narrative in this post but I will describe what’s in each pic. 

That can also be necessary as there is clutter on the bench in the background. 

When last we met the sides were glued to the top, like so. 

So I started on the necks, marking out the taper and ripping them down with my Pax ripsaw. 

A mock-up with the neck, just pinching it together. 

Then it was more or less time to prepare the top for the resonator. I have small acrylic templates that fall into the cutouts in the reso skeleton to mark out the exact positions of the center holes for the three different larger holes in the top. 

And that only works if the top is locked into position, I fix that with bits of kerfing superglued around the body. 

Without taking pics, I cut the holes and glued in the mesh for the soundports. 

The top was a wee bit narrow so I had already decided to bind it. That in turn made me finally rig the routing jig up. It’s a piece of kit from Stewmac that I bought second hand. First time and it went very well!

I’ll use tortoloid binding so a lighter strip inside will help with the transparent bits, I glued in a thin maple veneer strip with wood glue. The tortoloid webt in using acetone. 

And between other jobs I started carving the mahogany neck for the acoustic. This is still my favourite part of building. 

The reso gets a cedar neck, and I managed to get that in place today before I needed to dash out for a couple of errands. 

Kerfed linings, sides glued to top

The acoustic soprano took a wee stumble forward recently. I dug out the lining strips bought from Stewmac and fitted the sides with them. 

Then I levelled it all on my thick alumINium plate. The sandpaper must’ve been stuck to it for 10 or 12 years but still works fine. 

And then, on the multi-solera, the sides were glued to the top. No fuss, no drama. Just a wee stumble forward. 

Resawing shelves, continued

Back at the cottage with some time to spare, so I soldiered on with the kerfing plane. In this pic you can see the mini bench or table vise from Sjöbergs, makers of the fantastic workbenches. I have it mounted on the veranda with machine screw inserts so it fairly rigid, at least as rigid as the quite rickety house. 

One more pic to show you the surroundings. Even in bleak November weather, there is no place as beautiful as this archipelago. 



To make the kerfs in the ends of the board I needed a bigger vise so I relocated to the workshop where my bench and shopmade wooden vise resides. 



Once the board was slotted all around I enlisted my wife Ann to help me wrangle the humongous frame saw. It rips like crazy, and works especially well in dry mahogany. Walnut and cherry tend to steer the blade with the longer fibers but today the blade followed the kerfs just as intended. 



And the first slice is off the board. It took us around 40 minutes and we are still married so I count that as a total success. Maybe we’ll attack the next slice tomorrow, after hunting seafowl in the morning. 

Fret work

Hi there! This’ll be a shorter post because I didn’t take enough pictures for a longer one. I am getting close to the final steps (wait I just remembered the stringholders, crikey) and tonight it was time to shape the fret ends and check that they’re all level. 

First pic is my wee array of files. From the top:

- Hosco crowning file for smaller fret wire sizes. This one is ok but it has regular file grooves and can produce some ”chatter”. Then the file jumps a bit and gives me grooves in the top of the fret. I can reduce the risk by holding the neck in a vise, and lubricating the file by rubbing a piece from a candle in the the scallop. 

- New fancy pants Z-file from Stewmac. I bought this used and would maybe have preferred the offset one. This is centered. It has a diamond coating in the scallop and that makes it much less prone to chatter. I haven’t used it much yet but I like it. 

- The fret end dressing file, also from Stewmac. This is a great tool and fairly easy to use. I haven’t messed up the edge of a fingerboard in a long time. 

- Three corner file with smooth ground corners. Also from Stewmac. This is akin to a traditional tool, the ad said and I reached for my wallet. I really like it because I can use it on different sizes of fret wire. And it’s based on a traditional tool. Like, an old one. When luthiers - sorry, I’ll get on with it. 

I dress the sharp fret ends with a few strokes. The trick is to start with the file in the corner between the fret and the fingerboard, then pushing it forward and rolling it over towards the top at the same time. You don’t want to push it in the corner, you run the risk of marring the wood even though the edge of the file is ground smooth. The other edge of the file is flat, also smooth but you get two sharp corners. I use these for the final, very careful stroke right where the wire meets the wood. 



I rub the ends with a fine grit emery cloth and finish by rubbing that cloth along the frets to polish them. 

Happy new year etc, and updates

Fanx to all of you who’s been reading the blog, getting in touch and over all supported me and the beast that is Argapa ukuleles during 2020. Apart from some stuff it’s been a great year. 

The first pic shows me dividing the distance between two points in four, I wanted the string guiding tube and the tuners to be equidistant. I failed for some reason despite the divider, but the tuners got correct in relation to each other. 

The tuner holes are angled, thanks to my super jig. Looking like scrap wood (it is scrap wood) it tends to get lost among pieces of scrap wood. But I found it. 



Then my Record shoulder plane was enrolled for making the bridge. When in doubt, use a larger plane. 



I had to leave the workshop to be with my family, it was after all Christmas Eve, but I brought glue and clamps and fixed the bridge in the living room. 



And the shellac then. It has hardened and I gave it a quick rub with fine steel wool to remove swirl marks and blend it all together. Once I’m happy with the satin look I reach for my Festool ROS...



... and get working with polishing compounds. Different foam pads give radically different results. I suspect a person could learn quite a lot about lacquer, sanding and buffing. If said person could be, you know, arsed. 



Happy new year! Nothing new will happen with Argapa ukuleles. And that’s the point. 

Bridge and some polishing

I said in the last post that I made the bridge for the soprano. I chose a piece of ipé from that floor board sample from Buenos Aires, and went to town on the wee table saw. 

Setting the distance with a wooden ruler clamped to the neck, then low tack masking tape at the front and back edge of the bridge. 

And with the ruler next to the fretboard edge I draw lines that will aid me in positioning the bridge sideways. 



I use a piece of guitar string through two miniscule holes through the saddle slot and the top to stop things from sliding out of position. I didn’t take a pic of shaping the bottom of the bridge to match the curvature of the top, but I did that with a scraper. 

Do keep in mind the lack lustre appearance of the mahogany so far, if you grab the opportunity to despair now you’ll get a bit of a rush at the end of this post. 



And here’s a pic of the gang after tvree or four coats of shellac. Those first coats I apply quite liberalky without oil, they’ll form the base for the polishing later. How much later? Well the next pic maybe. 

This morning I started polishing with oil. I use walnut oil because I read somewhere that it dries. My tests of its drying properties have bern inconclusive at best, but for lubricating the pad it works really well. The other obvious choice is olive oil and I know for sure that won’t dry. 

And here’s Li’s soprano. That mahogany is very special. Still from the boards my dad bought in the 1960’s. 

Getting there

We’re running out of stuff left to be done, what a relief. I won’t get the resos out before christmas I’m afraid, but not very long after. 

First pic shows my cheap skate version of the really nice fret press pliers that Stewmac sells. With it stuck in the vise I can get the frets in quite consistently. 

And when all frets were in on all three fretboards, I glued them on. Here’s the tenor getting its walnut fretboard, the soprano clamping caul worked for the last fourteen frets, obvs. 

Today I spent some time sanding and scraping. Small nooks need small scrapers, this one and a few others I made from a spent Japanese saw blade. The first coat of finish will mercilessly show all the flaws you miss so it’s a good idea to do this carefully. 

Not that flaws will be totally absent. It’ll be others than I think, that’s all. 

And here they are (were). Ready for finish... until I remembered the acoustic one needed a bridge. Oh well, the resos were ready for finish at least. 

And can you see I tidied the bench?

But were they ready for finish? Nah, pilot holes for the tuners are great for hanging them during the finishing process so I quickly drilled those. 

And here we go, let’s get some bug poo on these guys. The alder really comes to life, going from pale to a lustruous honey colour. The cherry in the necks goes from drab to drama too. I will show you more after a few more coats. 

And while they were drying I started on that bridge. But that’s something for next post I think. 

Fretboards

I picked out ebony fretboards for the Li’s soprano and the soprano reso. The tenor reso gets a walnut fretboard. There were some scratches from the drum sander so I hit them with the Mirka vacuum sanding pad. 

Then I planed the edges with my Stanley no.6. This is important as it must fit along the edge of the template and be snug in the jig. 

And forget about double-stick tape. Last time I used it it messed up the surface of the template and the goo is still there. Now all cool luthiers are using the masking tape and superglue trick. Matching strips of tape on the piece and the jig, rub them down with something hard (most often the base of the glue bottle), then some drops of glue on one part and a shot of the accelerator spray on the other. Press together and it sticks stronger than double-stick tape and won’t leave sticky residue. 

The fret saw jig takes less than two hours to set up, but not way less. It was quite expensive and it’s cumbersome to use, and right after I bought it they made an upgraded version with roller bearings and thumb screw adjustments. I like the template but it needs two small strips of thin plywood wedged in to keep the setup rigid. You can see a strip in the top corner. 

So all things considered, not a great piece of kit I’m afraid. 

Doing the actual sawing takes 10 minutes. 

And speaking of fretboards - it’s no good keeping a bunch of faulty ones taking up space in the workshop. I got these from a well meaning dude in Italy six years ago, he’d bought them from a supplier but found the scale length to be shorter than what he wanted. So he sent them to me as I was dabbling with piccolos. But sadly they were crap, the frets were placed all wonky. 

So I put them to better use this weekend... 

... and grilled a side of ribs from a deer I bagged last week. 

Glueing and trimming (without a power router)

It was time to glue the back onto the soprano. After the braces were glued in I rubbed the whole assembly in the radius dish to get everything even. I chose to exaggerate the curve a bit so it’s more dramatic from end to end than it is from side to side. 

And the clamping strips. This setup works really well. Since it is a one piece back I didn’t bother with those small blocks to prevent slipping. No centre line to mess up this time. There are other advantages to one piece backs and soundboards of course, such as less work in preparing them and far better looks. 

The next day I started trimming the back to be flush with the rim. And what fun I had - a sharp Mora knife with its scandi-grind bevel takes an aggressive bite but lets me control the cut all the way through. 

Here it is on the alder reso, cutting off large sections in no time. 

And the pine reso. I mean, look at those curly chips. You see why this post devolved into what it became.