Mojo rising..?

The other day something happened. I got the urge to build a couple of acoustic sopranos. Didn't see that coming. 

I went to the pile and looked for wood, narrowed in on the koa and found, much to my surprise, two sets already sanded to thickness. Off we go!

One set is rather heavy with a nice figure, the other one is lighter but not as exciting in looks. 

Below is the first, getting a rosette channel. 

I'm building these to my own taste. Once they're done I'll see what happens, if I sell them or keep them. 

Getting closer to getting a result

The neck's back on, back plate and binding is in place. Time to partially re-finish the poor uke. For some reason the shellac goes on beautifully, better than usual. Which is a welcome break. 

The mahogany binding goes pop! under the first coats. 

Front edge binding with a very subtle maple line inside the mahogany. It's 0.5 mm I think. A bit more visible in real life, and it does look good. 

Body bound and neck attached

I bound the front edge, then took a deep breath and attached the neck. It went on straight. Then I glued the back back on and routed a rebate for the binding. Around the heel I had to make the rebate with a chisel, as the router wouldn't fit. 

The first two pieces went on with some careful taping and a wee clamp. As the glue dried I bent the rest of the binding. 

Here's a pic of the front, with maple and mahogany. 

And the back, with only mahogany. 

Time to mix some shellac!