Traveller mk II completed

Of course I use the regular wooden violin pegs for the traveller, but the geometry makes it a bit different. The pegs need to be both thinner and longer to work, you’ll see why in a bit. 

To get them to a consistent taper I use the peg shaper, an advanced sharpener not unlike those for pencils. In this case I went further to get them thinner too. 

And why do I need them thin then. It’s because of my reamer, to get a larger hole it would need to go further in and it can’t of course, the width of the soundbox prevents that. I could cut my reamer off but don’t want to mess with an expensive tool. 



Here they are, the pegs. Before I cut them to length. To the right is the carbon fibre tube that guides the strings. It’s not perfectly perpendicular to the sides. I guess it’s true then, only Allah can achieve perfection. 



Here it is next to the OG, number 102. This new one is number 105, I really should pick up the pace. You can see the extra bit at the nut end, it really does help and makes it a lit easier to play first position chords (which means playing at all in my case).



And from the back. If I ever build another I will make the recess first, then cut the board to length and width. I must remember that. 

As it wasn’t ever touched with sandpaper I included the code ZS for zero sanding. This uke will be for sale at or after MUMF in May. 

Travel uke mk II, cont.

Worked on two different ukes in parallel yesterday, but will again limit the blogging to just the travel uke. 

First pic shows the carved neck. It was very different to carve one without heel and headstock; and not easier. For some reason the end was hard to get straight so I was glad I hadn’t cut it to length before carving. And I decided to keep it as a zero sanding project, all surfaces shaped with blades.

... which of course made it hard to finish the surfaces on the inside. But scrapers got me quite close. The soundboard ended up being 1.5 - 1.7 mm. 



Then I cut the neck to length. Keeping a few centimeters above the zero fret was my main incentive for building this, so I hope I kept enough. 



Carving the end grain with a sharp knife gives it a glassy surface I’d never get with sandpaper. Others might of course, I just never developed the patience needed for going through the grits up to several thousands. 



Here I’m cutting off the aris along the neck edge with another knife, leaving a minute chamfer. The difference is hardly seen but instantly felt. 

Then sawing the fret slots. This is where I worked on another piccolo as well, and I took some pics of installing the fret markers on that. But that’ll be in another post. 

Looking at the thin wall of end grain wood at the butt I was worried it was weak. It was too uneven to glue in a piece of veneer so I sealed the outside with shellac and poured in some superglue on the inside. Maybe it’ll help. 



Here it is, fretted. And the other uke as well, the all mahogany piccolo. I continued by planing a tiny bridge for the traveller, 5 mm high to give me 2.5 mm clearance above the 12th fret. 



The bridge and the string through holes. I lined the holes with lengths of brass tube, or shorts really. It was very very fiddly - they’re only as long as the soundboard is thick!



And the holes at the nut end, or zero fret in this case. These holes go through the neck at angles, I got three of them right and the fourth right-ish. 

To finish this one I only need to install the carbon fibre tube and the tuners, then some more shellac. 

Travel uke mark II

I have quite a lot to show you*, but to keep it relatively logical I’ll limit this post to one project. A project I foolhardily started today. 

I thought I should bring my Argapa Fugly Wanderer to the MUMF do in Wales, but if all I bring are ukes in my possession that means it would be prototypes of varying degree of success. For example, as I played my travel uke the other day it was obvious it’s too short at the nut end. So wanting to show a decent travel uke in May I have no option but to build another. 

I found a slab of cherry. 

I roughed it down with my no.4 Stanley, the one I’ve set up as a scrub plane. Maybe I should widen its mouth some, and let the transmogrification be permanent. 

In the pic you can see the characteristic undulating surface the heavily cambered blade leaves. 



After smoothing it out lengthwise with a no.5 jack plane I checked the surface with some makeshift winding sticks. 



Then I ripped it to width to get the outside contour in order. 



I took the neck down to its tapering width, checking it with the fret slotting template and a ruler to see where the bridge will end up. 

Through all this I protected the upper face with cork linings in the vise. It’s too easy to mar the surface. Don’t ask me how I know. 

Then I flipped it over and started hogging out the wood that’s not supposed to be there. It went slower than I remember from last time, but I didn’t want to faff around with a drill.  

Halfway down I started thinking about a drill. Here’s my Record router plane doing its best. 

* I’m not sure I have any readers but addressing a bunch, imaginary or not, makes me feel more sane.