Lien-Thanh's Blog: Making an Ukulele #2

Nov 1, 2018. Day 1. 30 min.

1. Choosing the type of wood

Vietnamese Rosewood - Before and After Sanding.

All 4 Pieces of Rosewood After Sanding - so pretty!

Nov 6, 2018. Day 2. 1 hour. (Total 1.5 hours).

1. Choosing the specific pieces of wood.

I decided on just one piece of wood for the back, so that it would show off the interesting irregular pattern/colors of the Rosewood. (This is different to last time when I "bookmatched" two pieces of wood, so they mirrored each other to create a symmetrical appearance).

Rosewood sides, Spruce top, and Rosewood back

Nov 11, 2018. Day 3. 3 hours. (Total 4.5 hours).

1. Curling the sides.

Heating/shaping the sides.

Placing the sides in a mold.

2. Tracing the top/bottom.

Tracing the top

Tracing the bottom

3. Making braces.

Getting my materials ready.

Shaping the braces.

4. Creating a rosette.

I decided to use the rosewood to make a rosette.

Aaron, one of the ukulele-makers, made this rosette for me.

Nov 11, 2018. Day 4. 4 hours. (Total 8.5 hours).

1. Attaching the sides together.

I glued/clamped the sides to little blocks of wood.

2. Attaching Kerfing linings.

Shaping the Kerfing.

Clamping the Kerfing into place.

3. Creating the neck.

I chose Purple Heart wood for the head/neck. My ukulele teacher Mike added a piece of mahogany down the middle to make it lighter, since Purple Heart is so heavy.

Nov 29, 2018. Day 5. 3.5 hours. (Total 12 hours).

1. Finishing Kerfing on the other side

More kerfing clamps

2. Finishing touches to the bracing and shaping the head/neck.

Taking Measurements

Getting ready to put it all together.

Dec 4, 2018. Day 6. 3.5 hours. (Total 15.5 hours).

1. Attaching the bracing to the top

Funny braces

2. Attaching the top to the body.

Starting to become 3D.

Dec 22, 2018. Day 7. 3.5 hours. (Total 19 hours).
1. Finishing shaping and attaching braces.

Bottom braces

Looking like an ukulele from the front

Jan 17, 2019. Day 8. 3.5 hours. (Total 22.5 hours).
1. Attaching the back

Finally an ukulele with all 4 sides

2. Adding the sticker

My logo

Logo inside the ukulele.

3. Starting to shape the fretboard and bridge.

Measurements

Cutting it down to size.

4. Attaching binding.

Binding on the front.

Sophie the workshop dog.

Jan 22, 2019. Day 9. 3.5 hours. (Total 26 hours).
1. Adding binding to the back.

More binding

2. Fretboard work

Measuring/attaching

Shaping the end

3. Fancier logo!

Mike decided to do a fancier version of my logo using this special saw

He's cutting holes in it and fill it with different colors of wood.

We'll see how it turns out in the end!

Feb 19, 2019. Day 10. 3 hours. (Total 29 hours).

1. Making the fretboard

Hammering in and sanding down the frets

Mike added the dots to the fretboards

Front of ukulele

Lunch with the group

Apr 2, 2019. Day 11. 4 hours. (Total 33 hours).

1. Cut/sanded the binding so it lay flat, and sanded the entire ukulele.

Back

Front

2. Measured out the peg hole locations.

Head

Apr 16, 2019. Day 12. 4 hours. (Total 37 hours).

1. Added Pegs

I decided to make a 6 stringed instrument

2. Shaped the bridge

Adding the holes

Sanding down the center pieces

Shaping the bridge

End of Day 12

May 28, 2019. Day 13. 4 hours. (Total 41 hours).

Today was a lot of final touches: filling any tiny gaps between binding and wood with glue, adding an end cap to the neck, and lots and lots of sanding.

Neck before end cap

Adding an endcap

Neck after end cap. I'm not completely thrilled with its appearance, but I do like that it's smooth and doesn't have a gap anymore.

June 6, 2019. Day 14. 4 hours. (Total 45 hours).
Lots of final gluing and sanding today. I taped up the bridge and fretboard to get it ready for lacquer.

Front

Back

Left Side

Right Side

June 18, 2019. Day 15. 4 hours. (Total 49 hours).
Mike lacquered the ukulele. I used dry wool to remove to orange peel texture, and then wet sanded the ukulele to 1200.