Thread: Ukulele build

Made a pair of radius dishes today, worked out well I think overall diameter of 550mm not really sure what the radius is, just eyeballed it. One will be lined with sandpaper and the other will be for laying up the soundboard and back. Next up is a go-bar deck.

A bit more work on one of the ukuleles, soundboard has an f hole in it now. This one will have a 4 string coil pickup in it once done. The other will be a normal sound hole acoustic.



I also built a better router base for the Dremel, nice and solid!

Now I can do a better job of rosettes!

Some slow progress on this ukulele. Glued up a couple of necks, Claret Ash and Tasmanian Myrtle. Added a little detail to the rear end. Made a surround for the pickup and started shaping the bridge, not that convinced with the shape of the bridge so will have another go at it tomorrow.

Looking good there Cal. I agree with you on the bridge shape. It kinda takes the eye away from the lovely wood on the top. Perhaps something a bit more traditional.
Regards
John

Interesting...

What scale?

Where are you going to get steel strings for it?

Thanks John, slow and steady I guess! Yep, not sure what to do about the bridge as it will have a tail piece due to my concern of string tension I am wondering if it could have a mandolin style of bridge?

Cliff, good question! Any suggestions welcomed, I was hoping to get away with a light gauge set from a guitar and choose what ever will tune up to gCEA but I don’t know. Scale length is 21” which is more baritone uke size which also means it should be tuned DGBE, I guess I could capo it??

I have been shaping the neck today, still have a bit of work to do on the heel.

You can string a Bari so you can tune it GCEA.

D'Addario are the only brand I know of that will sell individual steel strings.

For a 21" scale tuned GCEA, try NW020, PL013, PL010, PL007.
The PL007 will be fragile.

If you want gCEA then try a PL008 for the high g.
The PL008 will also be fragile.

For a 21" scale tuned DGBE, try NW030, PL020, (or NW020) PL013, PL010.
The Solid plain G string will be a brute & won't last long before it sounds sour, the Wound G will last a bit longer before sounding 'off.'
If you want something quick to get started with, try a set of Martin MSP4000 10-46 SP Phosphor Bronze with a wound G string.
Just chuck away the 2 bass strings. (Our use them on a Cigar Box Guitar)
Ebay have them for $12 a set.
The Electric Guitar sets of 10 - 46 go close but the G string is a plain 17 & that will be too lose & sound crappy.

I have a bit of experience with this from messing around with Cigar Box Guitars.

Personally, I much rather the sound of the Bari with Nylon Strings & I prefer Worth Strings, all plain, no wound bass string(s).
I play several instruments & a Bari Uke tuned DGBE is one of them.
My wife has a Bari strung & tuned GCEA, that takes a bit of fiddling as they no longer sell Worth string sets in the GCEA for Bari.
I did it by using the GBE strings out of the regular Bari set & pinched an A string out of 'Fat' set.
If you want to tune it gCEA, try the Worth CF set.

To do a good job of an electric Uke with Nylon Strings, it needs a Piezo pickup with an onboard preamp. (Ebay, Fishman make a good one)

Because I live in the bush I tend to shop online & I now get (almost) all my strings from a company called Strings By Mail in the USA.
They have the individual D'Addario strings & the Worth Strings.

Hope that helps.

Thank you Cliff, that helps immensely! As you may have guessed I have little clue about what I am doing [emoji15]
This all started when I made a cigar box guitar which my kids and then I made an acoustic cigar box thingy, my kids got keen on the idea of me building them an instrument each. This is the start of the end so to speak. The daughter that wanted this one requested that it be electric, I knew at the time that it would be a problem but continued ahead despite my better judgement. Also not knowing what I was doing has led me to make a body that would be too long for a 17” scale as the neck would meet the body at around the 12th fret (I think) from what I have read this is not normally done (but then again neither is an electric uke &#129323. The bridge as it sits also looks like it is sitting too high in the lower bout with this neck joining at the 14th fret, it’s not sitting in the centre of the bout as it should be.
I am seriously considering dumping the idea of this using an electric pickup and going back to a piezo for it and putting nylon strings on it. The other point being that the neck most likely will not stand the tension of the steal strings.

Originally Posted by Cal

......
I am seriously considering dumping the idea of this using an electric pickup and going back to a piezo for it and putting nylon strings on it. ......

Good plan, I'd hate to think that you spent the time building a thing of beauty that isn't going the get played.

I also think its best to go with nylon strings and a piezo for a whole lot of reasons. You have gone to the trouble of building a great looking acoustic body so you may as well be enjoying the sound of it.
I have built a few steel strung CBGs and had no trouble with 3 string ones but 4 string is pushing the limits without a truss rod.
Great thread BTW and lovely pics.
Regards
John

Yup, the 4 string 23" scale CBG I built has a fixed steel reinforcing rod in the neck & when it is tuned up, it does pull a fair bend in the neck.

Not enough to make it unplayable but it is very noticeable, if it was adjustable, I would tighten it up a bit.

Thanks John and Cliff,
The acoustic that I made earlier this year has a scale length of 25.5” and no truss rod and a single piece of claret ash with steal strings tuned to open g. To my surprise it is playing well with no sign of the neck moving, I may have just got luck with it and it also may be a little thicker than it should be. I will definitely take advice from you both and put nylon strings on it, I have a disc piezo and some rod piezos so will choose from either one. I have an alternate soundboard (a few of them), this one had a heart shaped knot in it that I can take advantage of too.
will see which one the daughter would prefer!
Thanks again!

Originally Posted by Cal

I have been shaping the neck today, still have a bit of work to do on the heel.

thank you for sharing your build

curious. how is the neck attached to the body

Thanks Ian, simple bolt on neck with threaded inserts screwed and glued into the neck with 6mm bolts then the whole neck and fretboard will be glued to the body/soundboard with titebond 3. I used this method with the last build and it’s worked well. I know I should be using a more traditional joint, will endeavour to improve my skills on a later build.