I just completed a ukulele for Adam from Nova Scotia. He wanted my Kumalae soprano shape with a 14inch scale and a wide beefy neck. I made it of all mahogany that I salvage from a furniture shop. The only other wood is a bubinga fretboard.
Here are a couple of pics of the wood for the sides and neck and the top and back braced:
Here are the sides clamped into the mold. I broke four sides making this uke, this old mahogany was pretty brittle.
And here is the neck rough shaped:
And the body glued up and the neck fretted. The fingerboard is pretty wide: 38mm at nut.
Here is the neck going on. Surprisingly, the rubber tubing makes a great clamp:
First coat of wipe on poly finish:
Laying out the bridge position:
And the finished product!
I like the longer scale and beefier neck. It makes the soprano feel bigger than it is while keeping that vintage sound. It has the best sustain of any soprano I have built. I feel like I got a good balance between a light top with a stiff back, sides and neck.
It is made out of a vintage banjo pot, a new neck and a mix of old and new hardware. All the wood is recycled or salvaged. It features: -20 Inch scale, which is the same as a baritone ukulele. It has steel strings tuned dgbe. It can be strung with steel or nylon strings and tuned many ways. Tell me what you want and I will try to make it happen! -2 piece flamed maple neck from an old table top -Walnut fingerboard with brass dots, walnut headstock overlay. (from old walnut paneling) -New Gotoh friction tuners. I will upgrade to guitar tuners ($35) or planetary banjo tuners ($50) on request. -New hooks, nuts, end bolt, head and shoes. Original tailpiece, dowel stick hardware and tension hoop. -All the wood is finished in a translucent black stain and hand rubbed finish that is a little bit "antiqued" to give it a vintage character. -Bone nut and maple bridge.
A couple of weeks ago Boulder Acoustic Society played at the Musical Instrument Museum in Phoenix, AZ. It is a huge museum that includes a beautiful concert hall. Here is a video of song we sang there:
If you want to see the whole concert, you can link to it here:
We had about an hour to walk around the museum, and as a luthier and musician, I thought it was great. Someone sunk some serious money into this place and it is trully a gem. They have the instruments organized by continent and country. As you walk near a section of the museum, your headphones play audio that goes along with the appropriate video. Cool.
I took lots of photos of the many small guitar shaped instruments somewhat related to ukuleles, which was fun.
Check out this sweet Gibson Harp Guitar And a Macaferri plastic guitar. Yes, its the same guy who made Django's guitar when he built for the Selmer company in Paris. Later, he moved to the US and made all kinds of cool plastic stuff. And The Rickenbacker lap steel guitar, nicknamed The Fry Pan! Here is a room of American guitars. Notice the cool Les Paul front and center. It is one of the first few ever made.
AS promised, here is a whole bunch of ukuleleish instruments from all over the world. Charango, Timple, Quatro, Tres, Cavaquino, Bandolim, etc...
Here is the ukulele section of the Hawaiian exhibit. Three Kamakas, a Kumalae and Nunes.
They also had a great section on all different styles of American music, including a mock up of a Martin guitar workshop.
MMM, Nudie suit and string band shwag:
I could have spent a whole weekend there. It was awesome. Really.
My friends Neil and Leighton have a folk music/performance art band called Safe Boating Is No Accident. I just finished a new neck for this old supertone pot for them. It has the scale of a baritone ukulele and is strung dgbe re-entrant tuning. The Supertone pot was made for Sears in the 1920s and is 10 inches across and built for a banjo mandolin. Check out the cool little Grover guitar tuners.
My friend Emily Hurd (http://www.emilyhurd.com/) came over yesterday so I could install a pickup into a uke I built her last year. It is great to see her and her uke, because it has been a long time!
Her uke is made all from recycled and salvaged wood. Fir top, walnut back and sides, rosewood fingerboard, fir neck and sycamore headplate. I got the fir from some porch boards, so I often leave some of the old paint in the cracks for fun.
Also, I should note that she met Jake Shimabukuro and he signed the back without her asking him to do it. Rock stars...
