Monthly Archives: February 2013

Ukulele – Binding Complete

I got the ukulele's end graft installed yesterday, and I got the binding installed and scraped flush today. I wet it down with some mineral spirits, to give an idea of roughly what it should eventually look like under the finish. I also included a 'glamor shot' with the not-quite-finished fingerboard just laying on top of the neck.

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Ukulele – Kerfing and Back Done

This weekend I got all the kerfing installed, and got the back on. I also made a new fingerboard - on the first one, I think I cut one of the fret slots a little off, and it's not worth the risk of it being wrong after all the work I've put in so far. Next up is to route a channel and install the binding.

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Ukulele – Coming Together!

Today I got the soundboard glued to the neck, and the sides glued on as well! Once all that is dry I can glue in the kerfing and then add the back. Even though there will still be a long way to go, it will really start to look like an instrument at that point. Can't wait!

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Snowmageddon!

Well, we got hit with the snowpocalypse! It worked out perfect, actually. The snow started on Friday night, and we had nowhere to go all weekend. We ended up with about 24 inches of snow. It wasn't so fun to dig out but at least it was powdery and fluffy, instead of wet and heavy. In total, spent about five hours shoveling spread across two days. We all had a lot of fun playing in it. Sean and I played king of the mountain, Sadie went hopping through the snow like a rabbit, Carter whined a whole lot (which is her usual snow behavior) and Lori even helped shovel! Even though we got two feet of snow and ridiculous amounts of wind, we never lost the power. So as far as blizzards go, it was pretty tame.

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Ukulele – Shaped Neck

Did some more work on the ukulele neck on Saturday. Got it shaped, and got the heel carved. It's starting to look a more like a neck, and a lot less like just a board.

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Ukulele – Neck Rough-Out

Starting roughing out the neck today. It still needs tapering and shaping, and the headstock still needs to be cut to shape. But it's a start!

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Ukulele – Sides and Plates

Tried out the new side bender last night. It did a pretty good job bending the sides for the new 'uke, and I didn't burn the house down - so overall I'd call it a win. I think next time I may leave the sides in the bender overnight, to try to reduce how much springback I get. I think I can manage with what I ended up with, though. Also got both the top and back plates thicknessed and braced yesterday. Looks like it's time to start working on the neck!

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