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Sapele scrap wood uke

Posted: Sun Aug 21, 2011 2:45 pm
by Oval Soundhole
My dad and I are redoing our shop, so naturally I had to go through the scrap bins. I had a pile of scrap wood that was either headed to the fire place or the trash until I realized that most of it can be used for a soprano uke. The body shape is a shape I designed, and I will design the headstock and bridge. The kerfing is spanish cedar, as well as the neck, the binding, rosette, fingerboard, bridge, and headplate are indian rosewood, the body is sapele, the braces are lutz spruce, and the bridge patch is flamed maple.
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Re: Sapele scrap wood uke

Posted: Sun Aug 21, 2011 3:30 pm
by Tony_in_NYC
Nice job Brian! It looks kind of like an OM but little! Great job so far. It seems like you are really taking your time with this one. Sarcasm is one of my favorite comedic tools by the way.

Re: Sapele scrap wood uke

Posted: Sun Aug 21, 2011 9:28 pm
by Ken Hundley
Don't ya just love finding a use for scraps? NICE JOB!

Re: Sapele scrap wood uke

Posted: Sun Aug 21, 2011 11:04 pm
by johnnparchem
Brian,

The uke looks good. It looks like you are using an inside mode, I like that idea. I have been holding back because of the time it take to build a mold.

Re: Sapele scrap wood uke

Posted: Sun Aug 21, 2011 11:15 pm
by Tony_in_NYC
Why no Spanish heel? Will this be a bolt on butt joint neck? Mortise and tenon? Dovetail? I want answers!!

Re: Sapele scrap wood uke

Posted: Mon Aug 22, 2011 1:27 am
by Oval Soundhole
Thanks, John, The inside mold took me 5 minutes to make and worked perfect. It was mostly to practice inside mold use so I can get ready for a violin build.

Tony, It will use a butt joint. Yes a butt joint. Yes an end grain to face grain butt joint. Yes with titebond. YES IT WILL WORK!!!!!!!!!!!

Re: Sapele scrap wood uke

Posted: Mon Aug 22, 2011 6:36 am
by tippie53
interesting . Look great from the pictures Brian. We will be anxious to hear the end result.

Re: Sapele scrap wood uke

Posted: Mon Aug 22, 2011 7:43 am
by Tony_in_NYC
I know it will work. I did that on the grizzly uke I made for my son. The glue joint might fail if my son falls on the uke though. It happened to me. Less of a glue failure and more of a walking failure if I am being honest.
Will you do a Spanish foot on a uke one day?

Re: Sapele scrap wood uke

Posted: Mon Aug 22, 2011 8:00 am
by tippie53
I did a few Ukes at the tent sales for Grizzly. The design is simple but works. The neck isn't under the stresses of a guitar . I did make a bolt on with one that I had sold only for a bit of insurance .
They are fun little things and make a happy sound

Re: Sapele scrap wood uke

Posted: Mon Aug 22, 2011 10:03 am
by johnnparchem
Oval Soundhole wrote:Thanks, John, The inside mold took me 5 minutes to make and worked perfect. It was mostly to practice inside mold use so I can get ready for a violin build.

The violin mold idea gives me another idea to make the inside mold work well for ukeleles. Cut out a notch for the heel block and the tail block to fit into. Use a dab of glue to lightly glue them into the mold. One could also drill some convenient holes for clamps such that the sides could be fitted and possibly glued one at a time.

Now I think I can start the uleleles I have been saving scrape for.