Mahogany Tenor Ukulele

[Diane Kauffmds]

This is a great blog. You've given me ideas on how I'm going to deal with the sides of the 1/4 scale 00. BTW, curly mahogany has always been a favorite of mine. It's really good looking John.

[johnnparchem]

Thank you all.

I usually do not use CA to glue in the bindings but have seen a bunch of builds where people do. So I went ahead and used thin CA. Before I did any gluing I did the best I could with tape to get the bindings fitting the way I wanted them. Then I only put a small amount of CA in between the tape. I worked slowly making sure that each place I glued was in its proper position. There were a few areas where I used clamps to get the bindings in. I clamped before gluing. When the glue cured I removed the tape and ran more CA along the bindings.









I decided to add a figured back strap to the head stock.



From Luthiers Supplies I bought a bunch of neck profile tools including a handy one for a tenor ukulele. I used the shape at the nut and the 10th fret to figure out good facets to cut. I used a spoke shave where I could and a rasp in the tight areas to cut the facet. Not shown but I drew out some secondary facets and cut those. From there I just used the template to guide my carving.

[johnnparchem]

I made a bunch of progress this weekend.

I set the neck angle flat and installed the brass insert into the neck. I will have a glued butt joint but I will use one bolt as well. Mainly the bolt will supply the clamping force. I will leave it in as well.







This template shows the different height of the sound hole between the ukulele template I am using and the Martin 14 fret fret template. I like the higher hole as the bridge is better centered between the sound hole and the bottom.



I cut out and installed a logo. They are a little smaller for my ukes 7/8" vs 1".













Not shown I also drilled the tuner holes. I drill a pilot, use a large bit from the top for the bezel and follow that with a smaller 6 mm bit for the shaft.

I glued on the fret board



I finished sanded the body and neck to 220 grit. I used thick CA for the pore fill. I applied and scaped it back a few times. Using the CA I was able to finish sand - pore fill and start shellacking the ukulele



Right now I have padded on 3 coats of Seal Lac and 3-4 coats of Royal Lac. It is starting to look good.

[John J]

Very nice. That mahogany is really popping.

[johnnparchem]

Yes I am loving this mahogany. I have slowly been padding on Royal Lac over the last few day. The back and sides were pore filled with CA and sealed with seal lac. The top was just sealed with a few coats of seal lac.

[Diane Kauffmds]

It's a really cool build. The wood is lovely.

[JVan]

Sweeeeet!!!!!!

[ruby@magpage.com]

John

Nice job, great wood, and a very pleasing aesthetic

Ed

[johnnparchem]

Thanks all for the kind comments!

I padded as much Royal-Lac on as I am going to. I did not pore fill the top so I leveled the finish a few times and built it back up. It looks good, a slight contrast to the back and sides. I still plan on doing some light sanding and then I will polish. I will leave tell tail signs (pad marks) of it being a hand applied finish, but one will have to look for them. I just growing to like the look.

Here is what it looks like now.













Here it is with my harp ukulele that I made from a set of plans from Peter Hewett. I used the non-harp side to get the ukulele shape.

[John J]

Very very nice! You have inspired me to begin planning a ukulele build. I enjoy your posts.