Mahogany Tenor Ukulele

[johnnparchem]

Early last year I purchased a grab bag of ukulele sets from a luthier getting out of ukuleles. I got 10 sets mixed of tenor, concert and soprano sizes. All of the plates were joined and loosely profiled. The first ukulele I am building out of this set is a tenor all quilted mahogany ukulele for a friend that picked the set out of that stash.



The sides were profiled for a thinner ukulele than I make (I use the martin tapered back dimensions so I took care in bending the sides and I installed the linings proud on the top and the back so that I could make the ukulele the size I wanted. I am following the template from a Peter Howlett ukulele I made from plans I purchased from him. It has a narrower upper bout than a Martin; the preprofiled top\back fit this template.











I had a bunch of fancy flexable A4 ukulele size kerflings and installed it a bit proud so that I could have the right depth after profiling the rims. Ultimately the missing sides would have been routed out any way for the bindings.











The rosette was a simple herringbone trip that I bent on a pipe and installed. Sorry no picture of the routing.









I sanded the top flat and profiled the back with a 15' radius dish. I braced the top and the back in my go-bar dish and got everything ready to close the guitar.









Whoops, I do not want to forget the end wedge. Here is a stupid ip that everyone probable knows (but I just started doing): When using a ruler a marking device put some sandpaper on the bottom to help the ruler stay in place.









While waiting for the glue to cure I rough profiled the neck.









My ebony end graft:



From here I routed the rims for the transverse braced and closed the box.







A little rework and configuration to turn my guitar cradle into a ukulele cradle.





More in the next post

[johnnparchem]

Not pictured but I routed out the channels for the bindings. The back will just have ebony bindings and the top will have the bindings, a maple and a black fiber strip.



I have the bindings fitted but not glued in yet.



I finished the day cutting the slots and profiling the fret board and profiling the neck.

[John J]

Love all the detail. It's looking good. Eventually I'd like to tackle a ukulele. Have you done many? I assume the small size presents its own challenges.

[johnnparchem]

Love all the detail. It's looking good. Eventually I'd like to tackle a ukulele. Have you done many? I assume the small size presents its own challenges.

Until there is a need to stick your hand into the sound hole the Ukuleles are a little easier to make. There is not much tension so dang near any neck to body joint is fine. I have been using a but joint with a single bolt. The neck angle can be flat to the top which makes finding the neck angle easy. The real issue if you have been building guitars is to retool for the molds and bending forms if you use them. This uke presented a different issue. I have a full set of Martin ukulele bending patterns and molds from John, unfortunately the top for this ukulele was too small for the Martin mold. Luckily I had built the Peter Howlett harp ukulele so I had a bending form and half of a mold (the other half of that mold was for the harp side) . I made a matching half for my mold and was good to go.

[tippie53]

thanks for your postings this is most helpful for anyone interested in building. Nice post and thanks from
me

[ruby@magpage.com]

John

Do you have patterns for the Martin/Ditson dreadnought uke?

Ed

[johnnparchem]

Ed, I have patterns for martin tenor, concert and soprano that I bought from the last ASIA auction it was Blues Creek Guitars donation. I have not seen a dreadnought ukulele.

[ruby@magpage.com]

Thanks

I have a body tracing from a 1916 dreadnought, and an actual 1923 soprano (Martin/Wurlitzer) which is otherwise the same as the dreadnought. These two should give me what I need, but it would be nice to have the plans.

Ed

[Kevin Sjostrand]

Looking great John, clever way to deal with the shorter sides.
I like that #8 plane for sure!!!

[JVan]

Nice work John!
I just seen Jake Shimabukuro play in concert the other night.
Inspiration comes in so many ways.
Keep up the nice work!! May have to build one of these soon!
JV