Finished first Martin sized tenor ukulele Now with Video!!!

[johnnparchem]

I just completed this Martin shaped 14 fret to the body tenor ukulele. Sounds pretty good right now. It is spruce so it will be interesting to see how it sound in a couple of day. I made it for a friend living in Oahu who has taken up the ukulele. I am going there Monday, which is why there was a rush at the end. It is not perfect, somehow the 3rd string post is off just a touch off and I noticed that I somehow rounded the end of the fret board on the 1 st string side. Nothing fatal. The intonation is really good. Based on a bunch of input from both guitar makers and Ukulele builders I shaved about .7mm off the nut end of the fret board. The saddle was still placed from where the zero fret would be. (I actually set the saddle using a measurement from the 12 fret.) The idea is that compensation is added to deal with stretching the strings while fretting. When a string is fretted it is longer than the straight run. Well that compensation only is needed for the fretted notes. When we intonation to get the open to match the fretted not on the 12 string, there is quite an error on the first few fretted notes. by moving the nut the error can be lessened. It worked pretty good.

Bear Claw sitka top
Hawaiian Koa back and sides
Honduran Mahogany Neck
Cocobola bindings
Amboyna Burl Rosette, Head Stock, heel cap
Shellac French Polish with a CA pore fill.

[Chuck73]

Looks great! That's a really cool looking top.

[mnmusic]

That's gorgeous!

Ed

[ColestineGuitar]

Very nice! I must look into the CA pore filling. I like french polish, but getting the pores filled, using traditional methods, utterly evades me.

[johnnparchem]

Thanks guys, it was fun to build. This video was rushed cause I am giving it to its new owner tomorrow.

[johnnparchem]

The trip to Hawaii to deliver the ukulele was really fun: snorkeling, hiking, volcano's and best of all playing the ukulele with my friend Nikko. She really liked the ukulele. We also went to see one of the best slack key guitars and ukulele players of the island of Oahu, Ledward Kaapana in a small local pub. He is really good.





Ledward Kaapana