An Upscale Tenor Ukulele

[Stray Feathers]

Suppliers I use sometimes list guitar back sets (no sides) ad I thought that must require a certain customer. When I saw some rosewood sets like this, it finally hit me that I could get a ukulele out of that. I would probably not splurge for a rosewood uke set, but these were pretty reasonable. So I bought one. You can see it's easy to get the back and sides, and still some left over for bridge plates or head plates.

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I'm finding it easier to glue head and tail blocks separately.

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I make reverse kerfing out of basswood which is light and stable, and helps to stiffen the sides. The "clamps are fancy Italian clothespins from Lee Valley. They work well on triangular kerfing but not a lot better than regular clothespins on reverse kerfing.

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The top is Red Spruce which is a bit hard to find here, and expensive, but this small set has quite tight grain and was affordable, so a bit of a splurge.

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[Stray Feathers]

More on this "upscale" tenor:

I don't have photos of the bracing but it closely follows plans by the late Bob Gleason. Time to glue the back on the rims:

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Last thing before I close the box:

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Gluing the top:

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Ready for binding channels:

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