Ukulele Part 4: Top to Bottom

First things first:  This post covers the "top" of the ukulele but I did install the back first (as you'll see in some of the below pictures).  It just felt redundant to show both sides as the process is mostly identical except the top requires more...
...well, more of everything...

What it is

This kit came with pre-shaped braces that just needed to be glued into place on the top and back.  They would have been fine as-is but I felt the need to monkey around with them.  According to many guitar builders - shaving down the braces can really shape the sound of the instrument. The basic idea is that the braces should be just strong enough to keep the instrument together but not so strong that they inhibit the top from vibrating - which is where all the sound comes from in a ukulele (and guitars as well).  I've even heard it described as removing just enough material so that the instrument doesn't self-destruct.

The above picture is how the braces came to me.
The below picture is after I was done with them

What it shall be

You can see that I tapered the ends but what you can't see is that I also gave them a haircut.  The braces were much shorter and thinner when I was done with them. For those of you playing the Luthier Home Game - I didn't 'scallop' the braces - I just made them thinner all around.

In my last post, I spoke about cutting a notch for these braces in the sides.  The reason I stated that some of the notches were unnecessary was due to the amount I removed in the above process.

What it was

There are three main tools to do this kind of work:  a sharp chisel, finger planes, and sandpaper.
I don't own any finger planes but if I ever get into making acoustics more often - I will invest in some.  The chisel worked but as you can see from my above efforts - it was a bit sloppy.
The sandpaper really helped clean things up after I was done with the chisel.

Also for the people playing at home - I did "tap-tune" the top.  This is a fancy way of saying that I stopped chiseling every couple of minutes and tried tapping the top to see how it sounded.  When the top stopped making a "thud" sound when tapped and started making more of a distinct note or tone - I knew I was close to being done carving the braces.

That don't look right

Just before I started working on the braces I became aware that the top had a pretty significant bow to it.  This would be fine if the bow was bowed in the other direction.  A slightly curved top is actually a good thing in an acoustic/ukulele.  A slightly concaved top...?  Not so much.

What I think happened here is that the weight of my clamps may have bowed the top when I glued on the braces.  The braces themselves were fairly flat.  And no - there was no difference in the size of the bow between when I started carving the braces and when I finished carving them.  This just is part of the top now, I guess.  We'll see...

Ready...?

I don't normally sign my work but the one previous acoustic instrument I built - I did.  So, it felt right to do so this time.  And since this was a gift from my wife...
...well, you get the idea...

1...2...3...

Awwwwwwww!

As you can see from the below photo - the back is already glued to the sides.  You may also be able to see the notches I was talking about.  Finally - you can see those screw-eyes surrounding the uke body.  Those are going to become important in a bit.

That's a mildly ukulele shaped thing, right there!

What may be hard to see in the below photo is that the glue has been applied and we're ready to put the top on.  I have the habit of overdoing it with the glue.  I haven't poked around inside of this uke yet with a mirror but I know there are some glue drips in there.  Judging from the amount of glue drips that I wiped up on the outside - it's not even a question of if but how many.

I'm hoping that extra glue is going to come in handy as we'll see in a sec.

sticky sticky

The green stuff is one big rubber band.  True story.  It comes with the kit for this very purpose.  And it does a pretty good job of putting even pressure on the top while gluing.  The trick is that your top can't have a bow in it and your sides need to be even for this to work as designed.  Neither of these things was true with my uke.  Sadly, also a true story...

This is where the screw-eyes come into play.  I threaded the elastic through each of the eyelets but if you used bigger screw-eyes you could wrap the elastic around them.  My way was a bit fidgety but it seemed to work okay.

Insert Dad-joke about being 'all tied up.'

 As you can see - it puts a decent amount of clamping force on the top.  Enough to squeeze out a lot of glue.  But it wasn't enough clamping pressure.  There were still spots where the top wasn't touching the sides.  This could have been because the neck or heal cap was taller than the sides (although I checked that) or it could have been the sides weren't even (checked that too), or it could have been that pesky bow that I mentioned (not much I could do about that one).  But I'm guessing it was all of the above.

That'll buff right out.

 So, we improvise!

Necessity is a motherf----r

That's about two feet of books sitting on top of the uke.  It helped quite a bit but there were still a few spots where the generalized pressure of two feet of books just wasn't enough - so I focused the weight with a couple of blocks and a stack of coins.  This really put the squeeze on.  There still ended up being one or two spots where the top and sides don't appear to be touching but I'll have to do a flashlight test after everything dries.

Is it me or does it look like the wood is bending?

What you don't see in the pictures is the gallon jug of windshield wiper fluid I put on top of the books.  If I had to guess there was probably 30-40 pounds of weight on that top - plus whatever pressure the elastic band was creating.  That's a pretty strong body.

Well, if all else fails it'll make a nice uke-shaped birdhouse.

Next up:  let's trim those overhangs and sand the body.

Soon

Ukulele - Part 3: Linings

Same as it ever was...

If you look at the photo above you may ask yourself, "How did he get here?"

"Let me explain... No, there is too much. Let me sum up."

If you look at the photo below you will notice that the sides of this ukulele are pretty thin.  The same goes for the sides of a guitar as well.  There's not much there to glue a top or bottom to - the way to fix this is to add linings.  Linings add a bit of rigidity to the sides and more surface for the guitar 'faces' (the back and top) to sit on.  In a guitar, these linings are much more ornate but in a Uke they can be pretty basic - especially in a mass produced kit like this one.

Take a little off the top.

Before you can add the lining, though, you have to level the sides.  I used a carpenter's level wrapped in sandpaper to make sure the sides were even and that the heal-cap and the end-cap were flush to the sides (that's the lighter bits of wood in the photo below).

Kinda like a round peg in a square hole.

This kit came with thin plywood linings - and I do mean thin! This was two-ply with the grain going in opposite directions.  However, even though this is plywood - it's still wood.  As you can see up in the top left-hand corner where the lining snapped instead of bent.  This shouldn't be a problem but it was a bummer.  Triply so - as it happened three times.

Something pithy

So, what you do is:  Glue the lining to the top edge of the sides.  Make sure it isn't proud (i.e. it doesn't stick up higher than the side) as you'll have to sand it flush.  What's with all the tape and clothespins?

The clothespins are clamps.  If you look closely - I added elastic bands to each clothespin to increase the clamping force (another handy-dandy tip from StewMac).  The clothespins help keep the lining in place while the glue cures and puts the necessary pressure on everything to get a good glue joint.

The tape is to catch all the excess glue that squeezes out when you clamp everything together.
As you can see in the photo below - I removed the tape after I set up all the clothespins.

Norwegian Ridgeback

Norwegian Fullback

The goal is to get these linings to curve with the shape of the sides but to also be flush with the top of the sides so you don't have to do much sanding (stop and think about that sentence).

With an acoustic guitar, the linings are "kerfed."
Kinda sounds like something a frat-boy would say, "Oh man, I went out last night and got so kerfed!"
But in truth - it's just wood strips with partial cuts to make the strips flexible.

Once the glue has dried, you remove the clothespins, flip the body, and repeat on the other side.

The difference between the rigidity of the sides with vs. without the linings was remarkable.
I have to impress upon you that the linings were thin - no more than 1 to 2 millimeters but once glued in - they gave the side a fantastic amount of strength and structure.

I am Mighty!

As I mentioned - the linings broke a few times.  Mostly - one ply of the plywood would snap and the other would remain intact.  But on the one below - that sucker split the whole way.  And I'm sure in some infinitesimal sense it matters.  Everything adds/subtracts to the sound of the instrument - but we're making Ukuleles here - not sending Landers to Mars.
I'm sure it'll be fine.

Just don't look too close.

Now that I've spent all this time being careful and precise about gluing these puppies in - I have to be doubly careful about cutting them out...

I'm gonna make my mark.  Just you wait!

In order for the top (and back) of the ukulele to fit correctly onto the sides, you have to cut a little notch for the braces to fit in.  I'll be honest - I was aggressive with my brace shaping - so I didn't NEED all of these notches.  But it's a good practice to get into - because when working on a guitar top - you really do need those notches.

Narf!

Mostly, I just used a 1/4 inch chisel to cut out the lining while leaving the sides intact.  StewMac suggest using an Exacto knife but my chisel was reasonably sharp (but not sharp enough to slice through the mahogany sides while removing the linings).

Up next:  Putting it all together.  Also known as closing the box...

Ukulele Part 2: Jigs, Sides, braces

That's dangerous looking...

What you are looking at is a body mold.  Briefly - it is a plywood board with four angle brackets screwed to it.  I then attached two rectangular pieces of scrap wood to the ends and two curved pieces of scrap wood to the sides.  FYI - the curved bits are from a piece of extra banister that I had lying around from some house projects.  You could just use a bit of dowel and tape it to the angle bracket (stewmac suggests this method, in fact).

I wouldn't want to be in the middle of that.

As you can see from the paper taped to the center of this torture device - we'll be putting the Uke body in there at some point.  This jig is used for a few things.  It helps the sides keep their shape as you glue them together.  It also keeps everything contained when you glue in the linings (see Part 3).

Finally, it is used when we glue the top and back to the sides (see Part 4).  Knowing what I know now - I would have cut the scrap wood a little shorter than I did.  The Angle brackets are 2.5 inches.  I would cut the scrap wood to 2.5 inches as well (or maybe a bit shorter).  They all ended up being too long to use for gluing the top down - so I had to remove them when I got to that step.

Sigmund the sea monster

Again, I didn't take enough pictures - so what you don't see are the two sides before they were glued together.  The sides came pre-bent and fit nice and snug inside the mold.  I did have to cut the neck-block and the end-block to the same hight as the sides (they come about an inch too long).  But what you are seeing above is the clamping of the sides to the neck and end blocks.  When it's all dried and released from the mold it looks like this: 

Sure is shaped like a Ukulele!

Sometime in the near future, the top and back will be glued to this bad boy and we'll have a ukulele body.  For now, it will sit and wait while I finish up the bracing for said top and back.

Perfection is for amateurs

As I mentioned before - one of the braces on the back moved as I was gluing it down.  It should be fine (some acoustic guitars have bracing that goes across at an angle).  The point is to make the top and back strong - and right now - they are strong.  Too strong.  I'm going to shave those braces in the near future. Shaving them down should make the instrument more responsive - which should make the uke sound better.  We shall see!

Kind of looks like an Anime cyclops cat.

Same goes for the top.  Those braces are huge!  I'm going to make them a bit shorter and thinner.

Here's hoping that they are not too thin.  For the curious - here is Dana Bourgeois describing how and why you would want to do such a thing.  He explains it much better than me.

Soon...

Ukulele - Part 1

"No woodworking experience required."

Ukulele (pronounced "Ookulele" if you are from the 50th state) seems to be all the rage these days.
Think of this:  When I walked into my local Guitar Center last Christmas the first stringed instrument I saw was a Uke, not a guitar.

I'm not sure if  Zooey Deschanel or Eddie Vedder is to blame for making it popular again but it is.
I'm a fan of IZ Kamakawiwo'ole and I like anything made for making music - so I'm on board.

My lovely wife - knowing that I like building (and hoarding) guitars - thought this would be a fantastic Christmas gift.  And she was right.  I don't think I would have purchased a Uke on my own but build a Uke?  That sounds like fun (and I get a Uke at the end of it all).

StewMac (for those of you NOT playing the Luthier Home Game) is where all the guitar building things are sold.  They have the tools and the supplies to build pretty much anything with strings including build-it-yourself kits like the one above.

The caption on the picture above is a bit misleading.  No, you don't need much woodworking experience to build this kit.  But you do need a fair amount of woodworking tools.  StewMac sells what again?  Having said that -  I'm not even 1/3 of the way through this build and it's already one of my favorites.

Is it live or is it Memorex?

What you are looking at is what will become the inside of the guitar on the right and the brace template on the left.

The kit comes with all the parts you'll need already cut and sized.  You provide the glue and the clamps.  The kit also comes with detailed instructions, a template (see above) and most importantly "How-to" videos on their website.

Blast-Ended Skrewt?

This was a perfect project for me as I can build it at my kitchen counter without creating a big mess (Editor's note:  My definition of a "big mess" and my wife's definition don't seem to match).

I kid. She enjoyed watching me build this and even lent me some of her clamps.

Purple clothespins - Accept no substitutes.

In truth - you could possibly build this with just a couple of clamps and a bunch of clothespins (StewMac suggests this route) but since I have the clamps - I'm gonna use them.

In the above pics, I put some painters tape on the back of the guitar to catch the excess glue that squeezes out when you clamp on the braces.  Oh yeah!  The braces are to strengthen the back and top.  If they weren't there the guitar would implode the first time you string it up.

Sans tape

 About 5 minutes after I clamped the braces I removed the tape (don't wait until the glue is dried or the tape will become a permanent part of the instrument!).  It may be hard to see in the above pic but one of my braces moved a bit during the clamping process.  It shouldn't be a big deal (and you'll never see it) but watch for it if you try this at home.

Die Spitze

So, as much as I'm enjoying the "paint by numbers" aspect of building this Uke.  I can't leave it there.

Once all of the braces are dry I'm going to go back and shape (i.e. thin) them.  They are very thin braces but they are still a little too big for an instrument this small.  And the thinner braces should make the top sound a bit better.  Up next:  Building jigs and bending sides.