CanUke

Tweedledee - Wood figure, color, and joy.

2011-10-17T10:10:00.006-04:00

A few close-ups to try and capture the wonderful figure and color of the walnut back (the inlaid decorative discs are from two varieties of maple).

The soundboard is made up of two jointed bookmatch plates of douglas fir with unusual pinkish overtones.

The soundhole is inspired by the "quatrefoil" motif of some medieval churches and the four-leaf clover, of course.

I've strung Tweedledum with a low fourth string, but Tweedledee, this one, with a high fourth. They are (high/low) GCEA sets, but I'm tuning them FBbDG (like my Terz guitar) for much easier action. They both sound quite good, but Tweedledee has that extra special je ne sais quoi : when the instrument makes you feel you're a far better player than you actually are... strictly a self-induced illusion in my case, but nonetheless thoroughly enjoyable, and a strong inducement to play more music.

These two are fairly similar in construction and bracing pattern. The main difference, apart from the wood used for the soundboard), is the depth of the body: Tweedledee is half an inch deeper than Tweedledum.

Tweedledee at last

2011-10-16T11:54:00.004-04:00

There it is, posing as Humpty Dumpty on top of a pumpkin:

Details (rosette, etc.)

2011-10-15T10:55:00.004-04:00

I forgot to mention the rosette and the soundhole ring.

The rosette is made up of three inlaid strips of veneer: the inner and outer rings are curly maple, and I've forgotten what the darker middle ring is, perhaps mahogany. Looks easy, but it was still a lot of work.

The soundhole ring is also a thick curly maple veneer.

In keeping with the circle motif, I've added two completely frivolous details: a small bronze disc at the bottom of the fretboard, and an highly figured veneer roundel above the label inside the uke:

The strings have now settled. The beast is sounding good. Since the neck joint is between the16th and 17th frets, it makes it quite a bit easier to play those high notes.

Strung with a low G set. I must say I always find that strings on the tenor are really tight and hurt my fingers when I use the standard tuning, so I tend to use a lower tuning pattern: is it just me, or perhaps the brand of strings I'm using?

Tweedledum (waiting for Tweedledee)

2011-10-12T13:59:00.007-04:00

All done, after all the fiddling with the nut(s) and saddle(s) to get the position and action of the strings just right.

A tenor uke, almost entirely made of mahogany... the back has alternating stripes of mahogany and walnut. The neck and its heel also have bands of walnut. The fretboard is canarywood. The bridge is purpleheart (thicker obviously that the other unfortunate one) with an ebony saddle. The nut is carved from a piece of corian.

Sounds good, but I'll know better tomorrow, after the strings have settled. Intonation is as good as can be with an uncompensated bridge and saddle.

I like that honey/caramel/chocolate combination, but that's just my sweet tooth...

Thanksgiving - Eating humble (pumpkin) pie

2011-10-10T09:40:00.005-04:00

Today is Thanksgiving in Canada, so, yes, I baked pumpkin pie. And indeed, there is a certain similarity between the shape of this last uke and a pumpkin, isn't there?

But why "humble"? Look closer and you'll see there's a new bridge on (Honduras rosewood instead of purpleheart).

I had completed the uke and was stringing it when, as I was tensioning the last string, the front of the bridge broke under the pressure. A couple of flaws: the bridge was not thick enough and therefore, the saddle was too high, and also the saddle groove was too close to the front end. Anyways, though I was aware of those shortcomings, I ignored them... with the entirely predictable result.

Murphy's law, yes indeed, and I've had innumerable occasions to verify it while building ukes. But mostly, I have only myself to blame: good enough won't cut it, one has to observe the rules and proper measurements every step of the way, especially as you near the end of the process and just want to be done with it. And greater fool am I, since this not the first time (nor even the second) I succumb to impatience, laziness, cutting corners.

This by way of a public confession (however, I'm not so masochistic as to have taken pictures of the heartbreaking sight of that split bridge). Mostly to acknowledge one of the lessons of crafting objects with one's hands, which could be of great benefit for so many other areas of activity...

The other lesson is that, after eating my humble pie, it's time to rebuild and repair. All is not lost, and having learned how to repair once (and overcoming the heartbreak), that knowledge can be used again if/when one falls prey to the same mistake (as I'm prone to do). So I unglued and re-sanded and re-finished and fashioned a new, thicker bridge with a properly positioned saddle slot. While at it, I'm salvaging the saddle I had made by shortening it and am now shaping a new, improved nut... (Is there such a thing as a reformed nut?)

Happy Thanksgiving!

Bridges on

2011-09-27T16:19:00.004-04:00

Finally, the bridges have been shaped and then glued on, so have the peghead overlays with a very dense and very dark Brazilian wood (cumaru?). Also drilled the holes for the machine heads.

Almost ready for applying the finish.

Bridges

2011-09-25T08:10:00.003-04:00

I've kept postponing this because I've always had great difficulties making bridges, having to build complicated jigs while trying to use various routing tools to dig out the saddle slot, always with very uneven results and a lot of frustration and anxiety using power tools . So, I'm giving up and reverting strictly to hand tools: a couple of saws and a 1/8" chisel.

Here, I am using purpleheart. (I started with ebony, but botched it: perhaps because of my own ineptitude, but I have found ebony to be quite brittle when using chisels and gouges. It's quite good for nuts and saddles though.) Simplify, simplify...

I am also reverting to the simplest and sturdiest bridge design: a saddle slot and four string holes drilled all the way through the soundboard.

Fretboard continued

2011-06-10T18:02:00.003-04:00

Position markers in. Not silver: I restrained myself and stuck to wood: walnut dots, in keeping with this ukulele's theme: mahogany dominant, walnut as an accompaniment. But I did indulge in a little bronze disc at the bottom. Made sure all the frets were level: easier to correct at this stage than when the fretboard has been glued on.

I've also rough-shaped the peghead which I will cover with a veneer later.

The neck is wider than the peghead: it's better to have more than not enough at this stage. I will make it narrower next.

Something furry wanted in...

Back on track (sort of)

2011-06-05T13:06:00.002-04:00

I'm afraid I've gone astray and left aside ukulele building since February as I became engrossed in a new adventure: learning some rudiments of jewelry making. Actually, after three years of uninterrupted "homegrown" instrument-making, it was good to get away (nothing like a new obsession to free oneself of an older one... much as in other sorts of passion or complusion when I think of it). Still, I have seven new ukes and one guitar in the making and I can't just abandon them. So, I took advantage of these few days without rain (we are blessed with continual showers and cold spells this year) to go through the various sanding stages on one round-bodied uke and proceeded to inlay the frets on the fretboards that will go onto those two very similar ukes.

I now take a lot of time being super careful with my fretwork, especially in dressing the frets to eliminate those tiny pesky burrs which are so hard to eliminate without marring the surrounding wood.

Anyways, here are the fretboards still at an early stage: I still have to do a lot of dressing to do and then I will inlay the position markers (I'm thinking silver dots this time). The wood is canary wood: I could not resist the unusual figure.

Third time lucky

2011-02-04T12:06:00.005-05:00

Actually, luck has nothing to do with it: just good old sweat and tears.

One of my goals during the present building season was to achieve symmetry in a more consistent way. I even made molds for all five types of ukuleles I'm in the process of assembling now, but somehow, things always go awry at the stage of gluing the soundboard to the sides. At any rate, I was particularly discouraged with this, a new tenor shape: while I'm rather pleased with the contours, a silhouette shape I have been striving towards for a long time, the first one turned out skewed, and then the second one as well (I will still complete them, since I want to hear what they sound like). Finally, I devised a way of going through the process that seems to be working. At least, it did for this third attempt (the rightmost one).

Working in circles

2010-12-31T09:24:00.006-05:00

Nothing new about the circle design, but I wanted to try it out.

These will be tenor ukes with necks joining the body at the 17th fret. I'm using a "Spanish" joint, i.e. the sides fit into notches cut into the base of the neck: ideally, those notches would be cut with a table saw, but since I don't have one, I cut them with a hand saw, and it's a bit difficult to saw on a slant and get the proper width and depth so that the sides will fit in snugly without skewing the symmetry.

Joining bookmatched plates

2010-10-26T17:09:00.009-04:00

I prefer using a single plate for the soundboard and even the back but larger instruments, like the baritone uke and the terz guitar, require joining two bookmatched plates. To join two plates that are 1/8 in. thick edge on edge requires some doing, especially with fairly rudimentary tools. The difficult part is to get the edges perfectly matched to each other before gluing so that you cannot see any light in-between the plates. It's easier for soundboards because the plates are softwood and tiny gaps will disappear when the plates are pressed together in the joining process. Hardwood plates for the back are more exacting. I also like to insert a strip of contrasting wood between the two back plates, which makes it a double joint: first gluing the strip to one plate and then gluing that assembly to the remaining plate.

Here are a few pics of a spruce soundboard held against the sky to check that the seam is indeed flawless, and of backs (maple, walnut and lacewood).

More Terz

2010-09-20T08:10:00.004-04:00

Soundhole binding

2010-09-19T08:05:00.002-04:00

It took me two years to figure a way to do this (the tortoise way, I suppose). There are five layers of different veneers lining the soundhole: mahogany, anigre, makore, figured makore and cherry.

Size comparison

2010-09-18T09:30:00.002-04:00

The Terz between a baritone uke and a standard size classical.

Terz guitar (classical)

2010-09-17T08:56:00.005-04:00

While all the ukes that came out this summer were started last autumn, I began working on this last April.

The classical terz guitar originated in the nineteenth century and Giuliani composed some pieces for it. It is smaller than an ordinary guitar: this one has a vibrating string length of 57 centimeters.

The name is a deformation of the French "tierce", since it is tuned three intervals higher (GCFA#DG): what you would get by placing a capo in the third position. By raising the third string one interval lower, you get a lute or vihuela tuning, which was what interested most since you can then play the whole vast repertoire of lute or vihuela directly from the tablatures for those instruments.

This is not a reproduction of earlier guitars but a "modern" version: in particular I've used a fan bracing pattern rather than the traditional "ladder" and the neck is as wide at the nut as a regular guitar. I've also used the same type of bridge as the one I've used for my ukes this year.

Los olvidados

2010-09-16T08:20:00.002-04:00

Las tres hermanitas

2010-09-15T08:28:00.002-04:00

Conversación entre dos hermanos

2010-09-14T08:13:00.002-04:00

Autumn baritone

2010-09-11T11:32:00.006-04:00

"C'est pas vilain les fleurs d'automne..." (not so shabby, those autumn flowers): I could not help but think of those words in George Brassens' song Saturne as I was putting the finishing touch to this last baritone amidst the late-flowering creatures in Jacqueline's garden.

Basically the same shape as the second baritone (August 7th). The body is about 1/4 inch shallower and the string length 19" instead of 20". I've used some of that sumptuous carmine chokte kok for the neck with bloodwood veneer on the front and back of the headstock and the sides of the neck as well. The heel has curly maple in-between the chokte kok layers.

I'm also very pleased with its sound, different again from all the others: I just keep playing all five of them and have yet to pick a favorite one... Tough!

Baritone

2010-09-04T07:32:00.005-04:00

J'aime ta couleur café...

Yes, I was in love with the previous baritone, but then this creature came along with its unusually dark cedar soundboard: caramel, chocolate, café au lait, pain d'épices, honey and spice... irresistible. Wonderful sound, deep and clear and crisp and it purrs against my chest just as much as the other one. Entre les deux, mon coeur balance...

These baritones are just getting better and better, each with its own singular voice. However, I'm so taken with their sound that I may never return to smaller sizes -- concert and tenor -- for playing tunes in low 4th tuning.

Walnut back and sides with cherry bandings and bloodwood fretboard. Joined plates of very thin western red cedar for the top. Ivory, bocote, tulipwood here and there.

Mandrake ukulele

2010-08-28T08:55:00.012-04:00

In keeping with the medieval theme, this is a second soprano I made alongside the previous one and very similar to it. The freshly dug out mandrake root and the celtic cross provided a perfect accompaniment for its coming out.

Nice piece of highly figured burl veneer on the headstock (no doubt what attracted the mandragora).

Red, red rose

2010-08-27T09:18:00.002-04:00

Actually, not red: variegated...

To cliché or not to cliché?

Bucolic

2010-08-26T09:00:00.002-04:00

Cantantes licet usque (minus via laedit) eamus.

Virgil

Another barytone - I'm in love

2010-08-25T21:20:00.008-04:00

This one was completed about a week ago and I can't stop playing it.

Same silhouette as the "deep baritone" of the end of July, but with a shallower body, a more pronounced slope of the back and a different bracing pattern.

I love the sound of this instrument, but also with the fact that it feels so "alive" as I'm playing it (maybe because of the way it fits my body so well that I can feel it vibrate all the time). This may be a familiar experience to players more experienced than I am, but it's definitely new to me. Though I dislike hocus pocus as much as any man, it would be tempting to wax a little bit lyrical about it. At any rate, there's certainly an ounce of magic in this for me.

Third nut

2010-08-24T11:43:00.004-04:00

Irresistible title, but I must be allowed some levity after spending the morning fashioning three of those to get one exactly right: right thickness, right length, right slope angle, right depth and shallowness of the string slots and right spacing of the slots so that they fit with the spacing of the slots in the saddle and bridge. Test with the fourth and first strings for optimum spacing from the edges of the fretboard. Test for proper action. Make adjustments or re-do the whole thing (twice). All right; check for possible buzzing: only one small buzz easily corrected by pressing the guilty fret further down: relief!

One saddle was enough, so I'm counting my blessings.

I've put on all four strings, brought the tension to proper tuning, checked for buzzing with all four strings, checked the intonation: so far so good. I'll let the strings settle and re-tune them several times today before really testing this new baby.

Hard to take a proper picture of the beast: so tiny. Everything done with razor saw, files and sandpaper: a fraction of a millimeter here, a fraction there... un travail de bénédictin !

A Proustian moment

2010-08-22T13:03:00.004-04:00

Freshly baked madeleines and scones: a nice occasion to bring out some of last year instruments.

Carpe diem tenor uke

2010-08-20T12:45:00.005-04:00

Time to smell the roses... literally, since these are the last, albeit no less glorious, of this abundantly sunny season.

A lot of experimentation with this one, including a double layer (padouk and anigre) of very thin banding veneers. A lot of veneer dots too (I did go a bit dotty with the veneer for a while), inlaid in the fingerboard or just glued on around the soundhole.

Frugal molds

2010-08-11T17:43:00.003-04:00

I'm making preparatioms for my next building season. Along with new designs and building ideas, I'm planning for less improvisation and more discipline this time around, which means framework and, among other things, frames or molds.

I've glued blocks of wood together and bandsawed them: the mold for the larger instrument is big enough that I can fashion a second mold out of it for a smaller size ukulele.

Second coming of the baritone

2010-08-07T13:39:00.005-04:00

This is my second baritone this season, with a brand new silhouette, more slim-waisted.

I really love the way that back shimmers.

The soundboard is made of Western red cedar: I chanced upon this stunning yellow-hued piece and it did not disappoint.

The neck is yet another experiment in gluing various woods together.

Nicely veined canary wood for the fretboard and bird's eye maple veneer over the headstock.

I'm enjoying the baritone sound more and more. This one is mellower than the previous one.

Deep baritone

2010-07-30T13:04:00.011-04:00

Deep because the sides are 3 in. at the top, 3 1/4 at the bottom. Ive made the other forthcoming baritones progressively shallower as an experiment in sound production.

This one has a terrific voice, full of character, nice projection and sustain. The intonation is spot on thanks to the compensated bridge (I carved out the sadlle slot by hand with chisel and gouge). So, I'm definitely encouraged to pursue my "apprenticeship".

The neck is made of jatoba, with some unknown burl veneer over the headstock and the fretboard is a nicely figured rosewood. The back is two plates of lacewood with a center layer of ebony that I later covered over with a bloodwood veneer ( choosing red over black on a whim; the ebony can be seen peeping through at the tail end after too vigorous a sanding ). The sides are once again that really nice curly honey-colored maple and the soundboard is spruce. Bocote over walnut for the bridge. Saddle and nut are tulipwood, my latest fad/fave. The bandings are cherry.

More lovely wood

2010-07-25T09:03:00.003-04:00

I spent yesterday morning sawing small blocks of Brazilian tulipwood and African blackwood into thin slices. Tulipwood is "bois de rose" in French, which seems more appropriate since the wood does have the variety of pink hues you find more in roses than tulips. However the English name "rosewood" is used for other species of the genus "dalbergia". At any rate, Brazilian rosewood is a very dense and strong wood, highly figured and colored, jewel-like really, so a little bit will go a long way. African blackwood is also a member of the dalbergia genus, also terrifically dense and hard, black with dark brown veins. So I've built up a small reserve for bridges, saddles, nuts and inlays.

You never know exactly what you'll discover when slicing a piece of figured wood and it's always exciting to bring those hidden treasures to light.

Reward

2010-07-24T12:26:00.004-04:00

Applying several coats of finish and hand-polishing after each coat over several days, I see the wood come alive and its color deepening, with all the nuances of the grain, the shimmering in various kinds of light and from various angles. It took many hours of work just for that one part of the instrument, the back, never really knowing what it would look like... but now, what a glorious sight!

Soprano back

2010-07-21T10:12:00.004-04:00

Silly me: I forgot to include a picture of the back, with the wood at its prettiest.

Soprano done

2010-07-20T09:25:00.010-04:00

Finished it last night and put the strings on. No glitch, no buzz, no need to adjust the frets, accurate intonation: so far, the care I brought to fashioning my fretboards seems to be paying off. Nice, crisp sound with a lot of sustain for such a small body, but then I'm always in love with a newborn. At any rate, here are the pics.

The soundboard is yellow cypress, the neck is cherry. Fretboard, bridge and saddle are made of ebony, and I've used Brazilian tulipwood for the nut (a tiny touch of pink next to the black ebony: "le charme inattendu d'un bijou rose et noir"... my small tribute to Baudelaire). I don't know what the headstock veneer is, some kind of hardwood burl, I suspect, with sinuous lines.

The VSL is 14 ". The neck is 1.5 " at the nut and 1.75 " at the 12th fret. Total length: 21 inches.

First soprano - teaser

2010-07-19T15:33:00.006-04:00

I've just completed the finishing process on the first uke of this season, a soprano. I still have to fashion a proper nut and saddle before stringing it and trying it out for sound. Until then, I'm enjoying the look of the finished wood, especially for the back (bird's eye maple and bloodwood) and the sides (curly maple and bird's eye veneer for the "shoulders"). I first started work on this about ten months ago and only now can I see the real character of the wood, which really exceeds my expectations.

More completed fretboards... and irises

2010-06-06T16:30:00.004-04:00

Fret press

2010-05-26T07:58:00.006-04:00

Initially, I used the hammering method, but I find pressing the frets into the slots far more expedient, faster and easier.

All I'm using is my cheap drill press and a little gadget I made, which is simply a rectangular piece of wood whose length is roughly the same as the longest fret I'm likely to use, in which I inserted a small length of dowel. It has to be hardwood to be effective and to last: I started with a piece of mahogany -- far too soft --, then glued on it a piece of maple -- still not hard enough -- and finally glued on a scrap of ebony which does the trick. All done with scrapwood, but for the next one I'll know to pick a very hard piece of wood as my first choice.

It works beautifully and I can fret a fingerboard in a fraction of the time it used to take with a hammer, plus no dent and no marring...

I must confess I'm inordinately proud of this little contraption! Not having professional tools forces one to devise other ways of doing things and though this entails mistakes and frustrating episodes, it's also a marvellous way to engage the mind creatively.

Fretting - Slots depth

2010-05-25T12:13:00.007-04:00

A little trick I picked up on the web (thanks, anonymous) to gauge the depth of slot I need to saw for any particular fretwire I am using at the moment: 1) mark in pencil the depth of the tang on a small piece of cardboard placed against the fretwire; 2) insert the carboard thus marked in each slot and adjust the depth by sawing deeper if need be.

Back on track

2010-05-24T13:16:00.004-04:00

I've done all the heavy preliminary sanding and am still working on fretboards, taking my time with all aspects of fretting, including levelling and dressing the frets even before I glue the fretboards onto the necks and going back over everything when that's done. Trying to forestall problems which I used to discover only after I had completed and strung the instrument.

Here are three baritones with the fretboards installed posing in front of the freshly bloomed irises.

Fretboards continued

2010-03-19T11:39:00.003-04:00

I've done the shaping of all nine of my fretboards: here are three of them. It involved sawing the fret slots: there will be more of that later on to achieve the correct depth for the fretwire (I'm waiting for that to arrive and this time, I'll be using a smaller size of wire than before). Then making holes for the position markers, punching out the wooden dots (maple and walnut in this instance) and inserting them into the holes. After that, shaping the boards into that "tie" silhouette (most of the time, they are 1.5" wide at the nut and between 1 3/4" and 1 7/8" at the 12th fret -- just my personal preference): first a rough cut with the band saw on either side, then files and sandpaper. Finally, shaping the bottom end.

It's been slow because I was busy with other things, but I must say, it's easier than last year: practice does seem to pay off...

Later I will re-sand the boards to a very smooth finish, adjust the slots, insert the frets, file the fret ends, make sure all the frets are level, re-adjust, file down and re-crown if necessary, all that finicky stuff. And add smaller position markers to the side.

Right now, we've been having an early spring, most of the snow has melted away, crocuses are out, so it's time to get out of the house and start the sanding process which will keep me occupied throughout the spring and summer.

Starting work on fretboards

2010-02-22T14:23:00.007-05:00

Not all fun and games, no siree! Quite laborious with hand tools.

Anyways, here is the first stage: measuring and marking. Actually, there are preliminary stages that came before: selecting and buying the wood, getting it re-sawn at the proper thickness -- not something I can do on my really basic bandsaw -- doing the initial sanding (more of that after the fret slots are cut), so there's been a previous journey to get to this "first" stage as there is in fact for every part of the instrument.

First, admire the wood: rosewood in this instance. Get a table of the fret positions for your chosen string length from an online calculator (millimeters work better than inches). Mark those positions in pencil: I've just acquired a "stop rule" to make this process a tad easier. Then, double-check the measurements. Mark in pencil the whole length of each fret across the fretboard, double-check again, and go over that with a marking knife or blade (another new acquisition: an engineer's square). The cut made by the marking knife makes it easier for the saw to grip the wood where you want it later on.

There may be easier, more efficient methods: all suggestions gratefully accepted.

Spectacular wood - Bocote

2010-02-21T15:01:00.002-05:00

The strip on top is actually canary wood, with beautiful multicolored lines, but its two neighbors below steal the show. That's bocote, and isn't it magnificent?

More wood - Bubinga

2010-02-20T08:22:00.003-05:00

How far back in time can we go by counting the rings?

First, there is wood - Bird's eye maple

2010-02-19T09:39:00.003-05:00

Just like a topographic map, isn'it? Enough to send the mind on a flight of fancy towards some terra incognita.

Working with wood, as with any natural material, awakens dormant poetic impulses. (I'm often reminded now of Gaston Bachelard's writings on that subject.)

There is also that peculiar joy, when chancing upon a piece of wood that seems to have been waiting just for you, that stems from a sense of revelation: a happenstance meeting between your own hitherto unconscious desire and its object suddenly revealed. Objective chance, as the surrealists called it: that moment of perfect coincidence between subjective and objective reality which defines the marvelous.

Last baritone (le Rouge et le Noir)

2010-02-18T10:26:00.004-05:00

Last one... for this season at least: mostly black walnut with a very dark cedar soundboard, a bit of ebony and bloodwood (there will be more bloodwood, in keeping with the Drakul theme, for the fingerboard and banding).

Done

2010-01-20T18:28:00.005-05:00

Now everything has been glued together and the top and back have been trimmed. I'm putting it to sleep until the spring. This is uke number 8 assembled this winter: 4 baris, 1 concert, 1 tenor and two sopranos. One more bari to go and I will start working on fretboards.

Innards

2010-01-14T17:09:00.003-05:00

Another baritone; mostly walnut for the neck, the sides and the back. Creamy yellow cypress for the soundboard: a single solid piece, so I'm keeping the bracing to a minimum. The neck will be joined to the body with dowels, but also glued onto the soundboard extension.

My first time at using a proper wooden mold to maintain symmetry. Building a mold adds a lot of preliminary work and expense to the construction but I plan to use it for several "specimens".

Just finished bracing the top, now I'll brace the back and apply a graft under the center joints.

Revisiting an old friend

2009-12-23T09:11:00.005-05:00

With new projects continually in the works, "older" instruments I built two years ago sit unattended. While looking at them reminds me of trials and errors, mistakes I should not repeat, they have their own virtues as well.

Here is one with a body shape I really like. The neck is beech, which was surprisingly easy to work with, and the sides solid walnut. But for once, I used plywood for both the back and the soundboard, a very thin (1/16" inch) high quality Finnish plywood, very strong and light as a feather. While I love

working with solid wood, such good quality plywood has a number of advantages and it is not "cheap", neither in appearance nor cost. As for the sound: well, there's enough raging controversy out there, I'll stay clear of the subject.

I used tigerwood (goncalo alves) for the fretboard, cocobolo for the bridge, padouk for the peghead sides and veneer.

Cordelia's baritone

2009-12-19T07:25:00.012-05:00

This one was completed a couple of months back -- my last instrument for this season. It was intended as a surprise birthday present for my daughter and thus had to wait until now before I could put up pics on this blog. My best work so far, and the sound is really good.

The back is a single piece of maple. The soundboard, a single piece of yellow cypress, or Alaskan cedar, extends all the way up the neck, made of cherry. Bloodwood for the fretboard and for the headstock veneer, with bird's eye maple. Ebony bridge, saddle and nut. Figured makore for the banding, cherry and walnut dots for the soundhole decorations, tulipwood for the bottom joint between sides.

Another one

2009-12-14T19:28:00.004-05:00

I like to build them in pairs.

This one has the same silhouette but narrower sides. The soundboard is a single piece of yellow cedar. I've used some of that chakte kok for the neck and hid the joint line on the headstock with lacewood veneer which I also used to surround the soundhole.

The back is made up of two bookmatched plates of figured maple.

Another baritone in the rough

2009-12-11T10:49:00.004-05:00

Body and neck assembled (the soul will have to wait). Back and top trimmed. That's it for now.

This is a new silhouette; also a new mode of construction for me: the piece of wood (two bookmatched pieces in this instance) making up the soundboard extends all the way up the neck; so it is glued onto the sides and the neck as well, ensuring perfect horizontal flatness. The fretboard, made of hardwood, will come later.

The soundboard is made of Western red cedar: I just chanced upon a board with an unusually yellow tinge and a diversity of hues, full of character.

Veneer on back of headstock

2009-11-27T19:45:00.005-05:00

The mahogany veneer has been glued onto the back of the jatoba headstock, and walnut veneer on the walnut headstock (there are several more of those on the go). Next stage will be shaping the contour of the headstock and then veneering the front, or vice versa.

Went to the annual "wood show" in town today and actually picked up some more black walnut strips for necks.

Ears

2009-11-24T18:01:00.004-05:00

Narrow pieces of wood (black walnut in this instance) are glued onto the sides of the headstock to make it wider: this way you don't waste wood as you would if you were to trim a wider board down to the width of the neck proper.

The disadvantage is that the uniform appearance of the headstock is lost: it doesn't really matter for the front since one often covers it with veneer anyways, but it means glueing an additional piece of veneer onto the back. Here mahogany veneer will cover the back of the jatoba headstock... and my sins, since I've had to fill with wood putty some gaps where splinters had broken off the neck while I was shaping it with rasps and files (jatoba is not really easy to work with)!

Chakte Kok Neck

2009-11-22T14:55:00.005-05:00

Lo and behold! I had forgotten about this one: a chakte kok neck in the making from last year: I had done the scarf joint, glued on the heel (part of it is padouak, also a red wood) and bandsawed the sides. So today (we still have mild weather and no rain), I went outside and shaped the arc of the back and the heel.

The wood was purplish red on the surface, but actually pink and rose underneath with lovely darker lines: I can see why it is apparently used for jewelry, so rich and delicate it looks. Precious, really... hence the question: am I going to be able to make

something worthy of that natural beauty?

It is easy to work with and something of a relief after carving another jatoba neck yesterday.

Chakte Kok

2009-11-20T20:16:00.006-05:00

One of the joys of learning to build musical instruments has been the discovery of wood and its many beauties. I am very fortunate that there are not one, but two lumber stores around here that stock domestic as well as exotic species. I visit them regularly because they often have items on sale, offcuts and odd pieces at prices I can afford. Today was a lucky day: 40% off on some pieces of chakte kok. I had had my eye on them for quite a while and here was my chance. I bought two lengths from which I should be able to get 6 necks.

It's a lovely reddish-orange wood with prominent veins. I had used a small plank last year for two necks of my early ukuleles and the color is still intact.

Aside from its visual appeal, this wood has a name that makes it irresistible, so exotic it sounds. I finally googled it today and ended up finding "chakte", meaning "red tree", in a dictionary of Mayan glyphs: knock on a door and sometimes a whole world opens up!

Bari in the making

2009-11-12T09:43:00.005-05:00

Another baritone: the rough work is done, the neck and body properly joined. Now it will go and rest in a corner until next spring when I can start sanding outside again. As for my first baritone, I've used lacewood and ivory for the back, jatoba for the neck, that wonderful maple for the sides, but spruce for the soundboard. The body is deeper at the bottom than at the top, the waist is "plumper", and the shape of the headstock is also different.

Neck 2

2009-11-06T09:47:00.002-05:00

Here is another one, made of cherrywood: I've glued on a plate of cherry veneer on the back of the headstock to hide the lines of the scarf joint and of the "ears". The heel is birch (I didn't have any more cherry).

There are more in the making of course, but this could become tedious...

Neck 1

2009-11-05T08:25:00.002-05:00

I am working on assembling a couple of new instruments, but the bulk of my time is spent preparing various parts of future ukes: messy operations that generate a lot of dust and for which I have to work outside the house before snow season. Such is the shaping of necks.

Here is one neck made of jatoba which is quite a bit harder and more difficult to work with than mahogany. The headstock has been covered with a burl veneer: unidentified wood, beautiful shimmery velvet.

Ukulele on a shoestring

2009-10-24T15:10:00.004-04:00

When you need a strap for your uke so that your left hand has greater freedom, here's a cheap and convenient way to go.

A plastic mini-hook on a strip of adhesive: it has a little tongue that you pull on when you don't want it on your uke any longer: whether after a day, a month or a year, it comes off like a charm and leaves no trace whatever, so it's perfectly harmless to your most treasured possession. Place it on the tail end, slightly off-center (horizontally and vertically closer to your body), attach one end of a shoe-lace to it and the other end just behind the nut.

This way, I was able to splurge on a fluorescent elasticized band which provides even more freedom (and glows in the dark!! -- just kidding, but possibilities are endless).

Baritone

2009-10-06T13:53:00.009-04:00

I haven't posted in a month, but I have not been idle...

My first baritone, and a bit of a gamble at that since I used the same maple veneer for the soundboard as for the sides: gorgeous wood but more akin to skin than to a piece of wood.
A lot of work went into it, in particular the general design, shaping the headstock and the bridge the bridge, and then, the last three days spent shaping 4-5 different nuts and 3 saddles before I could get the action exactly right.

I'm pleased (overlooking minor flaws), not only by the beauty of the various woods once finished, but also by the sound: like re-discovering the uke all over again!

Group portraits

2009-09-04T09:18:00.001-04:00

Bottom inlay

2009-09-03T09:10:00.002-04:00

The bottom joint is often prettified or disguised with the use of an inlay. First, I saw the sides down to the bottom block and chisel out the channel, then fit in a sliver of wood of the same thickness and shape, tulipwood in this instance. It looks easy, but can be quite a challenge.

Bracing the top

2009-09-02T08:55:00.006-04:00

Fan bracing design: this may be overkill for a uke, even a baritone like this one, but I'm using such a thin top that erring on the safe side seems like a good idea.

The braces are shaped to combine strength and lightness.

Back

2009-09-01T14:31:00.002-04:00

Two plates of lacewood, or leopardwood, with a strip of ebony sandwiched in-between: I've wetted it for the picture to show its remarkable grain and color.

The inside view shows the center graft and the three braces which are shaped so as to give the back a slight horizontal curvature.

Dry-fitting the neck-body joint.

2009-08-31T16:40:00.002-04:00

Seems to work.

Lining and reinforcing sides

2009-08-30T16:20:00.002-04:00

Linings -- strips of wood -- are glued onto the inside rims, then shaved and sanded down to level, to provide more adherence surface for glueing the back and the top later on.

I'm also reinforcing the sides, which are really very thin in this instance, with a few strategically placed strips.

Sides

2009-08-30T16:15:00.003-04:00

After being cut and bent, the sides are glued together onto two blocks at bottom and at top.

Headstock

2009-08-28T13:20:00.004-04:00

Here is another neck: a bloodwood veneer has been applied onto the front of the peghead and a thinner mahogany veneer covers the back of it. Those veneers hide the joints of the peghead: the scarfjoint but also the joints of the bilateral "ears" (pieces of wood glued to the sides of the peghead to make it wider), as is the case here.

This neck is made of jatoba, or brazilian cherry, which actually looks like mahogany with a bit of a purplish hue, but is a heavier, denser wood. I must have spent 3-4 hours shaping that peghead: it still needs a bit of work.

Shaping a neck

2009-08-28T12:58:00.005-04:00

First, there was a board sawn at 15-degree angle and the two pieces glued back together upside-down in a scarfjoint; then, blocks of wood were glued to the bottom to form the heel. Then, the heel, the neck proper and the peghead were all band-sawn to conform roughly to a desired outline. Now the neck and heel have to be rounded with raps, files and various grades of sandpaper.

Aside from the bandsaw part, I'm doing everything with handtools and trying to work outside as much as possible to take advantage of the sunny weather which has been pretty scarce over the summer.

Family portrait 2

2009-08-27T13:09:00.001-04:00

Figure 8 ukes.

Another Tenor Uke - Pucelette

2009-08-21T14:08:00.003-04:00

Very similar to the one of June 11th, but with cherry banding, and ebony for the bridge and smaller parts in the back and heel. And of course, a soundhole that's also different.

Tri gracie

2009-08-04T13:30:00.004-04:00

As I'm nearing the end of my "harvest" for the season, it's time for group pictures. First the three citole-shaped tenors posing among August flowers.

That's definitely Baudelaire lurking in the background:

Tes hanches sont amoureuses

De ton dos et de tes seins,

Et tu ravis les coussins

Par tes poses langoureuses.

Minstrel - Tenor ukulele

2009-08-03T14:29:00.006-04:00

I'm calling this one minstrel, ménestrel, Minnesänger...

Mahogany tenor dewdrop

2009-07-29T10:13:00.004-04:00

After the mostly cherry tenor dewdrop, I wanted to try and make an all-mahogany one. Everything went well with the body: bracing, glueing, sanding, and perfectly symmetrical for once. Then I joined it to the neck and everything went awry: the angle was too far back, so I had to add several thin layers to the top of the neck to compensate; then, when it came time to add the fretboard, I discovered the neck had been filed and sanded far too much on one side, so I added additional layers to it. Then shaping the nut and saddle, they were never tall enough, so I ended up adding to the bridge to support an extra high saddle: five nuts and three saddles later, the action was finally right. During the whole process, I seriously considered chucking the whole thing several times, but I couldn't give up on that great mahogany body without pangs of regret. Well, sometimes persistence does pay off: this uke is the clearest and loudest sounding one I've produced so far with a terrific sustain.

Hybrid

2009-07-26T14:37:00.003-04:00

Posing with my favorite flowers, this uke is quite similar to the previous soprano, but with a concert neck and VSL (15") since I'm partial to the concert fretboard. Same woods as well except for the padouak fretboard and cocobolo bridge.

Little Devil

2009-07-23T10:17:00.002-04:00

This little (concert-size) guy may be lopsided, but he makes up for it by being exceptionally sonorous. I used cross bracing for the soundboard: it seems to have worked well.

Walnut sides and back (with an ebony divider) and western red cedar soundboard. Mahogany neck, rosewood fretboard and bridge with a bloodwood saddle and ebony nut.

Family portrait

2009-07-21T13:23:00.004-04:00

Soprano, concert and tenor... I can feel a baritone coming.

Dewdrop tenor uke

2009-07-17T09:26:00.005-04:00

A dewdrop-shaped tenor uke with cherry back (look at that color!) and sides.

The answer to last week question on the wood used for the previous ukulele: basswood! It's usually bland in appearance, while this piece had that stunning wavy figure from the start (is there such a thing as curly basswood?); it also felt velvety to the touch. I'm glad I went ahead and used it as a soundboard.

Mysterious wood concert uke

2009-07-10T17:32:00.007-04:00

Can you guess what the wood used for the soundboard is? It isn't bookmatched unfortunately because I only found a single 2' by 4" thin sheet of it. It was so unusual I just had to use it, but I had to wait until I could apply the finish to see the true beauty of it revealed.

The rest is easy: plain maple, cherry, ebony, mahogany.

Just to prove to myself I could build a traditional-looking uke more or less by the book.

Done

2009-07-08T17:34:00.006-04:00

Another tenor with a medieval look. My first attempt at piercing a rosette directly in the soundboard. Another first for me: a very thin cherry banding glued onto the outside of the ribs.

A highly figured piece of maple for the back, Douglas fir for the soundboard, plain hard maple for the sides, rosewood for the fretboard, cocobolo for the nut and the bridge with an ebony saddle. The neck is made of three pieces : a paradoxically white piece of black walnut with a heel of hard maple and a very thing band of padouak in-between.

I really like the way this whole instrument handles. Strung with a low G, it is highly resonant with a deep sustain.

After

2009-06-28T11:01:00.006-04:00

Applying that first coat is magical: after many months of working and imagining what the instrument will finally look like, it is at last coming alive.

Before

2009-06-28T10:54:00.004-04:00

This is another tenor uke that is almost completed.

Before applying the first coat of finish, when the sanding is finally done and the wood, albeit smooth, is still dull.

Uke soprano

2009-06-17T09:35:00.007-04:00

Tenor uke - Pucelette

2009-06-11T15:54:00.010-04:00

"Pucelette" or "little flea" in old French. All ukes are "pucelettes', but this one is so officially christened here and now!

Just completed this morning. The silhouette of the body is like nothing I've ever seen, but it is a shape I was striving for in my imagination for a long time.

I was fortunate to find the exceptional figure of the walnut revealed once the ordinary board I had purchased was sliced. That's what I used for the back with a strip of padouak in the center; there's also a bit of padouak in the heel and on the tip of the wings.

The sides (one continuous band actually) are also black walnut and the soundboard is yellow cypress. The neck is made of walnut as well, with a soft maple overlay. The fretboard and bridge come from a particularly colorful piece of cocobolo. Nut and saddles of ebony. Strung with a low G Hilo set.

Now off for tuning and playing...

Cherry back hourglass dulcimer

2009-06-09T08:26:00.007-04:00

The wood for the sides is curly yellow birch, the top is hard maple. The wood for all parts of the body is very thin (1/16"), so the instrument is quite light.

Padouk and birch for the fingerboard, mahogany for the peghead, ebony for bridge and nut.

This is my last dulcimer for the season: it will all be ukuleles until the fall.

Cherry back - Hourglass lap dulcimer

2009-06-08T17:53:00.005-04:00

Here are two pictures of the back, in the sunlight and in the shade, just to celebrate the beauty of that piece of cherry and its exceptional coloring (click on the pics to see a close-up).

First tenor uke

2009-05-19T09:10:00.007-04:00

My first (more on the way) completed tenor (17" VSL) designed with the silhouette of a medieval citole in mind.

Mostly black walnut for the back, with a strip of ipe in the center, and the neck. The sides are also black walnut, but then I got hold of that gorgeous maple veneer and was tempted to use it, so I glued it onto the walnut (not without various mishaps along the way) and the headstock. Zebrawood for the fretboard and bridge.

Woods

2009-05-16T09:28:00.007-04:00

A lot of the appeal in making an instrument comes from working with wood.
The very names of exotic species re-awaken childhood imaginings and reveries about fabulous locales: cocobolo, chakte kok, bloodwood, ebony, flaming acacia, lacewood and zebrawood, bocote, ziricote...
And what a wonder to actuallly see what domestic species look like in the intimacy of their flesh - beech and walnut, cherry and birch, butternut and Douglas fir! And to discover the extraordinary variety, if only in maple: quilted, curly, bird's eye, soft, hard, roasted(!).
Some woods smell delicious: Spanish cedar, western red cedar, yellow cypress. Some feel like silk while with others your fingertips can still feel the ridges and waves.
Every stage in the process of selecting and shaping each part of the instrument is pregnant with the anticipation (hope and anxiety mixed) of what it will eventually look like once finished.

My first tenor size uke is completed: it has a shape that resembles that of a citole, a medieval instrument whose design for some obscure reason is very appealing to me and that I have somehow been working towards. I will upload pics of it momentarily, but first, here are shots of some of the woods I've used.

Big brother is born

2009-05-10T11:12:00.006-04:00

This concert size (15" VSL) uke has the same design as the previous super soprano, but is longer and deeper (3"), with a thicker neck as well ( a body-builder's uke). So, naturally it has a deeper voice than the supersop.

For this one as for its brother, the bottom of the fretboard does not touch the soundboard. The neck is set at a slight angle, hence the higher saddle on the bridge.

The neck is made of mahogany (various colors for the layers ofthe heel and a bubinga tip); the headstock is laminated with cherry and padauk).

The sides are made of hard maple and the soundboard of western red cedar.

The photo doesn't do it justice, but the back is a magnificent piece of figured maple with horizontal waves and vertical lines. The fretboard and bridge are made of purpleheart, nut and saddle of ebony. Front and side markers: maple.

The first wave of tulips has come and gone, but a second wave has burst out.

Super Sop completed

2009-05-06T15:13:00.009-04:00

Finally completed the nut and saddle (ebony), strung it with Aquila strings and voilà!

Details are provided in previous posts (April). The bridge is a beautiful reddish piece of cocobolo.

Sounds pretty yam good too.

Willowleaf Dulcimer

2009-04-29T12:33:00.008-04:00

I was infatuated with the hourglass design but wanted to try my hand at the willowleaf and fell in love all over again!
I used Spanish cedar for the back and sides: a delight to work with. It smells so good and strong, the whole workshop is transformed. And it's a beautiful wood: once finished, subtle silky patterns appear and disappear in the light.
The top is Douglas fir, the fretboard is again birch overlaid with padouak, and the peghead is mahogany overlaid with cocobolo.
I've built it thinner than the previous two, a traditional 1.5" in depth, but it is even more resonant.
In time for the tulips...

Second hourglass

2009-04-23T15:36:00.005-04:00

Just completed... in time for the first spring flowers.

The top of this one is butternut, the sides curly yellow birch, the back cherry and the fretboard is birch overlaid with padouak; bloodwood-tigerwood for the heel and figured soft maple over marupa for the headstock.

Last year - Guitar shaped concert

2009-04-22T11:07:00.006-04:00

Ah! tradition, bent sides, and I do like that shapely silhouette...

Western red cedar top, walnut side, mahogany back, cocobolo (miam! miam! -- so good!) bridge, rosewood fretboard, bubinga headstock.

SupSop: Four coats, four days.

2009-04-19T11:25:00.005-04:00

Doux comme la peau des fesses d'un bébé: un critère infaillible pour juger qu'il est temps d'arrêter!

The lines, the grain, the patterns, the waves: all those details in the wood I was as yet unaware of have come out.

The sun is shining, the day is warming up. I've been sanding other instruments for the past two hours. I used to resent the sanding process because I wanted to get it done, finish the instrument, hear what it sounded like... Now I enjoy it: one grade of sanding paper and as thorough a job as I can, then wipe the wood and let it dry. Tomorrow, I will use the same grade, then the one above and so on until the next day and the next... As a result, I do a much better job of it and I enjoy myself: everyday the wood is looking better, and I'm working outside in the sunlight with the added benefit that I can clearly see all the minute flaws I would otherwise miss. There's no rush, nowhere to get to. C'est le pied!

Dulcimer fretboard

2009-04-17T12:23:00.003-04:00

3/4" thick, 1.5" wide, whatever length will accommodate the VSL (typically between 25" and 28"). Before cutting slots for the frets: 1) the surface has been finely sanded, 2) the strum hollow cut out and shaped with a bandsaw, rasps and files, 3) the underside under the frets (between the nut and the strum hollow) has been hollowed out. To remove the wood, some use a table saw, some a mortiser, some a chisel. I use a forstner bit in a drill stand: the line is a bit erratic, but that's allright. This will lighten the fretboard and allow better transmission of string vibrations.

This board is black walnut.

A moment to savour

2009-04-16T17:03:00.004-04:00

Since I started building folk instruments two years ago, and as I had everything to learn on my own (and with the help of all those generous builders/teachers on the Web), I've made innumerable mistakes.
There are so many tasks to perform in building an instrument, choices to make, so many things that can go wrong, that do go wrong, so many mishaps and frustrations. But so many joys also, tiny triumphs and lilliputian pleasures. And then, sometimes, there's the coincidence of effort and good fortune: not entirely luck because you've been trying so hard and experimenting, but still, the good fortune that befalls you is a gift. And it is an extraordinary feeling to look upon what you've made, but that was also partly made for you so that you think: what great good fortune, this is so perfect!
In this instance, it is this new finish I'm trying and I knew straightaway when I applied the first coat yesterday that I had chanced upon something special. Today, as I buffed the uke before applying a second coat, I could see the wood coming alive: all the patterns and waves and variegated colors. I'll post pics in a few days, when I've done all the coats, not sure how many yet.

This is the back of a uke I made last year: the butterfly is there to hide an ugly knothole in the wood and remind me not to take things too seriously!

Super Sop in the making (2)

2009-04-14T09:08:00.003-04:00

Earlier stages.

SuperSoprano in the making

2009-04-13T16:49:00.004-04:00

A lot of work has gone into laminating the neck and heel (mahogany and padauk) and the back (black walnut and padauk ). The top is Western red cedar, the fretboard padauk as well.
I have just inserted the position markers (maple dots) on the side of the neck. The whole instrument has already received multiple sandings: one more sanding with 400 grit and I'll start applying finish. The neck is set at a very slight angle so that the bottom of the fretboard does not touch the soundboard, thus providing more vibrating surface (something new I'm trying). The outside circle of the soundboard has been sanded down to 1/16".
More pics of previous stages in the building of this particular uke will be posted later.
"Super" sop because the VSL is a bit longer (14") than the norm.

Cherry

2009-04-13T14:28:00.005-04:00

The next two dulcimers that I'm in the process of finishing are also hourglass-shaped. The backs are made of very thin (1/16") cherry. They are braced with light but strong pieces of wood with a slight curvature so that the back will be just a little bit convex. The central brace, which touches both sides, the bottom and the top, is pierced with a number of holes to allow the sound and the vibrations to travel.
The sides are also 1/16" thick: I've used curly yellow birch which has a nice wavy pattern to it. The strips at the bottom and the top of the sides are there to provide to a wider surface onto which the soundboard will be glued.

I've just finished sanding one completed dulcimer and applied the first coat of finish to the body: there will be several more coats over the next few days before I apply separately a tung oil finish to the fretboard.