Official Luthiers Forum!

Per the cureuv.com thread going on nearby, here are some pictures of my recent efforts. This is my first ukulele, a tenor, based loosely on a partial Hana Lima plan I inherited plus some gen from around the 'net. I found it a real pleasure to build and I'm sure I will build more now. Construction-wise it's really just a mini guitar. Pretty much every operation used to make a full-size steel string acoustic guitar was used to make this instrument.

Specs:
- Back/sides/top/headplate/back-of-headplate are all curly koa (came from Anamura on eBay)
- Curly honduras mahogany neck with carbon fiber rod reinforcement
- BRW fingerboard and bridge
- Zipflex purfling and rosette (Thanks Kevin, I love that stuff!!)
- Domed fret ends
- Gotoh uke tuners
- 13 frets to the body (seemed to put the bridge right in the middle where it should be IMO!)
- UVcure.com (SPDI) polyester finish

















[img]http://www.cambrianguitars.com/images/uv/tenoruke/ch4/CIMG3822s.jpg[/img}



I used some Transtint water-based dye (golden amber IIRC) soaked into the bare curly koa to get the grain to pop a bit more. It looks really "3D" and has wonderful chatoyance.

The instrument sounds pretty nice - good tone right after it was strung up. The strings are still stretching, so it's a pain to play right now. In a couple of days I'll try to record something.

Cheers,
Dave F.

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Cambrian Guitars

"There goes Mister Tic-Tac out the back with some bric-brac from the knick-knack rack"

Really nice!

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The name catgut is confusing. There are two explanations for the mix up.

Catgut is an abbreviation of the word cattle gut. Gut strings are made from sheep or goat intestines, in the past even from horse, mule or donkey intestines.

Otherwise it could be from the word kitgut or kitstring. Kit meant fiddle, not kitten.

Beautiful uke Dave. It makes me want to build another one in koa. Whenever I see your logo, it makes me jealous of your laser cutter!

Pat

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There are three kinds of people:

Those that make things happen,
those that watch things happen,
and those that wondered what happened.

Beautifull work !! I love the grain in that build !

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The Shallower the depth of the stream , The Louder the Babble !
The Taking Of Offense Is the Life Course Of The Stupid One !
Wanna Leave a Better Planet for our Kids? How about Working on BETTER KIDS for our Planet !
Forgiveness is the ability to accept an apology that you will probably NEVER GET
The truth will set you free , But FIRST, it will probably Piss you Off !
Creativity is allowing yourself to make Mistakes, Art is knowing which ones to Keep !
The Saddest thing anyone can do , is push a Loyal Person to the point that they Dont Care Anymore
Never met a STRONG person who had an EASY past !
http://wiksnwudwerks.blogspot.com/
http://www.facebook.com/groups/GatewayA ... rAssembly/

Beautiful work Dave it looks awesome!

A real little honey of a uke Dave. I've made two tenors and am itching to make more. Threads like this only feed the itch

Oh, yeah!
That's sweet Dave. Don't think I've seen a uke 45'd before. Looks great.

Steve

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From Nacogdoches...the oldest town in Texas.

http://www.stephenkinnaird.com

That's a nice looking finish, Dave. Beautiful Koa. Did you brush this one?

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Ken Franklin
clumsy yet persistent
https://www.kenfranklinukulele.com

Wow, that is some really nice Koa! Beautiful job, and a big congrats!
Tracy

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Tracy
http://www.luthiersuppliers.com