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It's Finished!

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The ukulele was completed in February. It was strung up with a low G aquila nylgut strings. The sound exceeded my expectations and has become my daily player.

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Fabricate & Install Bone Nut & Saddle / Convert to Pin Bridge

Bone saddles and nuts were fabricated for the ukuleles and installed. The saddle was adjusted for 5/32" string height at the 12th fret. The bone nuts and saddles were trimmed and polished. The ukuleles were strung up with Aquila strings and were brought up 2 steps down from normal pitch. It will take a couple days for them to settle out. They sound good so far. The ukuleles were tuned to full pitch. The additional string tension produced good volume and sustain with a bright sound. The sound gets better everyday. Well, I thought all was well with the ukuleles. I discovered the string holes on the bridge were spaced too far apart forcing the 1st and 4th strings to angle to the edge of the fretboard. The ukuleles would be ok if one only played in the "first" position (first 3 frets), but a real problem playing notes and chords up the neck. I figured out some options, none very appealing, that would fix the problem: 1. Replace bridge, 2. Plug all holes and re-drill st

Cut Dovetail Joint & Reinforce Tenor Necks

The neck blanks were cut at a 15 degree angle to form the scarf joint for the head stock. I converted my chop saw scarf cutting jig to work on my table saw. I now get a more accurate cut and spend less time tweaking the scarf joint. Dovetail joints were routed on the bodies and necks. The tenor necks were prepped for a 1/8"x1/4" carbon fibre reinforcing rod and epoxied into the necks. Dovetail Joints were routed on the Ukulele Bodies The Dovetail Joint Provides a Strong Connection to the Neck Dovetail Joints Cut on the Necks Router Cutting a Channel for a Carbon Fibre Reinforcement Rod The Carbon Fibre Reinforcement is epoxied into the neck

Prepare Ukulele Top and Back

The top and back plates were book matched and glued. Marquette center strips were integrated into the back designs. Simple rosettes were inlayed to the ukulele sound boards. The solid wood purfling required heat to bend into proper shape. I used the circular barrel of my branding iron and voltage regulator to bend the purfling. In the spirit of this blog, I'm researching different bracing configurations. Inspired by the sound of my Koaloha tenor ukulele, I designed a similar bracing pattern. The simple design includes two horizontal braces, a flat horizontal brace and bridge patch in the lower bout. In lieu of a uni-brace I shifted the lower back brace to,align with the horizontal top brace and reinforcing the side near the waist. This brace design is used in the concert ukulele (C-2X #011) and tenor ukulele (T-2X #012). Tenor ukulele #013 is traditionally fan braced. I am anxious to compare the sound of the different brace designs. Traditional fan brace (left) New Brace Des

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