Building a Ukulele....For Dummies

Starting to measure for the bridge positioning. This is interesting and fun stuff. I even used the term 'triangulation', and it didn't involve an episode of '24'







Clamp the bridge to measure accurately...







A startled spectator wanders past

About to stick the bridge on, but it's too big, so needs to go through the, eh...machine-thingy than makes it thinner.
Thicknesser? Canny remember, but it takes a wee bit off the wood





All the measurements and 'triangulation' is done, and the final bridge position is marked out using masking tape.





It's on, but let's just check it again.





That's got to be close!





Some people are just a lot more relaxed about the whole thing than me

Lunch time over, it's time to concentrate on my nuts





Checked for fit...




That bridge should be about ready by now.





It's all systems go, as we're now up against the clock to get finished. Let's look at that heel again...





Fit the heel cap.





Glue it, clamp it, job done.





Measurements taken and lines drawn in preparation for tuner installation.

Back to the headstock, and Ricky ably assists me in coring the holes using the bench drill.

Any inference made at the time that this was our 'Ghost' moment is vehemently denied







Ahem.

So the tuner holes are now drilled and ready for a bit of slight reaming





Let's have a look at the while neck again now.

On goes the finishing oil, and this really is a very rewarding part of the process












A thin coat of the oil is wiped over the surface of the wood using a lint-free rag, then any excess is wiped off with another clean rag. Once on, it is left to dry/seal for around 30-40 minutes, before we can cut it back with some 0000 steel wool and then re-apply the oil. This is done to take away some of the raised grain occurring from the application of the oil, and can be done over and over with many more coats to build up the finish.
I might get my own oil and 0000 steel wool and continue building up the finish in the coming weeks.

Interestingly, we learned through practical demonstration that a simple 9v battery can easily and quickly ignite this 0000 stuff witha single contact Fun experiment in a woodshop

Arrgh! More drilling required, this time to screw on the tuners! I'd forgotten about this, so the stress is back with a vengence





Thankfully, this went without a hitch (ok, there was one minor hitch, but it was soon sorted).
This is us getting the tuner position aligned.





The strings are on! Now, apart from some final setup, adjusting the nut slots and saddle height, it's done.
(I didn't get any pics of it, but we shaped and sanded the nut, cut the slots and sanded the saddle too).





Fergus was so excited, he had to get an aerial shot of his uke.





Here's his superb finished concert ukulele.




And here we are, all done, standing proudly with our completed ukuleles. This was taken at just before 9pm, so I'm looking very bedraggled (well, a bit more so than usual).