Ukulele
This was one of the first highly technically projects I worked on. Music is a big part of my life, and I love playing string-based instruments. I owned a beautiful ukulele before making this one, but diving into this project made me appreciate my instruments so much more. There is an incredible amount of craftsmanship that I never realized went into musical instruments and I'm so glad that I was able to learn so much from this small concert sized ukulele.
I worked alongside my grandpa in his shop over the course of two weekends to complete this ukulele. We ordered prints online for a concert sized ukulele and purchased the wood from a local lumber yard. The fretboard we purchased online (with the frets pre-cut). We began by prepping the wood that would go on the body of the ukulele. Both the front and back were made by carefully planing two pieces of wood until they fit each other perfectly, and then joining them together. Using the prints, we temporarily adhered the paper to the wood while I used the bandsaw to cut out the shape of the body from both the front and back pieces, leaving just a bit of room on the outside. We then glued on bracing to the both pieces to help the body stay supported and rigid once the strings were added. Once the bracing had dried, the sound hole was cut on the front piece using a router, and another shallow groove was cut around the sound hole where the mother-of-pearl inlay was carefully glued.
To make the neck of the ukulele I used a piece of walnut and used an oscillating spindle sander to shape it it until I was happy with the contour. We made sure to angle the end of the neck to accommodate for the head of the ukulele where the tuners go. We then flattened the top of the neck with a planer. For the last step, we used a saw to create a notch in the end of the neck (that goes near the body of the ukulele) to be able to connect the neck to the rest of the instrument.
Bending the sides was particularly tricky. We made a hollow jig that was the same profile as we wanted, with the top bend replaced with metal. It also featured clamps that could be adjusted to gradually apply more pressure to the piece being bent. For a heat source, we used a light bulb on the inside of the jig. To prep the wood we placed it in a steam bath for 20 minutes until it was very pliable. Once the sides were ready, we placed them in the jig and slowly began clamping the wood tighter and tighter to the surface of the jig, spraying additional water onto it as needed to create more steam and keep the wood hydrated. Once the wood was completely clamped to the jig, we turned off the heat source and let the wood completely cool for a couple of hours.
Once the sides were cooled, we glued the back of the ukulele to the sides. Due to the intricate shape of the body, a notched wooden lining was soaked in the same steam bath described above to make it as flexible as possible, it was then glued into place around the edge of the ukulele. Both the sides and back were glued to this lining, allowing the pieces to stay together. We used large rubber bands to keep everything in place without damaging the body of the ukulele while it dried overnight. The next day, We used more notched siding glued to the top of the sides clamped it in place until the glue cured, and planed it down to allow a flat surface for the soundboard to be glued. While the inside of the body was easy to access, the neck was slotted into place. Then, the soundboard was carefully glued on top, and large rubber bands were placed around the body to provide compression and prevent any damage to the wood.
While the glue holding the body and neck together was curing, we began to work on the fretboard. The prints that we bought had the dimensions of the fretboard on it, so we used these to get it to the correct length, and left the sides just a little wide (to be sanded off later). The fretboard also features some beautiful mother-of-pearl inlays, and we installed these by drilling into the fretboard using small endmills and gluing the inlays in place. The inlays typically mark the 3rd, 5th, 7th, 9th and 12th frets on the ukulele. While we were drilling into the fretboard to place these, we miscounted and put holes in some of the wrong frets. Because we hadn't been saving any of the sawdust it would have been fairly difficult to plug the holes discreetly, so we decided to go with our mistake and place the inlays anyway. Not only are the inlays on the top of the ukulele, they are on the side of the fretboard as well! I was a little bit upset, but it taught me to double check my work before starting and I don't think I'll make the same mistake again.
