Here is the latest build in my growing catalog of handmade musical instruments. It is a Tenor Ukulele with solid Rosewood sides and bottom. A solid Spruce top, Mahogany neck, and Zirocote fingerboard with Gold frets. We chose not to install any inlays on the fingerboard because the Ziricote figure is stunning. A wood Chevron on the top, bottom, and end. It also has Maple and Rosewood binding, a Rosewood ‘Rosette’, and black and white wood Purfling. The bottom is also tapered and radiused. A slightly rounded bottom helps with volume and projection.
I took on this project because I like to make things for my wife, Sue. She deserves nothing but the best, mainly because she puts up with me and encourages my creativity. Sue has become an excellent ukulelist (I guess that’s a word) since I bought her a ukulele for Christmas a couple of years ago. She works hard at learning the craft and shows almost daily progress. I am very impressed with the fact that Sue practices every day. Sue also took an active part in designing and picking materials for this build.
Skip to the last few pictures for the finished Sue-kulele and a video of Sue playing it for the first time. (Keep in mind that nylon Uke strings take forever to stretch into tune.)
So, here are the pics of the birth of the Super Custom Tenor Ukulele (Sue-kulele) . . . ENJOY!:
Tracing the Rosewood BottomThe Spruce Top Before Cutting To Shape . . . Oh! And My Favorite Beer. Negra Modelo . . . Ukuleles Go Well With Beer, I Believe . . .The Tenor Ukulele Jig I Built with the Sides Bent In PlaceChecking the Bottom With The SidesDetermining The Placement of the Rosewood RosetteThe Backstrip Channel Looks Kinda’ Rough Here. See the Backstrip at the Top Of the PictureGluing the Sides To the Neck and Back Blocks. The Neck Block is Solid Mahogany, and the Back Block is Laminated Spruce, Both Hand-Carved, Of CourseGluing the KerfingChecking That the Sides Are Level. I Used Sandpaper Spray-Glued To a Flat Board And Sanded the Sides Until They Were All Even.Carving the Channel for the Top Chevron StripShaping the Braces From Laminated Strips of SpruceRoughing-In the BracesRoughing-In the BracesClamping the Glued Braces to the Top. I Opted For A Circular Spruce Soundhole Brace That You Can See Around The Soundhole Instead of Vertical Straight BracesClamping the Glued Braces to the TopGluing Braces to the TopShaping the Curve of the Back Bracing Using a 15′ Radius Dish (How they came up with the number 15′ (foot?) radius is a Mystery to me).A Back Brace after Shaping the Curvature Using A 15′ Radius DishGlue on the Sides Ready to Place the Back OnGluing the Ukulele Back to the SidesGluing the Ukulele Back to the SidesThe Ukulele Back and Sides after Installing the Wood Chevron Backstrip. I added B&W Purfling to all the Inlays for effect.Inside the UkuleleInside the UkuleleUkulele Back and SidesCutting Fret Slots with my Home-Made Slotting JigMy Newest Tool_A Hand-Made Palm Plane from Bob Benedetto who builds Custom Archtop Jazz Guitars . . . Awesome! Planing the HeadstockPlaning the Edges of the Neck and FingerboardPlaning the Edges of the Neck and FingerboardInstalling Gold Frets on the Ukulele Fingerboard . . . Look at that Ziricote!!!Ukulele Top and Fingerboard After Carving The Neck Mortise At the Front of the Uke_That Fingerboard is Ziricote . . . Beautiful!Preparing to Install the TopCarving the Bridge From a Block of Rosewood . . . Yeah! I hand-carved it!Carving and Filing the Bridge From a Block of RosewoodUkulele Bottom with Braces, Kerf Lining, Neck, and Tail Blocks_I Used Lemon Oil To Condition the Inside Before Closing It UpUkulele Top with Braces and Bridge PlateInstalling the Electronics Before Gluing the Top OnTenor Ukulele Top Glue-UpThis Tool is Called a “Gramil” and is Used to Score and Cut the Channels for Purfling and Binding. I used a similar tool to score and cut the channel for the Rosewood and B&W Purfling Rosette.Tape Is Used to Hold the Purfling (black and white decoration) Around the Body Securely While the Glue is Drying.Tape and Clamps Used to Hold the Binding securely While the Glue is DryingSue, my wife, playing her new “Super Custom Tenor Ukulele (Suekulele) for the first time! p.s. I installed better tuners and broke the strings in (lots of string bending). It now stays in tune!The Finished Sue-kuleleThe Finished Sue-kulele from the Back. Check out the Ziricote End-Cap (where the neck meets the body). It’s the same wood as the fingerboard.The Sue-kulele
What a fine instrument you created Dave! It was so amazing to see the progress and all the specialized tools. It was fun to see Sue play it after all. Loved it!
Lovely work, David. Glad to see more ukulele players among the T-shirts. I only recently found out my bro Aaron has been collecting a number of them and learning to play.
What a fine instrument you created Dave! It was so amazing to see the progress and all the specialized tools. It was fun to see Sue play it after all. Loved it!
Lovely work, David. Glad to see more ukulele players among the T-shirts. I only recently found out my bro Aaron has been collecting a number of them and learning to play.
Very very nice, everything you documented.
Is that a baritone or tenor ??
Ummmm . . . I hate to be the one to point this out but . . . Did you read the title?