12 & 13 progress pics

I've decided to document my building process on the next two ukes, which I will be selling once they are built. I thought it would be nice for the future owner to be able to see how their ukulele was put together. Also, my process changes constantly, so I wanted to document for myself how it is right now so I can look back and compare it to what I will be doing down the road.

The first pic is just some of the wood that will be used for the two ukes. The set on the left is pistachio wood and the one on the right is black walnut. Both sets will have a spruce top, mohogany neck, and bubinga fretboard. I'm still on the fence about any other frills, but I can decide on that as I go along.







The first thing I do is thickness down the wood to somewhere between 1.5mm and 2.5mm. I determine the thickness of the wood as I am planing it down. I want a good balance between flexibility and stiffness which almost has to be determined on the fly.I use my Safety Planer for this right now. It works well, but I am saving up for a drum sander which will give me a much more controllable result.

Here is the result. I am also documenting the time I am spending on each build, so I can have a better idea of time vs. cost.












On a completely different subject, I am also hand carving a huge tiki for a good freind of mine out of a section of Florida yellow pine. Between these projects, my job, and my wife and kids, I am constantly at work! :)

Sun and Moon Set

Here is a matching pair of sun and moon ukuleles that I made for a a friend of mine, Blair, and his wife. Blair runs an excellent cocktail/spirit blog called Good Spirits News. Please check it out!

Both have myrtle wood sides and back with rosewood bindings and macassar ebony fretboards. The sun uke has a port orford cedar top and the moon uke has a walnut one.
Both of these ukes were a joy to make and are easily my best builds so far.

Next I will be working on another walnut one and a uke made from some of the most gorgeous pistachio wood you have ever seen. Perhaps I will post some progress pics on that one as I go along so you can all see how I build. Thanks for your interest in what I'm doing!

The Hale Ukulele Set

Hey, Folks! These next two ukuleles were an important set for me. They were commisioned by Ric and Monica of Hale Ukulele in San Diego. They wanted me to design and build a line of ukes to be sold as there store brand, but made by Leeward Lounge Ukes.


The first one is a beautiful myrtle wood uke with a MiSi pickup installed. The second one is made of curly mango. Both of them turned out terrific with a nice, mellow tone and a good amount of volume and pop.

There will be minor changes to design on the future Hale builds, like a smaller look to the bridge, but for the most part we're on our way!

I want to give a special thank you to Ric and Monica for their trust, support, and this amazing opportunity. Please check out their website, http://www.haleukulele.com/ , or better yet, stop by their store if you are in the area.

#7, the first Mytle

This is a ukulele that I made for a woman, Sherry, from  the San Diego area. It is a Myrtle wood tenor with a Cedar soundboard,  Rosewood bindings, and a Macassar Ebony fretboard. I was very happy with how it turned out and, thankfully, so was she. Here is just a bit of the review she sent back to me,

"I got the uke about a half hour ago.  It arrived in perfect condition.  You did a great job!  I tuned it up and the intonation is excellent.  The workmanship is first rate.  The uke is loud.  I am impressed by how light it is – I've had a chance to play early ukes make by Joe Souza (Kanilea) and Kelii, and they were not as light or resonant as this uke.  I love the size – it's almost like a long neck concert which is great for me I don't like big bodied ukes.

It's really impressive how clearly the notes chime and separate on the upper frets, and the neck feels great.  I've got a couple of ukes that I got from a collector that are some famous makers, and this uke competes with them."

I really did feel as if I turned a corner on this build. It's not like it went together easily; it didn't. But I felt much more confident about the scope of what I was doing. I have really learned to like the sound of a cedar or spruce top. I love the high-end pop that they give, especially with Worth strings, which I am also having a love affair with.

Thanks again, Sherry!

Uke #4, The Hinano Paul uke

 

This is another mango uke that I made for my friend, Paul from California. He wanted a uke similar to Pablus's instrument, but with something that the others didn't have. He didn't care so much what it was, just that it was unique. So I surprised him buy inlaying an island themed silhouette into the bubinga fretboard. This was a lot of fun to make! The mango has a nice, warm tone and good sustain, with just enough punch to make it stand out.

Uke #6, The Pablus ukulele

This is a uke that I made for another friend of mine, Pablus, who resides in the Tampa Bay area and is and amazing musician and front man of the tiki band, The Crazed Mugs (http://www.crazedmugs.com/). This one is made from mango wood. Mango has a suprising amount of color, figure and depth. I am still getting people who as for it based on this one uke. When Pablus and I were discussing the details of how his uke should look, he joked with me that I should carve a tapa cloth design into the headstock. I don't know if he was serious or not, but I thought about it long and hard and desided to create a veneer for the headstock that looked like tapa cloth. It took me forever to do, but eventually I created one out of maple, mahogany, and ebony.

Since then, Pablus honored and humbled me by shooting a video of himself playing the uke that I built for him. I owe him a huge debt of gratitude, because the video turned out wonderful and has been an amazing sales tool for me. THANK YOU, PABLUS!!!!

Uke #5, The Rhum Rhum Room ukulele

This is an ukulele that I built for my good friends, Joe and Nicole, for their New York home bar, The Rhum Rhum Room. This was a very fun build, with fretboard inlays to go along with their bar's logo. This uke is similar in style to my previous uke; being made from mahogany and spruce with an ebony fretboard.

Here is a link to a review of The Rhum Rhum Room that was done by the NY Barfly website: http://www.nybarfly.com/my_weblog/2009/02/review-the-rhum-rhum-room.html