baritone ukulele

this ukulele i made back in 2005(i think) for my friend Suzanne Vallie  

 the soundboard is from the same batch of salvaged redwood planks that i used on my mandolin top.

 

the back is ebony from the lumber store bargain bin.

 the plates were beautifully bookmatched but on the wrong face.

they were warping in a curve opposite of how i wanted them to go, )l not (l, the back of the uke would have been concave. i actually had to heat bend the back plates like i do to shape the sides.

the sides and the headstock face are walnut which came from a junk piano bench. 

the rest of the bench got used to make a bakery case. i'll post photos of that here soon.

the fingerboard and bridge are padouk i had left over from luthiery school.

 the nut, saddle and inlays are gold acrylic. the rosette is padouk and maple, all the binding is maple.

you can kind of see how the back is heavily braced to keep the ebony from moving back the other way.

the neck is mahogany with no tale. here's the first strap button-on-headstock. i used water based laquer on this instrument in one attempt to abandon the toxic stuff. i didn't really like working with the water based stuff much better and gave up on it after a couple instruments.

tenor ukulele

i built this in 2006 for my friend Kari.  i had just been to the Guild of American Luthiers convention in tacoma so it only took me about a month to complete.

 

a few months after having this uke, Kari left it on top of her car at a show and drove off. it was not around anywhere when she went back to look. 

if anyone knows anything about what happened to this instrument please contact me here!

the top is sitka spruce. the fingerboard, bridge, and trim are purpleheart. 

  the back, sides, and neck are flamed maple that i got as partial trade for a guitar i built.

 Kari named it "the rockstar" because of all the pearloid flash.

the access panel in the endblock was inspired from Harry Fleishman's workshop at the luthier convention. 

 

the removable panel makes electronic and internal repairs far easier. also this is a place for a battery.

 the bracing design is my own, likely inspired by various convention lectures.

 the strap pin at the headstock finial is an idea from a baritone ukulele i had built. i'll post that next.