A few days ago, I started building an ukulele. I've wanted to attempt a stringed instrument for a while, and winter break seemed like a good time to start.
| Type | Scale length[26] | Total length | Tuning[27] |
|---|---|---|---|
| soprano or standard | 13" (33 cm) | 21" (53 cm) | A4-D4-F#4-B4 or G4-C4-E4-A4 |
| concert | 15" (38 cm) | 23" (58 cm) | G4-C4-E4-A4, or G3-C4-E4-A4 |
| tenor | 17" (43 cm) | 26" (66 cm) | G3-C4-E4-A4, G4-C4-E4-A4 , or D4-G3-B3-E4 |
| baritone | 19" (48 cm) | 30" (76 cm) | D3-G3-B3-E4 |
Design
I first found some diagrams to get an idea of scale. A search turned up this diagram of an ukulele neck, and I used this as a template for mine.
A great little program called FretFind helped me layout the locations of the frets, as well as sizes of the neck, nut and bridge.
Build
I'm using a machinist's vise. I duct taped some thin ply scrap to the jaws so it wouldn't mark up the wood
I wanted to inlay a fretboard, something a bit more durable and nicer looking than the poplar. To make room for the inlay, I set the blade on the table saw to about 3/16" and took some slices out of the top of the neck.
After that, it was easy to clean it up and flatten it out with a straight chisel.
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| glue applied |
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| The fretboard - It's a piece of bloodwood scrap that my Dad had lying around. |
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| The spring clamps weren't as snug as I would've liked, so I later used C clamps instead. |
I opted out of using geared tuners since the tension on the strings won't be anywhere near that of a steel string guitar. Instead, I made wood tuning pegs.
That's a small piece of white oak that I sloppily cut with a coping saw. I whittled it down with a knife until it stopped looking so boxy, but it still wasn't round enough.
I hesitate to use the word lathe...
Enter the inverted cordless drill in a vise!
This worked surprisingly well. I'd put the smallest end of the peg in the chuck, operate the drill with my left hand, and manipulate a chisel with my right. I don't know the technical name for it, but I used a roller that's supposed to support long pieces of stock as the thing that I rest the chisel on.
The peg is a bit blackened in this photo because I rubbed it in coal dust. That seems to give it a bit more of a hold.
Back to the neck
I trimmed the excess inlay from the neck with my trusty coping saw.
After some sanding...
With that done, I started shaping the head to accept tuners. I bored some holes and chiseled the rest.
Box Building
I read somewhere that cedar makes a good soundbox, so I dug through a stack of some old cedar siding that used to be installed on our house until I found some sufficiently not rotten pieces.
They're about 7/8" thick on one side, then they taper down to 1/4" or less on the bottom. I wanted the sides of my box to be thin, less than a quarter inch. I got to work with a plane to get them down to size.
It took a few hours. If I'd had access to a proper woodshop, I probably could have done it in a few minutes.
Here's the soundboard and the sides. I made the soundboard thinner than the sides because a thinner membrane generally means brighter sound.
Here's the tail end of the box
more to come..
Update 1/3/12: It's done as of a few days ago - here are the rest of the build photos:
Update 1/3/12: It's done as of a few days ago - here are the rest of the build photos:
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| box! I glued and tacked it together |
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| A piece of juniper harvested from our woods a few years ago |
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| piece of juniper carved into the nut |
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| first fret! I used the fret calculator mentioned earlier to position it just right |
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| clamping the bridge to the soundboard. I could have used about five extra hands while setting this one up. |
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| more frets |
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| flush cut saw used for cutting fret slots |
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| the soundboard was a bit flexy for my liking, so I added some maple bracing on the back (soon to be inside) |
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| done and strung! I cut the soundhole by tracing out a circle, then drilling out small holes all along the perimeter. |
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| linseed oil gives it some character |
