Ukulele Building, cont

It has been a few days now since I have posted the latest progress on building Palapala. Here we have glued the neck to the bodyNext we glue the bridge to the body using 3 clamps
We are now ready for final sanding and spraying on the finish
After the finish dries, it will be buffed to a high gloss. Then the tuners will be installed and strung. Ready for strumming. This will happen after I get back from the mainland Sat Dec 8

Ukulele Building, cont

The neck is attached to the body with a dowel. We will drill a hole in the body and then in the neck insert the dowel and glue the neck to the body.The position of the hole in the neck and body must be extremely precise. You can't see it in this picture but there is a small bubble level in the back top of the drill. This helps Pat align the drill so the hole will be straight.
Here he is drilling the body. See the piece of tape around the drill bit. That shows Pat how deep to drill. The top of the neck and the top of the body must be perfectly aligned when the neck is slid on to the dowel that will be inserted in the body. No ukulele work for a couple of days now. Darn.

Ukulele Building, cont

The body has been rough sanded. Is now ready for final sanding after the neck is attached.

Ukulele Building, cont

The ebony fretboard has been slotted. Now we will install the fret wire into the slots. Because the fretboard is tapered each fret wire is a different length. We measured and cut each wire. First each wire is pushed into the slot as Pat is doing hereThen, using a special vise grip and that fret hammer that you can see, the fret wire is forced into the slot. A drop of super glue on each side keeps the fret wire in the slot forever.

Ukulele Building, cont

Here is the neck after we drilled the eight holes for the tuners. Next we will install the fret wires onto the fret board. Tune in tomorrow to see what that looks like.

Green and Orange

Look what I found in our backyard.

Ukulele Building, cont

Continuing on with cutting the slots in the faceplate.

First thing we do is drill a hole in the spot where a slot will be cut so we can get the jig saw blade in. We drill a 3/8 inch hole on both sides.

Here Pat is cutting one of the slots.

Now you can see what I am talking about! The two slots will now be sanded and shaped and make ready for the tuners to be installed. No more ukulele work for a couple of days. Darn.

Ukulele Building, cont

We are going to work on the neck some more. This ukulele will have folk guitar style neck. It is a cleaner design for an 8 string instrument. The folk guitar style has two slots in the head so the turners can be mounted to the sides of the neck
We have glued the faceplate to the neck. The word "Palapala" was burned into the wood with a laser cutting device.
We have placed the neck into this marking jig. We can mark the position of the two slots using this jig. After we mark the position of the slots we will cut the slots using the drill press and a jig saw.

Ukulele Building, cont

We are now ready to apply the binding to the body. Binding goes around the edges of the top and bottom. It adds a decorative touch and protects the ukulele edge from damage.

The body has had the top and bottom trimmed. This shows the hand router that will cut the grove for the binding
Pat is using the router to cut the grove in the top edge. He will do the same on the bottom edge
The binding has been tacked and will be bent around the edge of the top
As he bends it, he applies glue and uses the tape strips to hold the binding to the grove while the glue dries. More tomorrow.