This group of 4 is finished (awaiting one set of strings).
2 custom tenors, (one walnut and redwood, one sycamore and sitka spruce), 1 custom concert, (all sycamore) and 1 soprano, (walnut and redwood) since I have not built a soprano in quite a while.
I have been working on inlays for this set of 4 instruments. 2 of the instruments are specials for a friend and family (sunflower & falcon) and one is a commission for Roberto, owner of a red and a silver VW convertibles. Only the little soprano neck gets the standard ‘Jupiter Ukulele’ logo of the planet Jupiter.
I am finally pretty much finished, with only one small inlay to do, but that is on the heel so it will wait until the necks are shaped. Next up, final trimming the fingerboards, gluing them on, and then neck shaping.
I am doing inlay. In this group of 4 instruments (I build in sets of 4) two are presents and one is a commission so they involve moderate to complex inlay. This is one of those times when I am kind of amazed to step away from the bench and see all the tools and things which have come out. Between choosing the pearl, to figuring out how to best cut the design, assembling it before doing the actual inlay … oops – got to re-cut that piece… it gets busy with small things.
One example. Sunflower for Katie. Yellow mother of pearl, paua abalone pearl, green recon stone.
This one has a MISI pickup in it which I really like. It maintains the ‘acoustic’ sound that I work hard to achieve.
and some more
The binding is done. I have been making my own purflings (those strips of color inside the binding) by laminating dyed wood veneers, and cutting them into small purfling strips with a very fine blade on the bandsaw. This allows me to make any color combination I, or the customer, wants.
Black-red-black purfling with sycamore binding on the redwood topped soprano. Black-white-black with bocote binding on the sycamore topped concert. Black-green-black with koa binding on the spruce topped tenor (with the roots). Blue-orange-blue with sycamore binding onthe redwood topped tenor.
Now it is on to neck work, making fingerboards, and then doing the inlay. Three out of these four are ‘specials’ and will get pretty extensive inlay.
The bodies are closed up, next comes binding.
Walnut and redwood soprano, all sycamore concert, walnut and redwood tenor, sycamore and spruce tenor.
I have been working on a design where there will be tree on the fingerboard, with the base of the tree embedded in a little ‘greenery’ right at the bottom. Out from under the fingerboard come the roots (amboyna burl). This is also the first time I have used recon stone in a rosette. The stone is set off by 8 ‘spokes’ of abalone pearl and black-green-black purfling.
Today I started doing the rosettes. The first is paua abalone with black-white-black purfling on a sycamore top for the all-sycamore concert.
End grafts being glued, parts being assembled, tops and backs being worked on. A walnut/redwood soprano, all sycamore concert, walnut/redwood tenor, sycamore/spruce tenor.
