Tommy MacDonald's 207 Woodworking Community • View topic

Harold O. · **Posted:** Thu May 10, 12 8:59 am

I've had a tenor ukulele kit in the shop for about three years. When first considering getting more serious about woodworking, building ukuleles was something I wanted to do. (as it happens, I lead a ukulele players group a couple times a month) But other projects got in the way and the Hana Lima 'Ia kit was set aside.

Building a ukulele from a kit is no that difficult if you are already familiar with tools and have access to them. Truth is, you don't need a lot of tools. I can see where some jigs would come in handy and I had to keep focused on finishing the build rather than making jigs. My plan is to build more ukes, so jig making has taken up some shop time this past few days.

I'm guessing that after five or six builds, I'll have the construction process figured out. Then I can focus on fine tuning the sound and finish. Unless I get distracted or go crazy.

I used walnut for the sides and back. They're thin at about .080 inches. Yikes.

Here's a link to the build story:
http://www.westhillswood.com/hana-lima- ... build.html

tiny · **Posted:** Sat May 12, 12 1:55 pm

Couldn't find any Koa wood?

Paul
the little howli (spelling?).

Harold O. · **Posted:** Sun May 13, 12 12:50 am

tiny wrote:

Couldn't find any Koa wood?

I have a 5-inch square piece of 3/4 koa in the stack. It will maybe find its way onto a headstock.

Since completing this particular ukulele, I have busied myself with making jigs and parts. There are a few parts I cannot make (frets, tuners, etc) but the rest isn't so hard.

tiny · **Posted:** Sun May 13, 12 8:40 pm

Hi Harold.

Did you by any chance take pictures of the build process? It would make a great how to.

Paul
the little fella

Harold O. · **Posted:** Mon May 14, 12 9:54 pm

Yes, I took some pictures.

http://www.westhillswood.com/hana-lima- ... build.html

As I am now busy making #2&3, I am going through the oh-so-common phase found in many worlds known as "overconfident mistakes". After settling down a bit and taking my time, I have moved on and should be able to have these two instruments done by week's end.

I'm thinking of skipping builds 4 through 10 so I can be good at this already. Yeah, yeah, yeah patience...how long will that take?

tiny · **Posted:** Wed May 16, 12 9:00 pm

Hi H arold.

Nice build! As they say, every build is simply practice for the next one, and every build is a learning experience. This one shows a lot of previous "practice" builds.

I also checked your piece on the Fletcher Aviation Desks. Nice work! I woder what one would look like with a leather inlaid top, with the wood as a border about 4 inches or so wide? Combination of older and newer styles that I think would look nice.

Paul
the little guy

worcmedic · **Posted:** Sat Oct 13, 12 9:09 pm

Now that is an area of fine woodworking I would love to try. I see you are not far from my aunt who is also in your city but on Bassett Street. Great job on the ukes!

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