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The
ukulele started out as a small pile of thinly sanded
wood. The first Josephine model was all mahogany.
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A little cutting and shaping starts to make some pieces
look familiar. |
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Lots of jigs and workboards are necessary to build
any ukulele. This is the bending jig, used to heat
and shape the sides of the ukulele. The shape was
borrowed directly from one of Craig's LeDomino soprano
ukuleles. Heat is applied to the wood, laying over
the bending jig, comes from a special heating blanket
designed for this use. The wood side is sandwiched
between thin sheets of metal and the heating blanket.
Wetting or misting the wood makes it steam and softens
it for bending into shape. |
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If all goes well during the bending process, the sides
take shape nicely and look like this. The sides need
to be very thin to bend easily as you heat the wood
to over 200 degrees Fahrenheit. |
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To get to this point, the bent sides are joined by
gluing in the heel block and tail block. The ukulele
rims then go into a shaped mold to help retain the
right size and shape while you glue the top and back
on. |
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The top and back are both braced underneath for sound
and strength. The top also has a bridgeplate which
supports the area where the bridge is glued on. |
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Before long, the whole body is glued together. The
box becomes very strong by the time it gets to this
point, and you can hear the promise of musical tones
by tapping on the soundboard, and even on the back. |
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Cutting the ledge for the binding is one of the really
fun tricks once you get the heck of it. This is definately
a case of needing the right tools for the job. |
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Flash forward to the binding installed and finish
starting to be applied. |
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You can't play a uke without a neck, and here's what
the rough cutout and glue-up starts like. |
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The headstock and neck as they are being shaped. |
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Flash forward again to a finished ukulele. |
