You guessed it…. More inlay!

The last few days have been filled with cutting and routing with miniature router bits and trying to keep from having my eyes permanently crossed. There really is a special trick to controlling your eyes when doing very small inlay work for hours on end without giving yourself a migrane.

First I started out by finishing up all of the ukulele logos. In this batch there were 3 koa and maple inlays and 2 abalone and mother of pearl. Here you can see the pocket cut and starting to add in the shell pieces.

Here are a couple of the logos fully inlayed.

Next we move on to the fretboards… Here is just one of the many pieces that will make up the signature fretboard inlay. These pieces are cut from flat sheets of bamboo.

Here is the bamboo inlayed into the ebony fretboard and ready for the glue.

and the finished fretboard. After the inlay is done, the fret slots are cut, the fretboard is shaped and the white koa binding is installed.

When I bend the binding for my ukuleles, it is easiest to do it a few ukes at a time. Here is a couple of ukulele’s worth of koa binding ready to go into the bending machine.

After the binding is bent it will be installed like this with the rest of the purfling.

 

 

Brazilian Rosewood ukulele : works in progress

Over the last few days I have been working on this beautiful Brazilian rosewood tenor ukulele. This uke is a Muse model and sports an unbelievable set of reclaimed Brazilian rosewood with plenty of figure and a great bell-like tap tone.

After the back plates were joined and the sides were bent it was time to install the backstrip. Here you can see the backstrip installed and being planed down.

This Mastergrade redwood top with it’s 50+ grain lines per inch are going to get the full Dwende treatment. Here is the rosette installed and soundhole cut.

Next the braces are glued on to the ukulele’s top and back.

Here is the finished backstrip.

And the ukulele body is all put together.

Next the end graft is inlayed.

The the binding and purfling channels are cut.

After the binding is installed the purflex is inlayed and the black epoxy is floated into the channel.

Then the binding and purfling is planed and scraped down to expose the beautiful design.

 

 

 

 

I was also able to get the first of the logo inlays for this batch done. Here is the Baritone’s neck.

Tenor Kasha bracing

The set of white koa is ready for bracing! Here you can see the pre-tapered braces already glued on and the beginning of the shaping and tuning process.

while the braces were being glued on, the sides were getting their kerfed linings glued in.

Then the top and back are attached to the sides to form the whole body.

I just acquired some incredible curly redwood for a customers tenor uke. This is some really beautiful stuff! Very deep consistant curl, super tight grain and beautiful color.

Here is some beautiful OLD figured brazilian Rosewood for a Muse tenor. These are the sides just getting ready to go into the side bending form.

The new muse baritone is getting a something different for the neck. This neck is made of Alaskan yellow cedar and sports a slotted headstock.

Binding and inlaid purfling

 

 

Ukulele body and neck construction

This last week, after the rosset and inlay were done on the baritone, it was time for the bracing to go on. Here is the rough bracing for the baritone muse. The braces are all spruce and the bridge patch is made from some beautiful curly maple. The braces will get further shaping from this point.

Here is the back with the braces all finished and ready to be joined to the sides.

The body is finally assembled and given a light wash coat of shellac to protect it for the binding procedure.

The back of the ukulele ready for the end graft.

The matching end graft is installed.

This baritone will be getting a special neck. It is made of Alaskan yellow cedar. It is a very light weight and stable material. As you can see, it is also getting a slotted headstock with beautiful gold Waverly tuners. Next I will be shaping the top of the headstock and inlaying the logo.

Here is the white koa  ukulele with the sides bent and the back braced up.

Here is the Purflex back strip and rosette installed and filled with black epoxy.

Now that the last batch of concert ukes is almost done, it’s time to start in on the next batch of custom ukes!

We start things off by laying out all of the sets for the next batch, sanding them to within about .020″ of final thickness and joining the book matched plates together.After all the sets are laid out the rosettes are cut out and the inlay is done.

This Baritone Muse ukulele is the first of it’s kind. As I have said before, once in a while I like to build an instrument to try out some new technics or materials. This Baritone will have a lot of new options in it. It is the first Muse Baritone I’ve built as well as the first time using “Purflex”. Purflex is a new product to take the place of shell purfling. The amount of detail that can be squeezed into this small space is amazing. I have always been a big fan of understated inlay. Yes, some large intricate inlay scenes are great, but I have always gravitated to more simplistic clean, organic lines.

Here is a picture of the rosette being fitted into the channel with 2 strips of black/white purfling.

It looks very simple but getting the very fine pieces to lie flat with the side strips of purfling take a bit of time and persistence.

Here is the rosette being filled in with black epoxy.

 

Here is the Baritone ukulele’s back strip done with the matching purflex. All of these inlay parts are laser cut.

Here is a close up of the back strip before the black epoxy is filled in around the wood inlay.

 

 

Here is a very rare set of koa. From the same material as the white koa binding, I was able to get a couple full ukulele sets. This koa is out of this world! Super tight curl, beautiful 2 tone color white/brown-orange and a great sounding tap tone to boot.

Here are a few other tops from the batch waiting for the rosettes. The set in the center will be matched with an incredible Brazilian Rosewood set. This is some serious master grade redwood! Most builders would be ecstatic with 30-35 grains per inch on a spruce top, let a alone a redwood top…. This mastergrade redwood top is almost uncountable… Best I could come up with is 53 grain lines per inch!

Here is the Brazilian set with it’s mastergrade redwood top.

This set of koa is from the Palolo valley on Oahu. The Redwood top that it will be paired with is some very special material too. a little over a year ago I happend upon a guy that had just taken down an old water tower from his property in upcountry Kula, here on Maui. This water tower was built some time between 1910-1925. As I drove up to the huge pile of old blackened boards stacked against a shipping container, all I could think is “there has got to be at least one great board in there”.

I was right! After a couple of hours of digging and examining these old rotted boards, I was able to find 3 that were perfectly quarter sawn, tight grain and totally stable. After closer inspection back at my shop and some planing and cutting I discovered that much of this redwood is mastergrade or better! Most of it sporting around 45 grain lines per inch!

This is the first of this special Kula redwood I have used and it promises to be some very incredible sounding stuff.

This is not the exact water tower but one that is still standing from a property near by.

This next set is going to be a beauty! This koa turns a beautiful golden color when it is finished and the curl really comes to life!

 

Here is another shot of the white koa tenor set.