Ukulele #1

Ukulele #1

Building a ukulele is a complicated process. Perhaps I should say “complex.” That sounds better but I think 'complicated' is more accurate in my case. Like many projects, on the surface it looks straightforward enough: a sort of figure 8 shaped box with a stick in one end. The trick is that the box has to look good and sound good, according to a standard western musical scale. That's where my old nemesis accuracy comes in. Is it straight? Well, it's sort of straight. Is it square? Sort of. Better get it right in the first place because the error just gets compounded the further into the build you get. Too many times to count Jake tidied up, tweaked or downright fixed what I had done. 

Sanding the sides

I learned a ton. You can translate that as I made a ton of mistakes but, as I always told my students, the only serious mistake is one from which you learn nothing. I can even claim to have made the same mistake several times in a row but eventually I ended up with a list of mistakes I won't make again. The good news is that there are countless mistakes that I haven't made yet so there's still good reason to make a few more instruments. Someone asked me the other day if I still needed help to build an instrument now that I've built one. She seemed surprised when I told her I didn't think I'd be able to build one on my own for quite a long time.

The first one is partly about learning what to pay attention to. The short answer to that is – everything! I did get some photos along the way but not nearly enough. In some ways my inelegant drawings are more helpful than photos. If I draw something I have to process it. If I take a photo sometimes I look at it and wonder why I took it. There's one photo of some masking tape on the inside of the back of the instrument. I remember Jake telling me not to stretch the tape as I put it on and I can't remember why I was putting the tape on in the first place. I think it was to do with lining up the back strip.

Clamping up the fretboard

There are many many small details that get absorbed through practice. Doing something once doesn't count as practice. I'm building two ukuleles instead of one so I can get in a wee bit more practice with each step. I'm hoping that on these two I'll be able to up my game by making smaller and different mistakes. I'm also hoping that by the time these two are finished I'll have fewer absolute blank spots in the process. It's an adventure and I'll be trying out some new things as I go.

The 3:00 a.m. rosette

At the moment I'm at work on two rosettes. The rosette is the decorative circle that goes around the sound hole in the top of a guitar or ukulele. A ukulele doesn't need a rosette and my first uke doesn't have one. Now I'm ready to give it a go. One rosette was partially made for me and one I'm making myself. A couple of days ago I got so involved with what I was doing that I didn't want to stop, and because I'm retired and don't always have to be responsible, I stayed up until 3:00 a.m. so I could see the wooden rosette mostly finished. I'm quite pleased with it so far and absolutely delighted with how much fun I'm having with it. I'm looking forward to a lot more fun on these builds. I know there will be times when I'm ready to take an axe to the whole project and I also know that if I walk away and do something else for a while I'll eventually be ready to get back into the shop and sort it out. Perhaps this time I'll be able to step back enough to invite you along for parts of the journey. Stay tuned.

Jake clamping the bridge on ukulele #1