This is a uke I asked for feed back on which soundboard to use and someone came back to me and said they wanted to purchase it if I was using the Sitka one, so that settled the debate. Back and sides are curly Australian Blackwood and the soundboard is a chocolate roasted Sitka Spruce. Bindings are spalted sapwood from Australian Blackwood, and rosette is spalted Queensland Maple. Waverly tuners and strung with Worth Brown low G ..read more

Trained as a designer, I cannot live with images that I have control over and that are not pleasing to my esoteric sense of 'rightness'. It's taken 15 months of painstaking labor to modify the spectacular inlay Larson and Lyon and Healey used for their most expensive guitars. This past week I have got up close to the edge of satisfaction only to be confronted with another unsightly disproportioned element. However, after another six hours at the computer, this is where i am now with the... Read more ..read more

Taking inspiration from Collings cases. I want to build form-fitting minimalistic but rugged cases for a few ukes. The main motivation is to reduce the space they take. As an example, the Collings tenor in its case takes up less space than some of the sopranos in their bloated cases. To start I plan to target the vintage Martin sopranos and Ken Timms I own. Starting this thread to discuss and share ideas. There are a couple of paths forward. I can look into 3D printing or bending wood and... Read more ..read more

I'm about ready to glue the back onto my new tenor and I was wondering if most builders capture the ends of their back braces into pockets in the linings or just stop them short. I can see where capturing the ends makes them less likely to come loose but it is a pain and I wonder is it really necessary ..read more

Im sorting out timber for my next batch of sopranos ..more exotic stuff this time …including timber from “The Tree” + “Zebra Wood” + “Red Spruce Adirondack“+ “Western Red Cedar” “Sinker Red Cedar” to name a few. I hope I can do them all justice. _ ..read more

My Larson Brother deluxe inlay, inspired tenor fretboard (scale length 432mm or 17" in old money) is now done. I am not happy with three of the elements and have redrawn them. This fretboard is now for sale. PM me with a sensible offer. As a guide - there is $100 worth of raw pearl in it, $25 for a 40 year old ebony fretboard and 4 hours machine time and one hour assembly, gluing and surfacing to 600 grit. It is bound with 1.5mm ivoroid binding. The nut width is 38mm which a shade under... Read more ..read more

Not got the tolerances fully worked out yet for adjacent pieces of pearl ..read more

Hi! Does anyone knows who can make Custom fret Ruler templates ..read more

Greetings one and all from New Zealand. I built and sold this around 2019 if I remember correctly. Unfortunately I can not remember to whom I sold it. If it is yours would you be so kind and message/email me. Kind Regards Dennis dponeil1945@gmail.com ..read more

Hi All Making 2nd uke and was bought fretwire at local store. Discovered it was curved, not flat, but thought it would flatten when I fretted the uke. After fretting and levelling it still appears to still be somewhat curved on a non-radiused fingerboard. Not sure if this will affect notes and playability. Should I proceed to glue in bridge and nut or rip out frets, plane and sand down the fretboard and replace with new fretboard and flat fretwire or will it play ok as is. Asking because... Read more ..read more