soprano ukulele

[Paddy Roxburgh]

I would like to make a soprano ukulele for my daughter, hopefully in time for Christmas. I've noticed there are a few luthiers on here and I was wondering if there are any easily available plans. I have a really cheap ukulele I could copy and have seen plans on Mathias Wandels web site for a tenor, so I could work it out from these but any further guidance would be helpful. I do have a full machine shop at work (although no drum sander) but I am hoping to make it all with hand tools. I have a nice piece of quartered sycamore which i was thinking of using for the back and neck and either some purple heart or wenge for the fingerboard. I'm not quite sure what to use for the front plate. I have quite an extensive collection of hardwoods although I was thinking of using a pine like on violin plates What tiiimber should I use for the ribs?
Also where should I buy the machine heads? I have obviously seen them for sale on ebay, but I don't want to buy the rubbish that is on her current super cheap ukulele.
Any suggestions, guidance and advice appreciated.
Paddy

 

[bugbear]

Thread on Ukelele making;

post790771.html?hilit=ukelele#p790771

BugBear

 

[thick_mike]

Guitar soundboard and bracing is usually made from spruce (or similar lightweight strong wood). Bracing is cut from straight grained billets. Not sure how critical this is for a uke because the 4 nylon strings subject the soundboard to lower tension than a typical steel strung guitar.

Haven't used them, but this looks like a good selection of machine heads...

http://www.southernukulelestore.co.uk/C ... s-and-Pegs

 

[bugbear]

Guitar soundboard and bracing is usually made from spruce (or similar lightweight strong wood). Bracing is cut from straight grained billets. Not sure how critical this is for a uke because the 4 nylon strings subject the soundboard to lower tension than a typical steel strung guitar.

AFAIK the steel guitar techniques were lifted straight from classical guitar construction, which shares
the lower tensions strings of a uke.

But I'm not convinced a beautifully made uke is in the true spirit of uke's.

Aren't they meant to be simple to make, cheap to buy, and easy to play?

BugBear

 

[bugbear]

Also where should I buy the machine heads? I have obviously seen them for sale on ebay, but I don't want to buy the rubbish that is on her current super cheap ukulele.

I recently bought a set of tuners for a classical guitar - £5.24 INCL P&P from China (!!!!!).

They were a little rough, but work OK.
They're very simple items, easy to work on - a little easy fettling would make them considerably better.

BugBear

 

[profchris]

If you have enough quartered sycamore you could make the whole thing from that. My experience is that spruce tops on a soprano are rather shrill, and I'd guess that pine would be similar. Cedar and yew make better balanced tops for sopranos, but hardwood is traditional (either koa or mahogany, but excellent sopranos have been made from cherry, lacewood, maple, walnut, etc). I've made a very nice camp uke (circular body) from oak.

Build as light as you dare (no plates > 1.8 mm thick for hardwoods, lighter if needed), spruce or pine for bracing. Steel guitar bracing has moved away from classical guitars and is way overkill - two thin braces fore and aft of the sound hole for the top, one just aft of the waist is enough for the back.

If you use all hardwood you don't need to bind, which will make construction quicker. In that case, use solid linings cut from your sides after bending. I bend over a metal pipe heated with a heat gun. Bending figured wood really needs a backing strip - I use a piece of caravan aluminium siding.

For finishing you want a really thin finish. I get the best results with a couple of coats of shellac (shop bought French polish) and then a few coats of Tru-Oil on top of that. Spraying is harder (for me) because of the work involved in cutting back and buffing to get a decent finish.

Bugbear's tuners are too big and too heavy for you!

If you join http://www.ukulelecosmos.com (requires registration, but that should only take 24 hrs to be approved) there are some build threads there which you should find helpful.

 

[bugbear]

Bugbear's tuners are too big and too heavy for you!

Oh, hell, yeah. I was trying to point out the remarkably low cost,
and ease of making fettling improvements.

My particular tuners were definitely not (as you say) suitable
for a Uke.

BugBear

 

[MIGNAL]

Pine is perfectly fine for Back/Sides or the soundboard. Pretty much any medium density hardwood too. There's really a lot of scope when choosing timber type.

 

[brianhabby]

Just because an item is sold via eBay doesn't necessarily make it rubbish, I've bought two sets of these and they are perfectly fine.

regards

Brian

 

[profchris]

Just because an item is sold via eBay doesn't necessarily make it rubbish, I've bought two sets of these and they are perfectly fine.

regards

Brian

If you want friction pegs, something like these will be smoother and hold tune better because they have internal springs and washers:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Set-of-4-...282489?hash=item3a9cc559f9:g:zNkAAOSwaNBUey2s

 

[MIGNAL]

If you mean the old wooden friction pegs then they hold pitch perfectly, providing they are fit well.

 

[profchris]

No, I meant metal friction pegs.

I like the weight of wooden pegs, but the cost of a reamer is too much for just one build. I've used them, reaming the holes with a taper reamer which is a fraction of the price, but that won't give me a perfect fit without the matching peg shaper.

I think the OP's choices are metal frictions (best for looks and weight on a soprano but harder for a beginner to learn) or small open geared (closed are heavy and look bulky).

For metal frictions look for something like the picture in my link, with a metal barrel between knob and headstock to hold the spring washer. To upgrade from no-name versions via eBay (which are OK), Grover or Gotoh are good brands.

The cheap geared tuners @ £3 work though a little creaky, but will do the job. Same brands to upgrade.

You could fit 4:1 banjo planetary tuners, which look like my eBay link but have gears built into the barrel. I have a cheap Chinese set on a tenor guitar, and they are usable but don't work with elegant smoothness. Good ones are very pricy. Heavy so will make the neck try to drop while playing.

Pegheds look like wooden pegs but have internal gears. Said to be very nice, lighter than most metal frictions, but pricy and need to be fitted like wooden pegs.

 

[Michelle_K]

http://www.grellier.fr/plans/Soprano_uk ... ele_en.pdf

These are the plans I am currently using to build a ukulele. I am not a professional I am actually on a college course but the plans are great!

 

[profchris]

The grellier plans are said to be pretty good, and if you are brave enough to reduce the bracing height, the result can sound good. How much to reduce depends on the longitudinal stiffness of your top, but 20% or so would be safe.