Shop Notes: May Day Edition

yesterday I started the neck for "Dusty" today I dry-fit it to the body. a nice fir I must say, "Dusty" gets her name from the rosewood that she's made of. I love the smell of Rosewood, and it's one of my favorite guitar woods, so it only seemed natural that I make a uke from it. This was actually an old piece I've had laying around the shop for several years. it looks like she's going to be a beauty!

There area a few added features to this uke that I haven't done on the previous instruments. first is a matching heel cap (not pictured) to go along with the matching peg-head veneer to go along with the body wood. the other is a radius on the end of the fingerboard at the sound hole  not a radius on the edge but if you look carefully, you will see that the end of the board has an arc to it! 

As with everything I build, this has been an evolution to my skills and the instruments I make. I like the direction I'm going, and am pleased with the final results. remember to follow New Wave Ukulele on Facebook  Twitter and Google+ as I move onward and upward!

Have a Tonally Awesome May Day!

Announcement!

I am happy to announce that New Wave Ukulele will be at The City of Angles Guitar Show Saturday May 25, 2013 For those of you in the LA and more specifically the Pasadena area, feel free to drop by and say "Hi!" I will have a limited number of ukes on hand for sale along with a few specialty cases to show. 

you can expect to see a few rosewood models, along with maple Mahogany and koa tenor and concert ukes. all hand made one at a time

Bring this flyer and a non-perishable food item and get $5.00 off your entry at the door.

Look forward to seeing you all there!

Shop Notes: April 26, 2013

So I had a busy time with things other than ukuleles, but I'm back on track now. La "Mamba" is in finish now and looking really nice. Black Limba is something I can get used to. it bends easy, sands nicely, only time will tell how it sounds. If it looks, sounds and builds well, it could become a regular in the New Wave Ukulele Line up.

Looking ahead I'm going to be showing (selling) mt wares in Pasadena California at the City of Angels Guitar Show on May 25, 2013. if you're in the area, stop by and say "Hi!" you may just be lucky enough to take a New Wave Ukulele home for keeps.

just a little change of plans...

I spent the day yesterday gluing up cedar tops for a rosewood uke I have on the bench. today as I was moving things around I uncovered a little treasure... a piece of figured Redwood. Now, I'm not a big Redwood fan, but I like the look especially with the rosewood. this one should be a gem.

Today  the sides and linings are bent and the back is braced. making some progress on two ukes at different stages of creation. It's kind of cool bouncing around from project, then back to another, then finding yourself and returning to the first. it;s a little hectic but it keeps me on my toes!

Have a Tonally Awesome Day!

Going where I have not gone before...

I spent the day gluing up a number of cedar tops for a new rosewood ukulele. I've always like the sound of the rosewood/cedar combo. nice and crisp. I'm hoping that it translates well into the ukulele. 

Cedar is a tough one to glue. the chemical properties make the glue slow to set, so I triple the time that the top is in the clamps... about 45 minutes in the jaws. 

Look for more updates this week on both ukes in process.

Lucky Returns Home

After a stellar review, "Lucky" arrived back home today. after a few weeks in "Flyover Country" the instrument is in pretty good shape. Mickey Tricorn Publications was an excellent foster parent to this one. You can read the review here.

I did notice that the top had sunk a little causing the strings to buzz in the higher register, but that will change after we get a little bit of that coastal humidity back into her. the other byproduct of low humidity is that the fret ends that were so neatly dressed are now edging out past the fingerboard. this too will be fixed by a little humidity. 

So for those of you in the bread basket of the country running your heaters with your solid wood instruments, be they guitars, mandolins or ukuleles, they need a humidifier in the case for just this kind of weather event. pick up one of those sound hole deals that'll run you a couple bucks in the short run, but save you a lot of head ache in the long run.

Shop Notes: La "Mamba" is in the home stretch!

This week has been very productive. "Mamba" is coming along well with all the rough work done now just a little sanding, fret dressing and finish work and this one will be in the books. I can honestly say that in the beginning I did not have high hopes for this instrument. it seemed that every which way I turned it seemed that things were not going as planned. from the knot in the neck... which carved out by the way to the smaller sound hole, which seems to be booming while I tap tuned the top. down every road there was a turnout that seemed to work out just fine! one other minor glitch was that I ran out of fretwire before finishing fretting this one. not a problem either since I just buy it across town.

I like the new head stock for friction tuners, its a little smaller than the revised peg-head that I put on the earlier tenors. it offers better access to the pegs, and looks nice with the symmetrical. 

The Material Black Limba is very fragile, splits very... VERY easily so much care was taken getting this instrument in and out of the bender and molds.

But with all these roadblocks and weird turns, the instrument has gone together very well in the end. center lines are spot on, the neck angle is perfect, and the neck joint is spotless.

Look for more pictures after this one gets strung up the week after next. 

Got a busy weekend ahead... I'm putting this to bed for a couple of days.

       Have an Tonally Awesome one!