Bryan Bear's tenor ukulele

[Bryan Bear]

I guess I owe you all some updates. I pretty sure I won't make the deadline for the challenge but I have an extra month before the auction so I should be okay. I'm waiting for the glue to dry on the top binding right now so I might as well spend some time uploading pictures.

I got the box closed and then stalled out for a while trying to settle on what I wanted to do about the laminated neck. The chunk of wood I am using for the neck was in worse shape than I realized/ remembered. I knew it had a long check in it that I was going to have to cut around but it was much worse than I thought. I ended up having to piece together scraps from the waste part of the board to stack the heel.

I also needed to decide what the decorative elements were going to be so I could incorporate that into the neck. I decided on sycamore for the bindings and some mahogany from my friends kitchen remodel. He had given me his scraps (because he knows I'm strange like that). I had a 6' long 1" x approximately 1/16 inch strip from when he trued the edge on the table saw. Perfect for Purfling and neck lam!

That left me with the step I always put off. Routing for binding! For some reason it terrifies me. I have never really had a horrible experience, it just scares me. Everything went perfectly well and I could breathe easier.

[Bryan Bear]

Here is the back binding. It still needs a little clean up but it looks promising.

The sycamore binding has mahogany side purfs. I knew I wanted the top purf to be mahogany next to the binding and walnut next to the top wood. That wouldn't work for the back as that would have put walnut next to walnut so I was going to just have one line of mahogany on the back. At the last minuet I decided to just flip the order of the hog and walnut to give the illusion of a thin mahogany line inlaid into the perimeter of the back. I'm glad I did since I was never really sold on the single purfling line.

[Jason Rodgers]

That looks great! The colors pop from a distance, but up close the different grains pull you in for a closer look.

[Bryan Bear]

Thanks Jason!

I forgot to point out that for the first time ever, I didn't need to use any of the exrtra binding or purfling strips I made. Good thing too because I only made 1 extra of each. This was my first time bending sycamore; at about 0.085" it practically bent itself!

[Warren May]

Really nice binding job, Bryan. I bet it really pops when you put finish on. Nice work.

[Bryan Bear]

Thanks Warren.

Here is the top binding. I actually like the order of the purs much less on the top now that I see it. Such is life.

This is the first time I have tried side purflings, I'm less than thrilled with how the end wedge miters came out. I suppose I'll have to show you all eventually. . .

I'm going for a mini guitar vibe here, just getting out of the shower it hit me to do a slotted peghead. I already scarfed the neck at 15 degrees (actually while cleaning up the joint I ended up slightly more than 15). Is this too steep for a slot head? Also, I'm using the stew Mac uke tuners which are intended for a regular peghead, could I just drill another whole In The shaft and mount them sideways?

[Andy Birko]

Looking good man!

[Ryan Mazzocco]

Looking great. I love that Sycamore. There's a 60 foot sycamore in my neighbors yard that I'm just waiting for a strong wind to push it over.

[Bryan Bear]

Thanks Andy.

Ryan, make sure when you cut -- I mean it blows down, you get it quarter sawn. It is my understanding that is the only way to get it to behave while drying, besides without the medullary rays, it is pretty boring.

[Tony Costa]

Well...lets see the end wedge!! It's tough to get them all perfect. I usually get three out of four very tight, but that last one....it always gets away from me!

[Bryan Bear]

Well it actually isn't the joints so much as the whole process. I was rushing and fretting about the miters and top/back purflings and everything going together (and other nonworkshoppe things weighing on my mind). Somehow, I totally flaked on the fact that I usually do the ends with HHG for the very thing I was trying to avoid. The CA wicked into the end grain and really darkened up the light sycamore. It really accentuates my bad joinery too!

I have a pic but I need to shrink it down and I can't do that from my phone very easily. I'll post one soon. I hope to be getting a lot of work done this week!

[Ron Daves]

Hey, Bryan...SUP?
How's that uke comin'. Any more pics?

[Bryan Bear]

I' e made provress I just haven't resized my pi a yet. Neck is rough carved, I hope to finish it tonight. By the weekend, I want to be doi g surface prep and pore filling; fingers crossed.

[Tony Costa]

Slacker.

[Bryan Bear]

You rang?

[Bryan Bear]

Well I have these two pictures handy.

The neck is (very) roughly carved and I attached it just to see how it looked with the body. The naptha was starting to evaporate by he time I got the camera out.

Still a little naptha in the endgrain of the heel but here is the heel cap mostly done. You can see how I got all the binding joints screwed up by using CA and blackening the endgrain sycamore. I am torn between trying to fix/reduce how obvious it looks and just letting it be. I think the deadline will end up making the decision for me. . .