Ernest Pattillo's tenor uke [Pictures] - created 12-27-2006

PATTILLO, ERNEST - 12/27/2006.22:58:44

This uke is a tenor finished this year. It has a western red cedar top, curly maple neck with ebony stripe all the way through, and the sides and back are of bubinga. Has a nice sound to me, but since this the first one I've heard or built, I have no idea how it really sounds.

Here is the front view. I think it turned out pretty well for a first one. The sound hole rosette is abalone with bubinga wedges and maple wedges and ringed with bunbinga. I also put some abalone as decoration on the tie block of the classical style bridge.

Oops, forgot to say it's bound with curly maple. Here's a side view.

Very nice indeed. What is the finish?

Looks nice.

That's cool.

Thanks. It's finished with nitro, but I did have some problems with it. It was soft for a long time probably due to my method of finishing. I put on about three coats in fairly rapid succession, say 20 minutes apart, then wet sanded, three more coats, etc. I think it has about 8 or 9 coats total, but since I didn't allow the solvent to "gas out" before adding more finish, the solvents were locked in by succeeding coats, and it took forever to dry well enough not to dent easily or take on the weave of the case. I did hang it out to dry for two weeks before polishing, but that was not enough considering how I applied the finish. Anyway, that's the only explanation I have for the slow drying.

What was the brand of lacquer? Did you thin it much, and if so, with what?

Barry, the brand was Campbells, and it's a regular furniture lacquer. I didn't thin it quite enough most likely, thinking it might capture some moisture in it causing a blush. I also added some retarder and I may have added too much retarder further causing a delay in the drying process. I'm not quite experienced enough with lacquer to know how much thinner and how much retarder. Here in Alabama, it's very humid in the summer and you do need a retarder if you're spraying outdoors. I just open the shop doors and spray outside through the door way and then hang it inside to dry where I have humidity control. I used lacquer thinner. Any suggestions might be helpful. I'll be learning 'til I croak.

I would not add retarder unless it is necessary after having experienced a blushed finish. I am pretty sure the retarder is what caused your drying problem. Adding lacquer thinner will not cause blushing. In fact, you can often remove a blush by spraying the finish with straight lacquer thinner.

My suggestion for next time would be to thin your lacquer with lacquer thinner to the proper consistency for spraying (determined by your spray equipment), and then add a capful of retarder per quart to prevent blushing only when necessary (humid summer days).

Very pretty Ernest. What did you use for strings on it and are you tuning to GCEA, low G or?

Like I said, I'm no spraying expert. So what would be a decent ratio of lacquer to thinner? 50:50? I need to make my coats a little thinner anyway right away when I finish the classical I'm about to finish in a week or so.

Darrel, the strings are the Italian ones, Aquila Nylgut. Like I said before, I have nothing to compare to, but these strings I've seen recommended, so I went with them. I have it tuned GCEA. Can you add some sound to this site? I might throw in a few chords in anyone cares to hear this thing. I'm not much of a uke player though. (or anything else-but I do like to play-I play second mandolin now in the Montgomery Fretted Orchestra, but classical guitar is my main instrument.)

50:50 sounds like a lot. Use as little thinner as you can get away with for your spray rig. I have a small conversion HVLP gun that needs lacquer fairly thin so I use 1 part thinner to two parts lacquer. That is more thinner than I would like to use but any less and my gun does not spray a good wet coat.

There is no hard and fast formula for spray finishing. You need to play around with it and find what works for you. Then carve that formula into stone and pray that the finish manufacturer doesn't change his formula.

OK, thanks a lot. Need all the help I can get...