Evening all!

I've not posted a build here before, so bear with me if I get it wrong, ok?

This is the second uke that that I've constructed out of an old acoustic guitar, that used to belong to my brother. (It was awful - the neck was twisted and bowed -  completely beyond redemption).

It seemed to me that the curved sides of the body could be cut down, and used to make the sides of a smaller tenor uke.

The first 4-stringer used the back of the body, but I made a new soundboard out of 1/16" modelling-grade plywood, braced internally.

The neck was formed form a mahogany blank - shaped with a scroll saw and belt sander, before finishing by hand.  The neck is dowelled and glued to the body.

All the hardware came from Ebay, and the completed uke is fitted with Aquila strings.

I'm delighted with the result - the tone is more lute-like than a conventional uke, but has ample volume to make itself heard at the local uke club (Cool and Uke).

Tim

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I was given this little sanding machine some years ago, and (used carefully) will do 95% of the final stage of the neck shaping. The rounded end does a really nice job of the back of the heel.

The secret is to keep the piece moving al of the time.

Tim

Super-cool idea and nicely done, Tim.  I'll have to scour the charity shops to find an instrument that I can re-purpose :-)

There must be thousands of old guitars in attics and sheds.......

No real progress today, except to place the neck and body together to have a look at the overall proportions.

Tim

I take it the neck is screwed on? Is there a joint?

I so badly want to do this with my knackered guitars but I fear i'd make a huge mess of it.

I'm using my usual dowelled joint here.  It's worked well on my 4 -stringers; I just hope it copes with 8 strings!

Oh, and I've tested fitted the tuners too!

Tim

need to do a sound video when completed. great work

We'll have to see how it sounds, won't we?

Right, the neck is fretted and markered, and joined to the body for all time.

The bridge has been re-drilled to accommodate eight strings and glued in place.  I'm reserving the right to add a couple of discreet screws to give some additional strength here.

Woohoo!

It's pretty much finished.  The strings are settling in overnight, so I'll give it a test drive tomorrow...

They look great.

They're quite beautiful. Definitely giving it a go because i want a tenor that looks like that. May take me a decade but i have 2 knackered guitars to do it with.

I found this inspirational.

That's great to hear!

Well, the 8-stringer is settling in nicely. I'll have to reset the action to lower the strings a little, but that's not a biggie.

It makes its debut at the local uke club tonight...

Tim

a really nice job  congratulations,  hows the sound? are you happy with the end result (sound) ?  I am impressed  as I make a few tenors (beginner) and for me its 'hit or miss' depending on timber used  as to the sound so your cut down shape is of interest,  anyway good work.

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