Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by John on May 2, 2017 at 11:39am

Hey, Mike. How does she sound sound with the piezo? Would you have a video? Awesome, job!

Permalink Reply by Kalmario on May 2, 2017 at 8:54pm

that handle is a great idea.

Permalink Reply by Jim Morris on May 1, 2017 at 4:08pm

I was trying to decide what to make for the 2x4 challenge when Shane posted his 'mystery" instruments last week. I tried for a pretty close replica. I removed a thin 1/8' plank from the top and bottom so I could hollow out the innards. After cutting the body to shape I re attached top and bottom using small brads. Zither pins for tuners. Aged with a solution of vinegar and steel wool. Here it is

Permalink Reply by John on May 1, 2017 at 11:28pm

No one knows for sure what exactly happened to Mr. Mayfield, but there is a story that has been going around....

The legend goes that after he’d spent the majority of his life working with wood, building instruments with attitude, one day, he just upped and quit it all. He threw all of it out into the backyard and burned it all – except for one piece of 2x4 lumber. After that, he would spend his days out in the garage, sipping whiskey, and staring at one, specific piece of wood – a lone piece of 2x4.

One Saturday, his wife, Nelda, went out to the garage looking for him. “Dinner time!” she’d yelled. She opened the garage door, and he wasn’t there. Just that darn piece of wood which Mr. Mayfield was always staring at. Poor Nelda never saw her husband again, but she kept that piece of wood close for the rest of her life. 

To whoever would listen, she would tell this story that the wood took her husband’s spirit, and this burnt image in the lumber, WAS her husband! “Are you sure that’s a person?” men who beheld the board would ask. She’d reply, “Yes! That’s my husband. His hand’s in the air, shouting hallelujah!”

After Nelda passed away, the piece of wood she cherished for her remaining years was given to a luthier, who had a dream of taking that piece of 2x4, and building it into a lap steel guitar. It’s a simple instrument: simple bolts are installed where nuts and bridges should be. It does have an alnico pickup, its origins are unknown. Six, maybe seven, coats of Tung Oil covers the lap steel, imprisoning the picture, and soul, of Mr. Mayfield.

Is he really in there?

I guess that is up to you to decide.

(lol. I hope the story made you smile. I don't think my 2x4 lap steel is as interesting as some of yours posted...but I still wanted to put mine up here. Thanks for reading and have a good one!) 

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Permalink Reply by StorminSteve on May 2, 2017 at 5:57pm

3string, lap, or standup. Hand carved scroll. 2x4 resaw from my garage frame (no i didnt remove from frame, lol was a peice in the loft left over).. My house and garage are built from lumber milled from trees that existed on the property when it was built. So this is a 70 year old 2x4. Tuners and pick up from an old strat i use for parts.There is a 3/4 thick strip of Maple down the fret board that goes from nut to bridge (offset to the right side for ease of playing).. The nut and bridge are carved from a bar of aluminum , the electronics panel is from the same 2x4, i hollowed it out, and used an old license plate for a cover. Its very loud !, fun to play

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Permalink Reply by Kalmario on May 2, 2017 at 8:56pm

http://forum.ukuleleunderground.com/showthread.php?114726-2x4-chall...

just incase you need some more ideas of inspiration....

Permalink Reply by Titch the Clown on May 4, 2017 at 9:45am

As part of that Ukulele underground 2 by 4 challenge I built two Ukes I kind of like from a standard 8 foot 2 by 4 building stud from Bunnies (officially Bunnings- our Australian big box hardware store). A Stora Enso Baltic pine -probably a European red pine but completely unlabeled as to actual species. When I bought it, it was so green it made my car smell like fresh cut Christmas tree.

This reminds me - I have the trunk from the year before last's Christmas tree curing in my shed......

A medieval like hand carved Lute like uke perfect if your area has more medieval fairs than CBG or blues fests.

I shaped that back with a hatchet. 

The next one was a bit more rock and roll with a Gibson Flying V inspired shape

Because the Uke was a paternity leave present the headstock had a birth year coin

tHE 

Here are the vids

https://youtu.be/TpxAc_YbPCI

and 

https://youtu.be/LR-c-noIM5I

Hope you enjoy.

Permalink Reply by AGP # on May 3, 2017 at 8:22pm

Built this Beast a few years back, the 4 X 2 unknown type of Australian Hardwood was the top one of my Saw Stool’s, originally built by me from off cuts scrounged from various building sites I worked on in my former life in the Building Trade, the 4 X 2 was water blasted with a Gerni and Treated with a mixture of Linseed Oil & Turps, the Bridge Bottle was found on an old country Rubbish Dump, and shows its age by the effects of UV from the Sun, the Piano Tuners are from my trusty old recycled Piano, as is the .045PS Piano Wire String, the Bone Nut probably came a previous Dinner?, the Scale is 700mm/27.559”, and its’ tuned around A/G, a Chinese Ebay Single Coil Pickup is hardwired to the Jack, and the whole build cost me the princely sum of $6.65AUS/4.94USD.

Permalink Reply by john calkin on May 4, 2017 at 3:12pm

Tenor ukulele built from an 8' 2x4. All wooden parts are from the 2x4 except the ebony truss hidden in the neck.

Permalink Reply by john calkin on May 5, 2017 at 10:45am

This uke is pure Outlaw Lutherie. No side bending, no molds, no fancy stuff at all. I thought I'd replace the nut and saddle with bone after the competition at UU, but it sounds so good that I haven't bothered. The body is a scaled-down Status bass design.

Permalink Reply by Dennis Brooker on May 7, 2017 at 6:55pm

Made some of these years ago - Had more fun designing the fret boards than making them - Fun to play - Applied the numbers to frets and transposed a few songs and posted them so people who had NO idea about reading notes could play some songs ASAP!! Got more than a few compliments...Egos must be fed REGULARLY!! Especially music and inventors egos!! - Best of luck to ALL!!!!

Permalink Reply by Eddie J Engle on May 8, 2017 at 12:59pm

2by4 plank with kitchen hinge for bridge and plastic washers. To keep hing stationary. I used a hair clippers coil for pick up and mounted it above string.then I used another kitchen​ hing to mount eye bolt to make a tuner and put washer spacer to make tuning easyer.then I use price of wood to steady string.

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