Hi all,

I've made a couple of ukes in the recent past, using bodies made from cut-down folk guitars, and very successful they are too!

Well, another old folk guitar turned up, and being past redemption, I thought I'd have a bash at making a mini resonator 6-string.

All the hardware came via Ebay, including the resonator.

I took pics along the way, so I hope you enjoy them!

Tim

The old folk guitar donated the sides and back.

I added purflings from strips of plywood, and fitted the cut-down back.

The sound board is a sheet of 1/16" modellers ply, with a little bit of bracing added.

The neck is laminated from (I think) mahogany pieces, with a void left to accept the truss rod.

There's a carbon fibre compression strut within the body, and this protrudes to mate with the heel end of the neck.  Three other dowels, epoxy and two screws reinforced the neck/body joint later.

My first attempt at a spliced head joint.  A bit time consuming...

Marking the fingerboard, ready for slotting.  The hacksaw blade clamped to the pull saw acts as a depth gauge. The fingerboard has yet to be tapered.

Slotted, cambered, and fret markers fitted.  The markers are just snippets of plastic tube, glued into shallow holes.

A small belt sander did most of the hard work shaping the neck.  Handy tool, that!

The head gets its ears.  The oval hole accepts the Allen key for truss rod adjustment.

My least favourite part of the build - fretting.  Followed by a lot of levelling and polishing.

Ebay produced a cheap pre-amp/tuner unit.

Assembled!

The biscuit bridge features a piezo pick-up below the saddle.  The tail piece is a small lump of wood, attached with 3mm rods to the half-hinge anchor.

From the rear.  I've kept the 'distressed' look of the body, and sealed it with a coat or two of lacquer.

There's a cup-holder port in the side of the body...

With its earlier, smaller brothers.

I'm not a clever player - just a chord strummer, but the guitar has a bright, clear sound.  I'm pleased!