First ukelele

Hi all, well here is my first "jumping flea" it's a 15" concert ukelele, stick through tin with steel strings ,this is my most advanced build as I am using a bone nut, brass frets and a fret wire bridge so it's not that rustical. I built this one for a local trad musician who wants to learn ukelele, I didn't know anything about ukes except George formby and tiny Tim, so when I started researching the details I was surprised at the variety , and settled on a 15" as a middle ground, the neck is made from beech with a beech fretboard I kept the neck straight (no taper)as I thought that would be the best for a small instrument, standard tuners and a tailpiece from sme brass "L" profile stock, it seems to play ok I have tuned it gcea linear tuning and am having a dilemma about sound holes(again) it sounds ok as is although a bi quiet I will probably drill some this afternoon and I'm sure that will increase the volume a bit. This site was a major help in the research and development of this instrument so thank you everybody

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Permalink Reply by JL on July 7, 2016 at 12:49am

looks great, and I can empathize with the "shound 'ole" dilemma...what will work, will I accidentally ruin it, what shape/position work with the box's art work and compliment it or will it look kluged in by an ogre with a hangover....will I choose wisely or not ..... decisions, decisions, decisions......

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Permalink Reply by Lane Martin on July 7, 2016 at 3:09am

Maybe cut the sound hole on one of the sides to save the look of the front as that's a gorgeous tin.

Any particular reason for the steel strings?

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Permalink Reply by Barrie Collins on July 7, 2016 at 3:35am

To be honest I used steel strings because I didn't have any others and I'm too cheap to buy nylon ones new, sort of banjolele style I thought , and I couldn't see any reason not to use steel as its a stick through I figured there would be no probs with the tension of them
Went for a tea strainer type sound hole in the end I hope it's not too disruptive

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