Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Fergus Morris on October 28, 2009 at 4:24am

I have made 3 ukuleles so far. 1 tenor Cigar box ukulele, one biscuit tin tenor one, and one biscuit tin soprano one. Ukuleles were the first instruments I built, and I love them. I think I need to replace the fretwire on my newest ukulele to some smaller fretwire because it is really small and there are so many bad frets and buzzing that it is completely unplayable.

Permalink Reply by Steve Gent on November 7, 2013 at 6:12am

I have a Lanakai Lu-21T, which is pretty nice for the money ( cheap on ebay) , but now the same company just brought out one with a fully compensated bridge and nut ( available for the same money).  I contacted the company regarding getting the parts to retrofit my tenor, but got no reply.  Is it worth doing this as my uke stays in tune pretty well.   I am also going to build a tenor, but want to have a compensated bridge and have been looking around for a design.  I have though about using a floating adjustable bridge with a mandolin type tail piece, or maybe a violin type adjuster system.  Any thoughts?  

 

Because the instrument is home made the quality of construction may be the issue.  It still has to follow basic principles. The strings will buzz if they are too low.  are you sure it is fret buzz, and not the nut.  If it is the frets, are they level?  What about he neck relief?  Is there any?  and can you adjust the neck angle?  To check the relief depress a string on the first fret, at the same time depress  the same string on he 11th fret and a hand span up the neck.  See how much deflection there is, the go to the last fret down the neck and do the same.  The deflection should be about he same.  If it is a lot more down the neck then the neck needs adjusting.  THere should be about 10-12 thousands neck relief at the 12th fret. If that is OK check the frets to see if they are level.  This cvan take time to do but it is worth it.

Permalink Reply by Shelley on November 7, 2009 at 5:20am

Hi y'all.
Glad there is a uke section here. I'm anxious to see what other folks are building.
I'm a ukulele player so naturally i started with a uke instead of a guitar. I've made one and have one in the works. Hopefully by the end of the winter i'll have a nice collection. Here are some photographs of my first uke.

Permalink Reply by Yellowbelly Flatt on November 9, 2009 at 6:16am

Hi there all.

Yellowbelly Flatt here. I play ukulele and electro acoustic bass Ukulele (the orchestra that I play in doesn't like the G word) in a local, gigging ukulele orchestra.

I've been playing ukulele for about a year and usually play a baritone ukulele but I also have soprano, concert, tenor and banjoleles.

I began to make cigar box ukuleles several months ago and have now built an electric tenor ukulele and two electric baritone ukuleles with headless necks.

I'm presently building another baritone uke and have plans for a biscuit tin uke.

I hope to get some good ideas from you all on this section of cigar box nation.

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• baritone1a.JPG, 3.4 MB
• slide uke.jpg, 3.3 MB
• uke1.JPG, 2 MB

Permalink Reply by John Nagy on November 11, 2009 at 3:11am

Andy - I've alway dinked around with the guitar, but never "really" enthused. The ukulele, to me, is very unique and has really excited to learn. How was your transition to the ukulele with chords and all that. I was hoping to transition some of what I learn, in music theory, back to the guitar.

Thx brother!

Permalink Reply by Andy Stone on November 11, 2009 at 3:48am

Some guitar chords work some you need to play a differnt inversion as you might be losing a note by loosing 2 strings.
The uke encourages you to play far more rythmicly and is good for picking to you actual have a string for each of you picking fingers and your thumb! It's early days to see what playing uke adds to my guitar playing but I'm sure it will enrich it.
Thanks for saying hello.

John Nagy said:

Andy - I've alway dinked around with the guitar, but never "really" enthused. The ukulele, to me, is very unique and has really excited to learn. How was your transition to the ukulele with chords and all that. I was hoping to transition some of what I learn, in music theory, back to the guitar.

Thx brother!

Permalink Reply by Oliver González on January 11, 2010 at 7:26am

Hello everyone,

Although not new to plucked string instruments (some of you will know what I mean, being able play everything with strings on); in my birth place we have a sort of common history with Hawaii. I´m from Tenerife, Spain and it is an island apart from the continet but politically we are europeans; and we have a local instrument called "timple" that is basically a five string ukelele. The tunning is very similar beeing: 1.- Re(D) 2.- La(A) 3.-Mi(E) 4.-Do(C) 5.-Sol (G). Always the top two strings are high notes.
Around three years ago I begun my luthier mania, begining with cigar box timples, cookie tin timples and a lot of other things.
Here I show my very first instrument, and unbelievely the best sounding of all.
Bye,
Oliver

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• Picture0002.jpg, 33 KB

Permalink Reply by joel on January 12, 2010 at 3:14am

hi all! i've been playing ukulele for about 6 months now and just loving it! i have 3 kala ukes (soprano, concert and tenor). i'm really interested in building my own cigar box uke. are there any decent plans around? i've looked at a few of the freebies on this site but they seem a little confusing. any ideas on where i can get step-by-step information that's simple and easy to follow? thanks!

Permalink Reply by Oliver González on January 12, 2010 at 4:45am

Best way is to use the free plans and your ukeleles as a sample. My advice is to use the box only for the back and sides of the instrument, make a neck and attach it with screws (from the inside) to a glued block in the inside; or for more difficulty use the spanish construction to glue the neck to the box. For the best result in sound, do make a new soundboard from a good wood and use it replacing the wood of the box. I prefer to glue the fretboard to the neck and soundboard to add some stiffeness and also to gain some heigh for the bridge so that I have enough angle at the saddle.

Resuming, this is not an easy job but try to copy things from your ukeleles and use the plans also.

joel said:

hi all! i've been playing ukulele for about 6 months now and just loving it! i have 3 kala ukes (soprano, concert and tenor). i'm really interested in building my own cigar box uke. are there any decent plans around? i've looked at a few of the freebies on this site but they seem a little confusing. any ideas on where i can get step-by-step information that's simple and easy to follow? thanks!

Permalink Reply by Steve Gent on November 7, 2013 at 6:31am

Think about what you want, or what you expect from the instrument. It sounds easy but it is not that easy to produce an instrument that plays in tune along the whole neck.  Do you understand the basic principles of instrument construction.  It is harder to adapt something than to build from scratch.  Do you have the tools to do the job? having the right ones will make life easier.  PIck a good quality cedar box, it is similar to mahogany.  Design the instrument around the neck. Check the scale length, this will dictate the bridge position, and thus the size of box you need.  What kind of bridge will it have?   Make sure the neck joint is strong by using end blocks ( I presume it will be an acoustic?  You may need to brace the top and bottom.  What about the fretboard, are you cutting your own frets?  Of course you could buy one ready made.  Look at the dimensions of your uke.  MIne both have deep bodies, far deeper than most cigar boxes, which gives them a big voice. A cigar box will not give anything like that volume.   Use gut strings, as it will put less stress on the instrument.  Use good tuners, Grovers are good. I got mine from Sweetwater for $16.  Not trying to put a damper on your enthusiasm, but having built a CBG, I know it is not as easy as it looks.  

Permalink Reply by Andy Stone on January 12, 2010 at 8:42am

I kept my uke really simple, I've built other stringed instruments but this was my first cigar box one or ukulele, I didn't use plans but used a toy uke as a giue to string width and picked the 17" scale length-tenor size. It has a one piece neck so no separate finger board which isn't a problem as you don't need to fit a truss rod. I kept the back of the box as the sound board, I don't know if I just got lucky but it sounds amazing! Also I glued and pegged the neck into a wooden block that spans the box. The bridge is rosewood with a nail laying in a slot! I have photos on my page. Have fun!

joel said:

hi all! i've been playing ukulele for about 6 months now and just loving it! i have 3 kala ukes (soprano, concert and tenor). i'm really interested in building my own cigar box uke. are there any decent plans around? i've looked at a few of the freebies on this site but they seem a little confusing. any ideas on where i can get step-by-step information that's simple and easy to follow? thanks!

Permalink Reply by Steve Gent on November 7, 2013 at 6:46am

I tried building a CBG, which turned out OK, but was  a bit trickier than expected.  I probably made it harder for myself by going with a fancy headstock, which took two goes to get right.  The neck is through type, and was bought fretted, and is walnut.  I put in the dot markers, and tried to make them look old school, sort of clay Fender type.  I made the tail piece and bridge from brass. The sound holes are sink drainers, and the arm rest is a draw pull with a couple of brackets added.  I put in a piezo pick up with tone and volume controls.  Knobs are Gibson and the tuners are Mexican Fender which were a pain to instal, as they have a pin in the back plate.  I built the amp from a CB Gitty 5w kit and an antique Hershey's chocolate box.  I sounds ok.  I made the nut from bone. Finish is Tung Oil.  I don't like laquer.   The action on the neck is a bit high really.   The strings are med gauge, so probably need to be lighter.  I bought the tenor  Lanikai LU-21T (80) and soprano Hola (25) from e-bay.  Both are solid wood, not laminates.  The tuners are really cheap, but they stay in tune well.  Only just started on Uke, and having a lot of fun.  Sure is easier than trying to learn guitar.  I am panning on building an electric tenor uke in the style of a Gibson es 355 and / or an electric acoustic "Martin D-18".  

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• P1070187.JPG, 3.5 MB