I really need to update this..............

Fret level - Update

Despite having only two strings on my travel uke the buzz along the fretboard was quite bad so I moved the fret leveling up to today rather than wait, as I was going to.

This exposed just how un-level all the frets were. One sitting so low as to be missed completely by the sanding block running over all the others!!!

I'd marked all the frets prior to leveling with a permanent black marker so i could see the progress and wish I hadn't lol

The need to find a better way to install frets is defiantly on the cards. Inspection under a strong magnifying glass reveled just how badly (unevenly) they were seated into the slots. I was so happy and full of my own crapulence prior to this lol

I suspect a press might be a better solution, if you can regulate the amount of pressure so it remains the same over all the frets.

This is not to say, the obvious need for a lot more practice wouldn't go astray either, but since I don't see me being able to finance the purchase of all that fret wire to waste then the next obvious choice is to control the consistency of the installation process.

These notes are as much for my future reference as yours but if someone stumbles into my disjointed rantings and gets the opportunity to not repeat my dopey mistakes then maybe it will be worth it. :-)

I'm still waiting on another $4.00 pickup from China along with the set of $4.00 friction tuners, and have no idea how long this will take.


I spotted this on stewmac
http://www.stewmac.com/Luthier_Tools/Tools_by_Job/Fretting/Jaws2_Fret_Press_and_Inserts.html

I may just try and build one myself I have an old clamp here I could use.

It's done! .................sort of..

Well its done!..... except that I lost a screw from one of the tuners and the pickup is only working intermittently.

I'm not sure why the pickup isn't working but it could be a number of things.
1. Maybe, I just bent the pickup wire too many times, it got quite a work out.
2. It was faulty from the get go.
3. My old Gorilla practice tune up amp is crackly at the best of times and could be broken. I've had similar problems in the past which I attributed to other pickups on other instruments, and nothing else to test it on.


What I'd do differently next time hahahaha

1. I'd narrow the distance between the holes I cut for the cut out from about 200mm to 150mm

2. Based on the hole diameter I'd cut the width of the timber down to make sure the tuners didn't need to be recessed

3. To run the pickup wire through the timber I had to drill a hole in the piece of steal that holds the tattoo grip. Next time I'd avoid this with a re design. Although I have no idea ATM how to do this.

4. I'd leave more height on the bridge and lower it during setup by cutting notches so I could control the width of the strings as well as their height. The tattoo grips notches are pretty good but I'd like more control over their spacing.

5. I'd buy much better quality hardware for this once I was happy I had the build process down.

6. Win the lottery and buy somewhere to build this kind of thing, along with some quality tools hahaha. My kitchen wasn't a bad place to build this, but I have close neighbours in my building and I had to consider the amount of noise I could make along with when I could make it.


When I'm fully changed over to Linux from windows and find the appropriate software to do all the things needed and have the uke functioning like it should I'll upload something with audio, probably me playing something.

So thanks for following along and in the future I'll do some videos of me making rather than just this blog with pictures.

Thanks to Daniel Hulbert @ Circuit and Strings https://youtu.be/Aq6sbBtPSHU for the plans and inspiration for this.

Travel Uke very nearly done!

Shaping the neck with the spoke shave

The mess isn't as bad as I thought it was going to be

Checking the neck for comfort

Teak oil going on

Dry fit

I lost one of the screws for one of the tuners

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

So far, so good though

I may even need to shim the bridge with some paper but its not bad as is. The nut will need its slots lowered though. Neck shaping tomorrow. The Video will be delayed until I can find or replace the little screw on the tuner.

The strap/jack is going to be a friction fit and I'm using some Teflon tape to take up the slack.
If "IT" hits the fan then I'll use a grub screw to hold it in.

The pickup wire travels through the body and the extra wire will need tiding up somehow.

The kitchen table

I guess I'll have to clean up before tackling the neck carve ;-P

Everything done just the neck, setup and finish to go

I haven't done the dry fit with all the bits and pieces yet!

On to shaping the neck with the spoke shave and files sandpaper etc.

When its all done I'll have a little video of the thing being played if I can get over my shyness ;-P