Thursday, December 5, 2013

Looking forward to a nice little winter project!

Well, the hope is to start a Uke kit project this winter so I have a nice new instrument to play with soon.  I have done lots of looking around at kits and others build sites and I decided I didnt want to start from scratch on this one.  Having done that with my acoustic guitar, I am kind of excited to try a kit this time.
So, here is the plan; I have ordered a concert size Uke kit from Grizzley.  I know, I know, a machine builder who makes wood instrument kits?  but they seem to be pretty well liked by the folks that build them, so I thought, what the heck, give it a shot.  At $50 how can you go wrong for a real mahogany instrument.  We will see I guess.
So, my feelings about the kit are centering around the fact that it appears very plain and will need a bit of embellishing to make it look like a custom, hand built instrument.  I am planning on adding a rosewood edge binding to the top and bottom corners and maybe some lamination or an inlay on the head face. A lengthwise inlay on the back might be kind of spiffy too.  Another idea is to add a real wood sound hole perfling.  I will need to do some research to see if I can find something like this to inset.  We will have to wait and see.  I have no idea how the top and back are attached to the sides of this kit, if there is not enough material at that joint, routeing away a notch there would not be smart.  I will have to wait until the kit arrives.  I am looking forward to this build, it should be fun.  My son has a Uke and it sure is fun to play.  Like an old tractor, its pretty tough to use it without having a smile on your face.

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