Great end to banjo Uke week
April 24, 2011 at 4:43 am | Posted in Banjo, General | 2 CommentsTags: banjo, banjolele, cigar box, jamming, learning, posts, uke, ukulele
My friend Chris made a video of our uke meeting
thank you Chris for putting it together
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$5 Hard Ukulele DIY case
February 14, 2011 at 5:56 pm | Posted in Cases, Projects | 16 CommentsTags: cheap, cigar box, DIY, home made, learning, posts, uke, ukulele
Up front, I lied a little…The case is $5 and you could leave it as is and not spend any money, but it is hard not to look at this and just make it awesome.
Case with legs installed
I was walking around the Beast (What we nerds call Best Buy) and I saw that the DJ Hero cases were $5, and I looked at it for a good 5 minutes and wondered if a uke would fit in it? And by chance it is a perfect size for a concert ukulele (25″ x 12″ x 5.5″) , except that to make one fit I had to modify it a little, the bottom has legs that screw in to make it a Dj hero stand. So the adventure begins.
- DJ Hero Case (dimentions 25″ x 12″ x 5.5″)
- Small Thin sheet of metal found at most hardware strores, thin enough to cut with tin snips
- Tin Snips
- Hand Rivet Gun (cheap one with 4 sizes works great)
- 16 Rivets Sized 1/8″ X 1/4″
- 3 Rivets Sized 1/8 X 7/32″
- Padding
The first thing I did was to throw the legs away and pull out the the pieces that were there to store the legs in the middle of the case. They are just glued in with a rubber cement . Then I unscewed the the nuts and bolts for the plastic pieces that the legs screwed into. This left 4 holes in the bottom of the case.
Legs screw into this bracket
Metal patch and rivets. Notice the one with a washer, It was to fix the blown-out hole
At first I tried to use the exsisting holes that the leg brackets came out of but figured out that it leaves a corner that can’t be riveted since there is a big hole under it. That is when I cut out the rounded squares and used the 1/8″ by 1/4″ rivets. The rivets will not go all the way threw, they will expand and wedge into the hole that you drilled leaving a nice flat surface on the inside. I did have one rivet that blew out the hole, but that was when I tired a larger rivet and I had to use a rivet washer and a longer rivet (1/2″) to go all the way threw to the rivet washer on the inside.
Post Rivet-polooza
After the bottom holes were covered I noticed that some of the rivets for the case had either fallen out or never put in, so I used a few 1/8″ x 7/32″ rivets to secure the corners.
Case closed, Nice feet.
Beyond that I took some foam that I had around and cut it to fit the bottom and used double stick tape to hold it down.
Hollowed case with padding I cut
At this point if I wanted to I could cut foam to make it work for a concert uke, but for now I am leaving it free form. I like the fact that I can use it for a concert or use the padding that came with it and the other pieces to fit 2 small ukes like a Kala Travel soprnao and an Ohana sopranino, and still have room for some music books.
Case with padding that came with the case holding my OU-2 concert
Kala and ohana layer 1
Kala and Ohana layer 2
As of today (Feburary 13, 2011) my Best Buy has 5 cases on the shelf, but none online.
Gallery
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- Case closed, Nice feet.
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- Case with padding that came with the case holding my OU-2 concert
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- Case with legs installed
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- Legs screw into this bracket
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- Bottom part with legs and side walls still
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- Hollowed case with padding I cut
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- The metal I cut and riveted over the hole
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- Post Rivet-polooza
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- One of the holes with the metal patch and rivets. Notice the one with a washer. It was to fox the blown-out hole
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- Case with its intended cargo
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- Kala and ohana layer 1
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- Kala and Ohana layer 2
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Family Photo 2011
January 1, 2011 at 5:48 pm | Posted in Family Photos, General | 2 CommentsTags: banjo, banjolele, BugsGear, cheap, cigar, cigar box, DIY, Electric, Eleuke, home made, Laminate, laser, Oscar Schmidt, OU-2, posts, uke, ukulele
HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! And what a year!
Just like last year I am posting all the ukes that are at my house currently. Some are my personal ukes, while others are reviews pending or have not been sent back or given away…..yet.
Click to make it bigger
* The blue one is my customized Oscar Schmidt OU-2
* David Gill Concert Pineapple (Link to review)
* Lanikai CK-S
Eleuke EAS-C – I actually have 2 of these, funny story that I will tell later
Kiwaya KS-1
BigIsland KT-SP (Link to review)
*Papa’s Boxes Concert cigar box (Link to reviews)
*Nameless soprano banjo ukulele (Link to articles)
*Bushman Jenny Concert cutaway – Will be leaving next month, she is sold
Paulele KBUS – Review almost done
Kala KA-SSTU (Travel soprano)
* Makala Dolphin that I got for the Reddit secret santa
* Early Papa’s Boxes cigar box uke (Link)
* Grizzly Kit- will throw in fire at UWC
* Risa soprano Solid – Sitting in front of the lat 3
Cordoba 25CB – Review very soon
Ohana SK-21 – better known as the sopranino
Cordoba 10CM (Link to review)
aNueNue Papa II concert (Link to review)
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Summer NAMM 2010
June 22, 2010 at 2:49 am | Posted in Eleuke, Events, Papas Boxes, Products, Shows | 5 CommentsTags: BugsGear, Chris Martin, cigar, cigar box, Eleuke, Kala, laser, posts, Solid, uke, ukulele
I love tradeshows. I like meeting new people and seeing new stuff. I have been to a few technology shows since by day I do computer stuff and am also a computer nerd along with a ukulele nut. Both actually come in handy from time to time.
The atmosphere at NAMM is over whelming in so many ways. You want to look at everything and the noise from all the instruments is deafening at times. It made it real hard to hear the instruments or to take any kind of video that you could hear anything on. The summer NAMM is pretty much just one giant room, not like winter, so I am told, were it is several floors and there is an acoustic floor. I really hope I can make it to that one.
Mim From Mimsukes.com with here Ohana sopranino
While at NAMM I talked with a ton of people and vendors about everything about ukuleles, straps, and home recording. I have about 30 different business cards from the vendors alone and I also made a couple connections with people that sell them like Mim from Mim’s Ukes. She Has a Hawaiian shaved ice store and she also sells ukuleles there (and online) in Charlotte North Carolina. Also in the post before this I have a pic of Chris Martin of martin guitars holding 2 of his ukes.
Funny story about Meeting Chris Martin, I actually almost knocked him over coming out of the Martin booth, so I stopped and asked if I could take his picture and he said sure. The funny part was that I texted 2 of my friends that were with me that I had just met Chris Martin. They thought I met the Chris Martin from Coldplay. It was not until I showed them the picture that they realized who I actually met. and for the record I would rather meet the Chris Martin that I met. Very cool and nice enough to talk with me for 5 minutes
Cool stuff that I saw:
Bamboo Pauleles
Bamboo ukes from Kiwaya called Pauleles. Played nicely and I am hoping that I will have a chance to review one along with their Kiwaya KS-1. I don’t have a picture since it was not at NAMM, but Cordoba is also coming out with a bamboo uke very soon.
Banjo ukuleles from Morgan Monroe, and they are under $300 street price!!! That to me seems like one of the holy grails right now. They are loud and really well built. I am hoping that sometime in November, when they catch up with orders, to get one in my hands to review and show people.
Morgan Monroe Banjo Ukulele
- Morgan Monroe Resonator Banjo Ukulele
Mahalo Camp Ukulele
So, I was at the Saga Music booth looking at the Mahalos and I see what I know to be a camp ukulele, but I look at it and it says banjo ukulele. I scratched my head and laughed a little. An owner of a music shop wanted to know what I was laughing at. She thought I was being condescending about the products on the wall. Yes they are on the lower end, but they are still ok. I said to her “that is not a banjo ukulele” She asked then what is it because she has one in her store an no one will buy it. I told her that it is a camp ukulele, I have seen several of them and it is called that. She rushed over and grabbed the sales guy and told him “you need to talk to this young man, he knows his stuff!!” I proceed to tell him what it is and he pulls out a pen and changes the name of it on the little tag hanging with it and tells the marketing guy to also change the name in the catalog. It was a good feeling to have someone change something because you recommend it. Excuse me as I go deflate my huge head.
Maholo Wall
Felix Bass
One of the interesting ukuleles I saw were the Oriolo ukes. The Oriolo family owns Felix the cat and the brothers decided to start a guitar company. They look fun. I like the way they did the base with Felix’s head, his nose is a knob of some sort.
Grapic on a Orio Guitar
Felix Ukulele
Riptide Golf Ukulele
On the topic of interesting design, Boulder Creek Guitars had a booth showing off their guitars and ukuleles. They are the ones with the off-set front sound hole and one on the side. They have the regular laminate mahogany and a line of solid wood ukes, but they are also coming out with a couple with a printed top. The designs are fun. One with a wave and the other with a golf theme.
Riptide Wave Ukulele
For completely crazy design I would give that to Eleuke. A “tie dye” electric. I like the idea, I am not in love with the colors they used.
Eleuke Tie Dye
Kala Pocket Uke
We cannot leave Kala out. They had all of their well known products like the U-bass, and that is all the guitar and bass people talked about, and the travel ukuleles. They had 2 things that I really thought were cooler than everything else. The pocket uke and the new 10 watt “Round about” amps.
Kala Round About Amps
The last new thing that I will talk about is from Papas Boxes. I did not even know they were going to be there. I just ran into their booth. They now make whole ukuleles and they are beautiful. They use lasers to etch the boxes and cut the holes. It was fun to go to a booth where the owner is really happy to meet you. I think they will be very successful with their new instruments along with the kits.
Papa's Boxes
A couple I lusted after:
A Collings
I can dream can’t I? I had to stop by the Collings booth. I played the one pictured and it is like butter. I also played a Santa Cruz, and a few of the high end Big Island Ukuleles ( I was able to take their least expensive home for a review, a SP-KRGT, so watch the site for the review). Also while I was at the Kiwya booth Augutino LoPrinzi ukuleles was also in the same booth. Very very nice ukuleles. the one pictured was really neat with the 2 shoulder holes, very loud. If I say loud I mean it, it was loud in the convention center.
LoPrinzi Ukulele
The other side:
Crappyleles
Ukuleles are popular. They are blowing up. I heard from several companies that their ukuleles sales are 75% of their sales in the last few months, so with that people want to jump into it also. I saw several like the ones below that are toys and not real instruments by any means. that makes me mad. Just don’t make them or carry them if they are such junk.
Not sure how I feel about ukulele lamps. I want one, don’t get me wrong, I just feel bad for the little guy.
Uke Lamps
I need to thank all the vendors that I talked to, I am a total spaz at times and I was also sweating like crazy, so embarrassing. Also my two friends, Paul and Marc, for hanging with me and not beating me while trying to leave and I get lost at another booth that caught my eye, and spreading the word about Ukeeku to everyone you saw.
I really want to go to winter NAMM in Anaheim CA, time will tell.
Papas Boxes Concert Build: The Build
December 31, 2009 at 4:03 am | Posted in Brands, Concert, Papas Boxes | 1 CommentTags: cigar, cigar box, DIY, home made, laser, learning, posts, uke, ukulele
ITS ALIVE!!!!
Well here I am ending the year with a built, and by no means finished cigar box ukulele. In all this project took me a few more weeks than I thought it would. Part of it was life and part of it were things that I did not expect while building this crazy thing. Below I will talk about the good, the bad, and the ugly. (Most of it good with the ugly things stemming from my issues)
Finish
As I said in my last post I would start with the finish I used on the box and the neck. Just like with the whole build I do not have the tools to do the awesome finishes that you might see on professional grade instruments so I went with the best one I know, Traditional Tung Oil Finish from Formby’s. It is simple, I think it looks great, and it is really hard to mess up.
Body Hung by its Jack. The painters tape is coving the area that the fret board is glued to
All I did was hang the body from the pick-up jack that I installed (I think this only works because it is so light) and the neck by some wire strung through one of the screw holes. I used a little painters tape so I would not get it in the top of the fret board (It is not recommended to finish the top of a fret board, I only did the sides). Tore up an old t-shirt to wipe on the Tung oil finish (not actually all oil, I used a modified Tung oil so it has some polyurethane in it)
After a regimen of 6 thin coats of Tung oil, sand with 400 grit sandpaper, another 3 heavy coats of Tung oil, sand with 400 grit sandpaper, followed by 6 thin coats of Tung oil, sand with 400 grit sandpaper , then 600 grit sandpaper. ending with 1 last really really thin coat of Tung oil (Just enough to make it shine and remove sanding marks) I was done. Took about a week to do, but there were issues.
The neck is perfect, no issues, it was with the body that things turned out a little ugly. As you can see in the pictures there are spots. I tried sanding them out but I can only conclude that it is glue from the “plywood” top that seeped through and there was no way to remove it. It is only visible in certain lighting situations. If It was a professionally made instrument it would have been scrapped or thrown away for such defects but I just figured I would soldier on with the build and roll with it and report my issues.
Back Issues. You can see the same type spots that are on the front
- Front Finish Issues. You can see the Spots on the left side by the mouth.
Assembly
A Closer look on how the Neck and Body are Joined
I could bore you with how good I am at following directions, and they are pretty good, I will only touch on what I did and note some interesting things that I encountered.
I will start with attaching the neck to the box. Unlike a normal uke neck that is glued on, the only thing glued to the body is the end of the fret board. The actual neck is held in place with an L bracket and two screws. The beauty of this design, if you follow the templates given, it gives you the ability to adjust the action, kind of acting like a truss rod in a guitar, And I used it to get the best action possible.
The other place of note that I have is with the optional tuning block (I would not do this kit unless I had it). Since the box is a bit shallower that a normal cigar box I had to shorten it about 1/8th of an inch to make it flush with the bottom of the box. With that I also rounded all the edges and did a few coats of the Tung oil. Beyond that I attached it as center as possible, this time I used the extra fret wire to make sure the strings don’t dig into the box.
Tuning Block
Beyond that I put the strings on and slipped the bridge into place, and tuned it. From there it is just some minor adjustments of moving the bridge for intonation (If you look it is a little crooked, that is to compensate for the minor differences that are needed between the G and A strings), and tightening the screw that attaches the neck to the body to lower the strings a little bit.
Final Thoughts
I have a long way until I would say that this ukulele is finished. I want to tweak it until I am absolutely happy with it, don’t get me wrong I could stop here but that is not my style. My plan is to change the strings to either Worth or Aquila, install some strap buttons, and make sure the strings don’t pop out while playing.
Decrotive Hindges
The kits from Papa’s Boxes are the best I have seen around. You can go to places like Mainland Ukes and buy a premade neck and then figure out the bridge, or even go and make a neck yourself. Both are just other paths to go. I don’t have the tools and expertise to do those, that is why this kit rocks. The neck is made, the bridge is done and since it is floating it is forgiving on placement.
Please do not get me wrong, this is a serious kit, you can screw it up if you are not detailed oriented. The best rules to live by for this and any other project is:
1. Measure, Measure, and re-measure
2. Dry fit before you commit. Don’t glue, drill, or screw until you are sure.
3. You are never done. You can always go back and correct or at least cover up your mistakes. Sometimes the worst things can turnout good if you put your mind to it.
The next post on this will be next year. Expect it to follow a few others, but it will be on how I made it better or at least how I tried.
Enjoy my video below.
HD Audio Sample
Links to the first 2 parts of the build
Papas Boxes Concert Build: The Box
December 22, 2009 at 2:22 am | Posted in Brands, Concert, General, Papas Boxes, Products | Leave a commentTags: cigar, cigar box, DIY, home made, learning, posts, uke, ukulele
Current Dry Fit
Being that the cigar box is the main part of a cigar box ukulele I felt I had to make it really interesting and fun. Since I used a box that never held a cigar in its life I also had to make it look like a cigar box, but how to do that is a challenge. On the other hand since it was not a real cigar box it gave me a great opportunity to do whatever I wanted, so I did!
The first thing I did was separate the top from the bottom by removing the hinges, they would not let the box close and I knew I would be gluing it shut anyways.
AnaRosa Guitars logo on the Top of the box
Since all cigar boxes have a logo or brand on the top of the lid I had to find something that would do the same thing. I toyed with a play on Ukeeku, or my last name, and then I remembered that I have the perfect logo, a small guitar import company that my friend started called AnaRosa Guitars. It is really nice, and I have used the logo for a few other ukes that I customized. Now how do I get the logo on the ukulele? I could have painted it on, bought some transfer paper that I printed it on, but in the end I laser etched it on, essentially burned it on. The really awesome people who work in the signs and promo area at the school I work at agreed to burn the logo on the back and whatever other design I had for the front.
Laser engraving the top design, on its first pass
Basically it is a laser engraver that can etch metal, wood, stone, just about anything. The one issue was that it was not powerful enough to cut through, no big deal. So I gave them the .eps file of the logo on the back and the design for the front. It took 3 passes to really carve the designs into the box. This type laser is found in most awards and trophy places. It is how they engrave the plaques and stuff. I have found that they will like you better if you give them the design in a vector format like an .EPS or illustrator file. That way they have to do a lot less work to prep your design to be burned on to the wood.
UKEEKU.COM pattern in the tiki
The top is a tiki, obviously, but I used UKEEKU.COM as the texture in the tiki to give it some interest and to promote my blog (Sorry, had to get my site on there somewhere). I had the line for the mouth cut in by the laser but I had to go back in and cut it out with a little coping saw (not fun). I refined the sound hole with some rasps. One note of issues that I had at this point: Since the box is plywood it kind of splintered inside around the mouth. Not a huge deal.
T block before it was glued in
Now for Bracing. The last time I made one of these I was confused by this step. This time I read the directions several times and I referenced this book: Ukulele Design and Construction by Henry Wickman. Since the top was thick I figured that I would need less bracing to keep it flat, hence the single brace near the sound hole. Where I messed up my last build was with the T block that you use for the side the neck will attach to the box. On my first cigar box uke I glued the top of the T to the top of the box. When really what that is for is to be a brace for the side of the box so it has more structure for when you attach the neck.
Close up of the brace glued to the top
As you can see I modified the bracing by cutting some wood off and making it more like regular bracing you would see in a professionally made instrument. I even rounded off all the corners that were not going to be glued down. I then glued the end blocks in and the bracing in the middle. As you can see I used 2 basic clips with a small piece of wood on the outside part of the box so I did not dent it. The bracing in the middle I just held in place with my hand for an hour. (I don’t have a clamp that would work that did not tip it on its side)
Lable on the inside.
- Top with clamps holding the end blocks in place
GRRRRR. Pickup plug damage
The last thing I did, before gluing the box shut, was to install the pickup, should have been easy. I figured out where to put it, marked the hole, and then drilled what I thought would be the right size hole, I was really wrong. The hole was way too small and I do not have a bit big enough to make the hole any bigger. So I fudged it a little, but that only lead me to realize that the pickup plug is too shallow to make it all the way through the side wall. At this point I was pissed because I accidentally chipped the wood on the outside when I drilled the hole. I ended up carving out the hole on the inside to a depth that I could secure the end (See picture to see the damage).
Pickup glued and taped down
I then glued down the pickup and taped down the wire, so it wouldn’t buzz, with Gorilla tape.
After everything was burned, the sound hole cut, supports in place, pickup installed, and box glued shut I started to sand. One of the things that I look for in a nice instrument is how it was finished. I am not just talking about the lacquer, but if the person making it thought about comfort. Since you hold most ukuleles up by wedging it between your body and arm, the edges need to be rounded. In general I like no hard edges at all. I rounded every corner on the box with some rough 80 grit sandpaper (DO NOT SAND THE TOP OR BOTTOM, YOU COULD SAND OFF THE DESIGN). I then moved to a 400 Grit to sand the rest of the box and the edges I sanded down. The box was pretty smooth when I bought it so not much sanding was needed.
Box in bondage
This is already long enough. Thank you for sticking with me this far, I am currently working on a tung oil finish for the neck and box. That is where I will start in the next post when I am assembling the thing.
Papas Boxes Concert Build
December 4, 2009 at 7:16 pm | Posted in Brands, Concert, Papas Boxes, Products, Reviews | 2 CommentsTags: cheap, cigar, cigar box, DIY, home made, learning, posts, tuners, tuning pegs, uke, ukulele
New Kit from Papas Boxes
A month or so ago the kind folks at Papas Boxes sent me an e-mail saying that they were back to taking orders again. On a whim I e-mailed them and told them about my blog and they responded really quickly and asked what size, I went with concert. Not very many people have seen the soprano cigar box ukulele that I made 2 years ago, but I found the kit on EBay and it was basically a fret board, rough neck, floating bridge, and zither pins for tuning, Very basic and well-made kit. It played ok and the tuning was a little hard to do, so I bought the tuner kit and also replaced the bridge that came with it with a Grover 4 string banjo bridge. Now it plays really well and is a ton of fun. That is one of the best things about the kit. You can either put it together and play, or keep changing it and adjusting it until it is what you want.
Neck
I do not have the tools to make a full ukulele at my house which is why I bought the first kit. The new kit I received from Papas Boxes is a major upgrade from the first one that I made. The fret board has really nice light wood inlays and it is already glued to the neck. Another big thing that they did that I like with the neck is the little head piece. If you use a clip tuner this makes it possible to clip it to the head and not on the floating bridge. The L bracket is still there but recessed along with the floating bridge. I did not go with the zither pins for tuners on this kit and got the tuners and they also included the pickup (I think they make the pickups, looks kind of steam punk inspired). They also sent a cigar box but I really wanted to find something that was all wood and did not sound so dead. I ended up finding out that almost no one makes nice sounding cigar boxes big enough to make a concert sized ukulele, so I ended up buying a plain box at a craft store. Trust me the box will not look plain Jane when I am done with it!
Bridge, L Bracket, and Drill bit
The great thing about the kits that I have received from them is that they come with everything except the drill, screw drivers, and saw. The drill bits, templates, and many other little doo-dads are included so you can make the best instrument you can. How far you take the build is up to you.
The build will be several posts in the next few weeks, hopefully done by Christmas, and will begin with prepping the body (cigar box) then putting it together, and ending it with tweaking it. My end goal will be a full review and then next summer giving it away at a ukulele festival.
Stay tuned.
Other Pics.
Dry Fit of Bridge and Neck
Pickup and Another Drill Bit
****UPDATES****
The building of the box is posted!! Click HERE
The Post on final assembly and a video is posted! Click HERE
PAPA IS BACK!!!!
September 5, 2009 at 4:52 am | Posted in Brands, Papas Boxes | Leave a commentTags: cigar box, DIY, uke, ukulele
Papa (AKA: Bill Moore) is back!!!
You don’t know who he is?
Well, I believe he is the best cigar box ukulele kit makers and after about a year or so of not selling his ukes and his kits he is back, and by back I mean back in full force.
My Papas Boxes Soprano with optional geared tuners
I bought one of his kits from eBay (He does not sell there any more, just his site) about a year and a half ago. I found a nice cigar box at a flea market and away I went to building my first cigar box ukulele. It went really well, it was very easy and it came with great directions. The things sounds so good.
The funny part and a warning for all before building one. When I finished my uke I was looking to build another and I had been searching for more cigar boxes to make them and I came across one just like mine, but in worse condition. The cigar box was going for $300. I was like “CRAP”. I learned that is better to figure out if you have a collectable cigar box before cutting, drilling and gluing it to make a ukulele out of it. cool part is I paid $5 for the cigar box. Please keep in mind that he has changed the kit, they are really nice looking now. Mine was one of his first kits.
I recommend the kits and I am hoping to get another one so I can write about it and share my experience with all of you. More than likely the concert, but this time with a less valuable cigar box.
Head on over and check out the site. plenty of videos up and you can buy the kits for all 3 main sizes of ukuleles or make a banjo. He also has finished ukes already made starting at $170 (If you don’t have the tools or time this is the way to go)
Click to Go to the site
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