First Double Ukulele Hard Case
October 26, 2010 at 1:59 am | Posted in Projects | 4 CommentsTags: Care, DIY, home made, learning, posts, uke, ukulele
I will explain the pictures and what are in them, I don’t plan on posting a how-to on it just yet, I would like to make a few more. For my first case I am pleased though.
The fabric is a canvas with plastic leather corners to hide the seams.
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Banjo Ukulele Head Replacement
October 22, 2010 at 8:05 pm | Posted in Banjo, General, Projects | 4 CommentsTags: banjo, banjo head, banjo ukulele, banjolele, DIY, head, home made, learning, posts, uke, ukulele
When I purchased my vintage banjo uke, I knew I was taking a chance that it would be a wall hanger. The head was torn and I had never replaced a banjo head or tried anything like that before, but I figured what the hell, how hard could it be? It is not hard to do once you know how, but finding out how ro replace a head of an in-line banjo ukulele compared to a regular banjo head with the outside brackets proved to be impossible. That is why I wrote this. So that someone else who is looking for how to do this may find something on it.
What was I suppose to do? I e-mailed Elderly music and asked and they responded with instructions on how to do it for a normal banjo. It even came with a PDF, but not what I needed. I was happy that they at least took the time to respond since they really could have offered to fix it and I would pay them. I searched and searched and stumbled on to Aaron Keims Ebay listing for a banjo uke with an in-line head like mine. So I messaged him (Yeah we are friends on Facebook, but really he has a billion friends) and he replied with a simple set of instructions that basically said to just do it and not to tighten it all the way. it made sense since you tighten a regular head after it dries so leaving room to tighten seemed good. thankfully I had enough to do it twice.
Any how, thank you Aaron for taking the time to reply and giving me the confidence to do it.
Here is how to replace an in-line ukulele banjo head
Head is off, but some remains
1. take the old head off. Just loosen each screw a little at a time and moving around the ring until they are all loose. You could just take each screw out, but I worry that the tension on the existing head will make the screw holes widen when it pulls on them. Do it how you like, I might be weird. (NOTE: The first step normally would be to mark the orientation of the outside ring, but I figure the ring is old and needs paint. If not painting make a line on the ring and body so you know how it was before you took it off. Old instruments are not perfectly round)
2. Prep the outside ring and body. The outside ring on mine was rusty so I took a wire brush to it and then sprayed it a flat black. Paint all sides of it, it will get wet when installing the new head. For the body make sure that none of the old head in the space where the ring holds the head down. It can be stuck or slightly glued. As a precaution I filled the screw holes with a small dab of glue. I do this to close the holes a little. The holes will not completely close and will leave a dent for you to feel where the screw goes. Give it a day or two to harden and for the paint to dry on the outer ring. Now is also the time to do any sanding/refinishing/repairs to the body and neck. You will not want to take the head off once you get it back on.
3. So you think you are ready to put the head on? Let us do some prep work to avoid some easy mistakes. As I mentioned before, the body is not perfectly round. The outer and inner ring will usually fit one way. Find that orientation where they just fit. The outer ring will just fall in and match-up with the screw holes. Once you have the orientation make a pencil mark on the ring and body to help when you are installing the head.
Skin cut to size
4. Cut the head to size. Some people will cut and oversized piece then trim later, but I found that wastes the head material. I just put the body down and traced it. Where the neck is just finish drawing the circle. I also made sure to cut my head as close to the edge of the larger 14″ piece as I can. If you do that you can get 2 heads out of it if you mess up the first one. Once you have a circle drawn on the skin cut it out. Mark the smooth side because you will not be able to tell when you are putting the head on because it is wet. Just a small pencil mark on and edge will do. I wrote TOP.
Soaking my head
5. Now you have a stiff piece of goat skin cut to size. How do you stretch it and make it bend o your will? I like to torture it with really hot water. Find a bucket or something that would cover the skin if it was standing on its side (That is how it will float, very surreal looking) I used a small cooler. Fill it with the hottest tap water you can and soak the skin for 5 minutes. While it soaks get everything you need to install the head with in arms reach of where you are going to do the deed. Once you start you have a limited time before it starts to get stiff again.
6. Pull the head out once it has soaked for 5 minutes and dry it with the towel. I just put it on the towel and rolled it in the towel to get the surface water off.
7. Make sure the inner ring is in place and laying flat and lay the head on the body. Make sure that the smooth side is up and that it is centered as possible.
8. place the outer ring on making sure that the pencil lines are aligned. Press down the outer ring until it is half way in.
9 . Take your awl and poke a hole through the head at each hole of the outer ring.
10. Insert the screws into each hole and screw them in until they are flush with the outer ring as it is halfway in.
At this point you are now tightening the head and things can get really hard.
11. Start going around the outer ring and tightening the screws a few turns at a time until it is just level with the body. You can tighten more but don’t, you need room to tighten after it drys. A note; I found it almost impossible tighten it as I got it close to level with the body. I found that pushing the ring in with my fingers a little then tightening down to meet the ring really helped, you just need really strong hands.
12. Let the head dry for at least 5 days (longer if you live in a humid environment). You will feel that it dry the next day but it may still be wet under the outer ring so give it time.
13. Once it is dry try to tighten the screws a quarter to a whole turn to do a final tighten. Tap to make sure it sounds generally the same all the way around and tighten low sounding spots. You will never be able to tune the head like a regular banjo so don’t go crazy.
The head is now replaced!! Now you can do it for others who are too scared to try.
I hope this all made sense. I am sorry there are not more pictures. I got caught up in doing it and did not take a ton of pictures. Please feel free to ask questions in the comments so others can see them, or feel free to e-mail me with questions. Either way I will do my best to answer you.
The Post on what and all I did to the this uke to make it playable is in this post.
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Fleamarket Ukulele rebuild
October 3, 2010 at 4:01 am | Posted in General, Projects | 3 CommentsTags: Care, cheap, DIY, home made, learning, Play, posts, sale, seconds, uke, ukulele
Some would say there is a special place in hell for what I did to this uke. The first rule when finding a vintage ukulele is to never, I mean never ever strip the original finish off. So I did it anyways. In my defense the name on the head was gone, head was torn, and the tuning pegs were shot. Not to mention that there was no bridge or tailpiece.
Go HERE to see pics of it before I “restored” it.
So here is the list of what I did:
- Pulled it a part
- sanded it down
- stained it reddish purple
- Sanded and repainted the ring that hold the head
- Put a new head on (Here is the post on how)
- changed the tuners for some smaller ones (Had to do a washer to cover the hole from the banjo tuners)
- Made a new bridge from maple
- Stole the tail piece from a mandolin I purchased several years ago
- Strings and all is done
- Made a case from cardboard duct tape (A post after the head replacement post)
I learned a few things while doing this and made a few mistakes along the way. I wish I would have not sanded the fretboard as much as I did, I scalloped it a little. The good thing is that it makes it faster, I just have to remember not to go all the way down to the fretboard sometimes. I did find a really cool micro file set to make the notches for the strings on the bridge. As a whole Aaron Keim played it and said I did a really good job when I brought it to the Milwaukee Ukulele fest.
I could not have done this with out Aaron, he was the only person who replied to me when I asked them how to replace the head. His instructions gave me the right basic steps on how to replace a head like that.
Please stay tuned for the next 2 posts about the head replacement and my cardboard case.
Sound Sample
Ukulele World Congress 2010
June 9, 2010 at 3:51 am | Posted in Events, Shows | 4 CommentsTags: fest, festival, home made, jamming, learning, Martin, Open Mic, Play, posts, uke, ukulele
What do you get when you have a bunch of ukulele players come to an old hippy commune to play a 8 hour open mic, camp, eat and jam all day long?
A FRICK’N GOOD TIME!!
Stage durring the day
I missed last year’s UWC and I was really bummed and I am so happy that I was able to go this year. The atmosphere is like nothing else. The thing is that it is not a festival but more of a large party to celebrate the ukulele and its community. There are no formal classes, but you learn a ton if you want to. There are no headliners waiting backstage to go on and wow the crowd. Trust me there were plenty of people there that could be the headline act at most any ukulele festival (Dominator, Ukulele Zoey and Jodi AKA Gigapus, Flea Bitten Dawgs, Shani Fawni, and Mike from Mainland Ukes to name a few)The great thing about the UWC is that the performers are everyone there. Everyone has a chance to go and play and get a big round of applause no matter how they did. I am a little embarrassed that I screwed up my set on Friday night. I got up there sang a Flaming lips song then tried to do doc of the bay and could not remember it at all and I really wanted to go back on Saturday to redeem myself but by the time I got back to camp the signup sheet was way to full. When I got off the stage I was greeted by Ukulele Zoey and a bunch of others who made me feel like I was not a total screw up and everyone applauded just as loud for me as every other person that went up there. It is a great place to get up and sing for people if you have never done it before.
Dominator and I
Things to know about the UWC, a lessons learned if you will.
1. Come Friday; There are a lot of people there on Friday and the potluck is amazing. Also if you show up Friday you can explore Nashville and all that fun stuff Saturday.
2. Bring some food and plenty to drink, not just beer. At this year’s, like last years, there was a potluck that is made up of food that the locals bring. it was good. Saturday you will more than likely spend away from camp exploring so you can eat in town. So there is no need to bring full meals, just bring snacks and stuff to share with everyone.
3. Be prepared for any weather. If you are camping make sure that you have clothes for Hot, cold, and wet.
4. Sign up for open mic as early as you can. If you wait you will go on at 1am. People are allowed to stay up there as long as they like, most did 3-4 songs.
5. Be prepared to buy a new ukulele. You may tell yourself that you don’t need it. It is hard to not go to Weed Patch or Mainland and fall in love.
6. Be prepared to stay until 4 pm on Sunday. There was a ukulele class from 11 -4. I heard it was pretty cool
7. Get on Ukulele Underground and start participating in it. The UWC is also a place for many people who communicate on the forums to actually meet and have a “family reunion” of sorts. It will help when you get there.
FIRE
I had a great time and hope that it happens again next year. One of my big highlights was going to David Gills house to see his workshop. That story is coming soon.
Please comment below with your experiences or go to the Ukulele Underground forum where people are already posting their favorite moments.
More pics on the facebook group page
Ukulele Player Magazine #12
April 29, 2010 at 1:03 am | Posted in General | 1 CommentTags: fest, festival, home made, jamming, learning, review, Strap, uke, ukulele
I dont know how long it has been out, but like clockwork there is another awesome issue.
Ukestar Ukulele Strap Review
March 11, 2010 at 5:13 am | Posted in Products, Reviews | 8 CommentsTags: Full review, home made, posts, review, Strap, uke, Ukestrar, ukulele
I have to start this by apologizing to Hannah, the really awesome strap crafter (Says it on her business card) from Ukestar Straps. Hannah was kind enough to send me one of her handmade ukulele strap back in January. No excuses, time got away from me. So on with the show!! 
Most guitar players have a strap for their guitar, especially electric guitar players. Guitars are big and most people can’t hold a guitar while standing and play it (Unless you are my friend Paul, he is weird). Ukuleles are small; you can wedge it between your belly and your arm and still play it just fine, right?
The answer is yes and no. On one hand you can simply hold it with your arm and gut. It is light and that is what a lot of people do, perfectly fine, but………..You knew there had to be a but. When you wedge the uke you are creating some problems:
- You are not letting the instrument completely vibrate, letting the full sound come out.
- You put a nice line in your arm from holding it too long.
- After a while a buildup of sweat and “stuff” will start to show where you hold it with your arm and can cause permanent discoloration.
- Your strumming hand is limited to what it can do since it is locked into position of the arm holding the uke.
Me Holding my Jenny Using the Ukestar Strap
To resolve these “problems” people will buy a strap for their uke. As I mentioned before in a earlier post there are several straps. The one from Ukestar Straps is a handmade classical guitar strap style but made for ukuleles, meaning that it holds the instrument by the sound hole, but Ukestar Straps are way better than your mass produced ukulele straps from Levy.
- It is handmade in America with love ( I could stop here)
- Many different fabrics to choose from (NOTE: She has 5 up presently, but there is a spot that you can custom order size and fabric LINK)
- There are 3 sizes. Absolutely genius mainly because I see so many different sized people playing ukulele. As a 6″ 1′ man with a slight gut I got a medium, IZ would have benefitted from a large, where Jake could probably use a small.
- Unlike the levy strap that has a hard plastic clip, these have an amazing clothe covered hook to protect your beloved ukulele.
- For $20 you cannot beat it. A factory made one from Levy is $15. For a whole $5 more you have a product that is so much better in so many ways.
Clothe Wrapped Hook
All I can say is that my strap changed my playing. I love it, I love it , I love it. The real beauty of it for me is the fact that I don’t have to take it off to change ukes. Just unhook and hook another one on.
The Star Button on all Straps
Buy one today, Hell buy two (one for you and one for a friend)
A few fun things to know about Hannah. Besides being a strap crafter she is in a band called the Ukettes and is a graphic designer (Which explains the really professional tags and other printed materials that come with the strap)
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
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