Forums

4 and 8-string ukes - upcycling an old acoustic guitar!

Posted by Tim Hooper on July 26, 2017 at 3:42pm in Building Secrets, Tips, Advice, Discussion

Evening all!

I've not posted a build here before, so bear with me if I get it wrong, ok?

This is the second uke that that I've constructed out of an old acoustic guitar, that used to belong to my brother. (It was awful - the neck was twisted and bowed -  completely beyond redemption).

It seemed to me that the curved sides of the body could be cut down, and used to make the sides of a smaller tenor uke.

The first 4-stringer used the back of the body, but I made a new soundboard out of 1/16" modelling-grade plywood, braced internally.

The neck was formed form a mahogany blank - shaped with a scroll saw and belt sander, before finishing by hand.  The neck is dowelled and glued to the body.

All the hardware came from Ebay, and the completed uke is fitted with Aquila strings.

I'm delighted with the result - the tone is more lute-like than a conventional uke, but has ample volume to make itself heard at the local uke club (Cool and Uke).

Tim

You need to be a member of Cigar Box Nation to add comments!

Join Cigar Box Nation

Email me when people reply –
Follow

Replies

  • Kirk August 23, 2017 at 9:15am

    Beautiful!! Can I ask you what the string separation was between the two stringed pairs?  I have an order for an 8 string cigar box uke.

    • Tim Hooper > Kirk August 24, 2017 at 2:48am

      Hi Kirk,

      I bought an 8-string nut from Ebay.  The centres of the grooves are 2mm apart, with 7mm between each pair. The nut is 38mm wide overall ( about 2mm wider than a standard 4-stringe).

      At the bridge, I've spaced the pairs at 3mm between the centres of the strings.  From the top string to the bottom strng is 43mm.

      I hope this helps!

      Tim

  • Paul Craig August 20, 2017 at 1:21pm

    Another question: What's the difference between a 8 string Uke and a Mandolin?

    • Tim Hooper > Paul Craig August 20, 2017 at 2:17pm

      I'm not a mandolin player, so I did a bit of research!

      Firstly, the mandolin is fitted with steel strings, has a narrower neck, and is plucked with a pick or plectrum, it seems.

      The tuning is different too;

      Mandolin - GG, DD, AA, EE  (the same basic set up as a violin)

      8-string uke - octave G,G, octave C,C, EE (unison), AA  (unison).

      I wouldn't put steel strings on a uke......

      Tim

      • Paul Craig > Tim Hooper August 20, 2017 at 2:49pm

        Thanks.

  • Estone Villan August 20, 2017 at 3:43am
    When measuring, did you just take a rough guess at size for the body? 12 inch body, 9 inch wide and 3 inch deep or were you more precise and have a better idea of what you wanted to do?

    I also wondered if there was any flexibility in the width of the body at the neck or whether it had to be that wide because of the angles at the corners?

    I'm worried I may stuff it up.
    • Tim Hooper > Estone Villan August 20, 2017 at 2:09pm

      It was all a rough guess!

      Given that the guitar was around 110mm deep, I figured that If I was careful that I could get two 50mm deep uke bodies from it.

      For the overall shape, I drew around the guitar body on a large sheet of paper, then cut the paper into smaller pieces which I could use to make a sort of jigsaw, moving the pieces around until I was happy with the overall shape produced.  This became the template I used on both ukes.

      Simply put, the body could have any proportions that you want, I think.  I did ponder having a very slender body, but I thought it would look a little out of proportion to my eyes.

      Tim

      306632867?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024306633785?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024

  • Tucker James CBG's August 9, 2017 at 6:00am
    Some very cool ideas here or should I say hear?!
    • Tim Hooper > Tucker James CBG's August 11, 2017 at 3:18pm

      Here's my self-made family so far......

      306632776?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024

This reply was deleted.