I'm building a ukulele for a friend out of a Johnny Walker box. It originally held 10 mini bottle of liquor but it's basically a cigar box.
So I see two ways to go about the build:
1) Get the Gitty kit and use all those parts
-OR-
2) Build a neck through style myself.
The first option would be easier but there's one catch: I want to make the box open and have a little compartment for a mini bottle and two glasses. That being the case, there's not much of an edge to fasten the neck to. I could easily have enough bracing if I do a neck through style of my own design.
So, any ideas how I could attach the neck from the kit with enough bracing and still have the box hinge open?
Thanks in advance for your input
Scotty
Replies
Seems like if you want the sure thing you should just do the neck thru, fastening to the top and notching out the bottom.
Hi, Ducati Scotty, if you want to see how my system works search for "Building a through neck and fitting it" part 1 &2 from about a month back This method would give more room inside the box and would stay in tune whilst having a drink. You may have to modify it a bit to suit your needs.
Taff
Ok, now you’re just teasing. You have way more tools than I do. I make due with a few hand saws, rasps, a drill, and a spoke shave. Lovely tutorial though, covers all the bases. I like that you reinforced the cutout. Some people don’t and I’m sure those warp over time.
You can always flip it backwards , well have the opening on the backside and use the bottom of the pal as the top . It will give you all the room for a couple of cans , electronicso bracing for the threw neck it will be a little more work but it can be done . I just built one out of a pilsner urguell 6 pack lunch box tack a look at it .
The Johnnie Walker logo is only in the top and it’s the reason for using this box. Separating the top and bottom from the box and reglueing them would be a lot of work and might wreck the box.
I notch out the stick through using my band saw. I start at the end few mm down to give me a bit of neck angle, cut further down and a shallow curve up to a cm or two close to where the neck and body meet. Before I had my band saw I used shallow cuts with my saw and a chisel or a rasp.
Here is a uke that opens. The top is about 5/8" height. I made it a few years ago, it is solid, no issues. Glued a block the full width, moved the cedar side pieces to the top to stiffen the top, notched out the bottom. The neck is screwed to the block.
That’s really slick. I’ll have to take some measurements and see if I can do something like that.
You can see here that the box is just the same size as my soprano Uke body. The inside depth on the lid is just 1/2”. I think maybe with a full width piece to brace I might be able to screw right to the lid without doing a through neck.
Based on your pictures, I would guess you could do something like I did, my box top is about the same height inside.