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CB Uke Build Started

Hey all! Been playing ukulele for a few months now, and I decided that I have to build a cigar box uke!

Going to start with this box:

And, for the neck, I found Rogue Soprano Ukuleles on sale at Musician's Friend for only $22... That's cheaper than I could probably build a neck, and a lot easier!

I'm going to sacrifice the ukulele as a neck donor for my new uke.

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Permalink Reply by Jim Dickison on March 18, 2013 at 3:48am

Here's my "neck donor" with the strings and tuners removed:

Here's my quick review of the Rogue Soprano Ukulele: The body and neck are nicely made! Good fret work on mine, no sharp edges. However... the strings and tuners on this uke are really poor! Nearly unplayably so. The cheap plastic friction tuners are difficult to work and the strings sound pretty lifeless.

Here are some additional parts I've obtained:

The rosewood bridge and bone saddle and nut are from eBay. The Grover uke tuners are from StewMac. I had to get the long post version because the Rogue headstock is pretty thick. Also in the picture are some D'Addario Titanium Ukulele strings (been wanting to try those, and at $5 put my MF uke order over the $25 for free shipping!) and one of the friction peg tuners from the Rogue.

More fun to come as I dismantle the Rogue!

Permalink Reply by Jillian Holladay on March 18, 2013 at 4:01am

I have one of those Rouges myself. Check the fret positions, you might be better off doing it yourself.

Permalink Reply by Jim Dickison on March 18, 2013 at 4:54am

I did play with the Rogue for a little while... the intonation's not too bad, actually!

Permalink Reply by Jim Dickison on March 18, 2013 at 5:32am

By the way, Jillian... I've seen your ukes on here and they're great! I love your creativity in decorating them! I see you use a box from JoAnn's on a lot of them... what is the size of that box you use?

Thanks!

Permalink Reply by Jillian Holladay on March 18, 2013 at 5:39am

It is 8 1/4"x 8 1/8" x 1 3/4". Lately, the quality of them has been very poor. Warped, cracked, etc. I am only finding one out six worth buying. Michaels carries them as well. They do make a nice sounding uke.

Permalink Reply by Jim Dickison on March 18, 2013 at 6:30am

Thanks! I wasn't sure if those were the ones you used or not... They look really small when you see them naked in person!

Permalink Reply by Arnold Kelly on March 18, 2013 at 4:15am

Can't wait to see it!

Permalink Reply by Jim Dickison on March 19, 2013 at 8:45pm

Here's how I removed the neck from the donor uke:

I actually didn't take pictures while I was doing it, so these are recreations with the neck put back into place.

First, I made 2 diagonal cuts alongside the heel of the neck using my Harbor Freight Japanese Flush Cut Saw:

Next, I made 2 cuts with the saw blade beside the fretboard to the sound hole:

Finally, I just bent the neck back until the support block came loose:

Next, I plan to remove the support block from the neck (probably using the Japanese saw, again) and then remove the remaining thin body pieces, probably by using an iron to heat and soften the glue.

Permalink Reply by Jim Dickison on March 21, 2013 at 7:16am

I also used some sandpaper and a sanding block to remove the headstock logo: