CB Uke Build Started

Posted by Jim Dickison on March 18, 2013 at 10:37am

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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Replies

Jim Dickison March 22, 2013 at 2:11am

First mockup:

Scale length is 13.5". Soprano ukes typically have the side wings trimmed off of the bridge, also.
- Jim Dickison > Jim Dickison April 7, 2013 at 2:10pm
  
  Did a little more work on this today...
  
  Used an iron to heat up and remove the remaining scraps of the support block and ukulele body from the neck:
Jim Dickison March 22, 2013 at 1:50am

I'm thinking I may go more this direction with the headstock:

Dunno... Still up in the air. May come up with something completely different!
Jim Dickison March 22, 2013 at 12:49am

I removed the neck support block from the neck with my Japanese Flush Cut saw. I will try to remove the remaining thin pieces of ukulele body with a hot iron.
Arnold Kelly March 21, 2013 at 5:09pm

Looking awesome, Jim! :)
Jim Dickison March 21, 2013 at 2:16pm

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

I'll restain to match (hopefully!) and add my own logo. If it can't get the stain to match closely enough, I'll just paint the headstock face black.
- Jillian Holladay > Jim Dickison March 21, 2013 at 2:20pm
  
  Maybe you could change the shape a bit to make it more your own. I love the grain on the fingerboard.
- Jim Dickison > Jillian Holladay March 21, 2013 at 3:51pm
  
  Well... I wasn't planning on that... but...
  
  I did some graphic mockups... What do you think?
- Jillian Holladay > Jim Dickison March 21, 2013 at 4:01pm
  
  Love it! I just bought a branding iron to put my signature on my builds :) branding iron website
- Jim Dickison > Jillian Holladay March 21, 2013 at 4:09pm
  
  I have a rubber stamp for guitar headstocks (same design as shown in that mockup) and a glossy permanent ink stamp pad.
  
  I'd need to have a slightly smaller one made for ukuleles... Or I may just make a decal...
  
  Custom rubber stamps are surprisingly inexpensive! The one I have is 2" x 0.5"