Finally finished. There is no such thing as a cheep cigar box. The newer ones are made with plywood and do not offer a good sound board. This box had both the top and bottom sliced off and replaced with Western Red Cedar, for the top, and 1/4" birch veneer ply wood for the bottom. Found out the hard way that a drill press circle cutter does NOT work well cutting 1/8" cedar. Had to slice off that top and make a new one. A dremel with the router base works best. First make the cut using a dremel router bit then finish the shape with a 1/4" sanding drum bit.
The fret board dots were made using white corian. This stuff cuts real easy on a wood lathe and can be finished very well.
The neck is cut out of a full block of black walnut. Had an old shotgun stock blank setting in the garage and it was a great candidate for a neck. Fretboard is purple heart and has a 20 inch scale. The box was made deeper with 1/2" black walnut. YOU NEED AT LEAST 2.5 INCH DEEP BOX TO GET A GOOD SOUND.
When making a new top out of western red cedar, found a 4" x 8' board at Home Depot. It only had 3 major knots in it. Sliced the board on the table saw and book matched the 3/16" slices. Next hand planed and sanded to 1/8". In looking around the internet the better cigar box ukuleles are made using very thin cedar tops and adding internal braces.
Attached are some photos.
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A 1/4" x 20 bolt is a very hefty item and can take a lot of stress. If you noticed I had used a lock washer and a star washer to hold the bolt in place. Also using a 1/2" oak strip across the front will also distrubute the stress across the whole box frame. Another idea is to use dowel rods along with the bolt. Check out this set of plans - They use 3 dowell rods to fix the neck to the body.
www.harpkit.com/mm5/pdf/Instructions/Ukekit.pdf
Thank You,
The sound is very good. Much better than the first one I had built. I think it is the cedar sound board and the extended scale. The whole box vibrates. Some day I will make a sound file and add to this posting.
Neck is attached using a 1/4" x 20 hangar bolt. The head and tail of the box is reinforced with 1/2" oak. I have used this method on both units and have had no problems. I think a bolt on neck is easier to position the neck and to insure the fretboard does not touch the sound board. Also when you drill the pilot hole into the neck base, put a 2 or 3 drops o wood glue in the hole. This will insure the threads set. I have even seen wood glue forced out the pores of the wood when you crank in the screw. I also use a 3/5 card as a shim between the fretboard and sound board.
Alan Roberts said:
I'm working on my second uke (a tenor) as well. Mine is a traditional one, with bent sides, fan bracing and all. I would be happy to know how you attached the neck. Any photos?
Looks good. We're all waiting for sound files.