esta tarde

I put a nice new Olson bandsaw blade on my 18" Jet bandsaw this evening and cut out a few quarter sawn Honduras mahogany ukulele neck blanks. Here are 3 after the first stage of profiling. Next i'll smooth the front and back of the headstock, veneer them with a 2mm face plate and 1mm back plate, finish the headstock, taper the edges to approximate finished width, cut the slots for the sides in the foot, and then hand carve the heel. I'm going to do a photo essay soon to illustrate how i make a neck, from start to finish.

What do i do with the cutoffs from the neck blanks ? I resaw them into 2mm thick veneers, tail block and back brace material.

I think i'm going to take a break now and sit down and read my new copy of Nasser Shirazi's excellent new book on building the Kamanche (the Persian spike fiddle) which arrived in the mail today. Thanks Nasser ! The kamanche is a fabulously expressive musical instrument in the hands of an Ostad. Nasser has also published an excellent book on the construction of the Setar, a Persian long necked lute.