Notes and observations

A claro and spruce soprano

nospam@example.com (William King) — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 09:48:06 -0500

Here are some photos of a soprano ukuleke i finished recently. Its the fourth in a short series (6-12) of R&D soprano ukuleles i'm building while i finish my 2010 custom orders. It features a hand split and air dried Swiss spruce soundboard, rare California curly claro back and sides, curly maple body bindings with top purfling, a paua abalone rosette, a Honduras mahogany neck, an ebony fingerboard and pin style bridge with snakewood pins, and an ivory nut and saddle. It is finished in a gloss lacquer finish, fitted with smooth and reliable Gotoh Deluxe friction tuners and strung with Worth fluorocarbon strings.

It has an articulate and nuanced tone with good loudness, intonation and playability.
It is available from stock for $1350 including a hardshell case. Shipping is extra.

a custom tenor ukulele

nospam@example.com (William King) — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 09:37:15 -0500

Here are some photos of a custom 14 fret long scale model A3 tenor ukulele i finished recently. It features a Mediterranean cypress soundboard, curly Honduras mahogany back and sides, a Spanish cedar neck, radiused and bound ebony fingerboard with MOP face and side markers, a decorative wood banding style rosette, curly koa body bindings with green side purfling, a scalloped ebony heel cap, an ebony pin style bridge with snakewood pins and an ivory nut and saddle. It is finished in a gloss lacquer finish, fitted with PegHed™ geared pegs and strung with Worth fluorocarbon strings. It has a sweet mellow jazzy tone.

A mahogany tenor

nospam@example.com (William King) — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 13:30:41 -0500

Here are some photos of a custom tenor i finished recently. It features a Honduras mahogany body, a figured Spanish Cedar neck, scalloped koa hee lcap, a radiused ebony fingerboard with MOP face and side markers, an ebony tie style bridge, a paua abalone rosette, curly maple body bindings, sea green top and side purfling, bone nut, ivory saddle and a B-Band XOM preamp/UST/AST system. Its finished in gloss lacquer, fitted with PegHed™ geared tuning pegs and strung in low G tuning with Savarez Alliance KF red card trebles and a D'Addario J3505 wound G string. It has a custom nut width of 36.5mm and a custom fret scale of 443 mm.

A soprano ukulele in rosewood and spruce

nospam@example.com (William King) — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 14:48:04 -0500

Regular readers of this builder's journal will notice that i've been cooking up a few model N5 sopranos recently. First there was this one in curly Honduras mahogany and California redwood, which found a good home in Los Angeles. Next was this one in dark curly koa and Swiss spruce, which found a good home in London, UK. Here are a few photos of the newest one. Like the others, it is in the figure of eight style popularized by early ukulele builders such as Leo Nunes. It features Brasilian rosewood back and sides, a Swiss spruce soundboard, a Spanish cedar neck, an ebony fingerboard with MOP face and side position markers, an ebony pin bridge, a simple wood ring rosette, curly koa body bindings, top purfling, a bone nut and an ivory saddle. It is fitted with smooth and reliable Gotoh Deluxe friction tuners, finished in hand rubbed lacquer, and string with Worth fluorocarbon strings. It has a bright, crisp and articulate voice.

These R&D soprano ukuleles are the first 3 in a short (6-12) series of sopranos i'm building while i finish my 2010 custom orders to help make ends meet during the great recession of 2010.

A soprano in koa and spruce

nospam@example.com (William King) — Sun, 18 Jul 2010 10:54:04 -0500

Here are some quick photos of a new soprano i finished recently, this one again in the general style of Leo Nunes. It features dark curly koa back and sides and a Swiss spruce soundboard. It has mahogany body bindings, top purfling, a decorative wood banding style rosette, a Honduras mahogany neck, an ebony fingerboard with ivory position markers, bone nut and saddle and an ebony pin bridge with ebony pins. It is fitted with smooth Gotoh Deluxe friction tuners, strung with Worth fluorocarbon strings and finished in a hand rubbed gloss lacquer finish.

This soprano has a bright, clear and loud voice with good intonation and playability.

memoirs of a ukulele maker

nospam@example.com (William King) — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 11:08:36 -0500

Now that i'm almost 61 i've decided its time to start writing my memoirs. Stay tuned for 'Memoirs of a Ukulele Maker', coming to an internet bookstore near you next year. There won't be a lot of information about ukulele making in the memoirs, but there will be quite a few 'Notes and Observations' i've made during the course of my long, interesting and unusual life over the last 6 decades, together with biographical information i'd like to document for family and friends.

Available soon

nospam@example.com (William King) — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 18:21:05 -0500

I'll have a lovely soprano in dark curly koa and Swiss spruce in the general style of Leo Nunes available in a few days. The price is $1250. Case and shipping are extra.

A3 bracing

nospam@example.com (William King) — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 18:02:46 -0500

Here is a quick photo of the internals of a mahogany model A3 14 fret long scale tenor i'm assembling today showing my current tenor bracing style. I use a wide 1mm thick Mediterranean cypress cross brace which runs across the widest part of the lower bout with 3 spruce fan braces (approx 3mm x 5mm). The cross brace is thinned at the edges and helps the top retain the arch carved into the solera. The fan braces are notched where they pass over the cypress brace. They are scalloped on the end near the sound hole and tapered on the end near the tailblock. The top is approx. 1.75 mm thick overall. The sound hole is reinforced with two cross grain spruce patches about 1mm thick. You can see a small piece of wood and screw used to hold the body down on the solera during assembly. It's removed after the back is attached.

After the bridge is glued and before i lacquer the instrument, I'll string it up and give the top a once over with a sanding block thin enough to allow me to work under the strings below the soundhole, and around the periphery of the lower bout. The goal is to optimize the tone and responsiveness of the instrument. Small adjustments can make a big difference to the sound.

The back is braced with 3 spruce cross braces and a 1 mm thick cross grain spruce patch to reinforce the center seam. The cross braces are tapered in profile and their ends are scalloped. The goal is to produce a strong and light structure which is compliant around the edges.

new soprano

nospam@example.com (William King) — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 12:03:16 -0500

In the general style of Leo Nunes, this new soprano has curly Honduras mahogany back and sides, a California redwood top, a figured Spanish Cedar neck, curly maple body bindings, a decorative wood banding style rosette, a bone nut and saddle, an ebony fingerboard with ivory markers and an ebony pin bridge with snakewood pins. Its finished in lacquer, fitted with ultra-smooth Gotoh deluxe friction tuners and strung with Worth fluorocarbon strings. This instrument has a bright, clear and articulate voice with good sustain, loudness and intonation.

This 'n that

nospam@example.com (William King) — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 16:03:59 -0500

I have a new long scale 14 fret tenor in Indian rosewood and Adirondack spruce coming available. It has a slotted headstock, Gilbert tuners, radiused fingerboard, curly koa binding and an ebony pin bridge. Its a custom tenor I built for a gentleman whose circumstances unexpectedly changed. Its a new and unplayed instrument which I'll be finishing during the next week.

I'll also have a very cute little Nunes style soprano available in the next week. It has curly mahogany back and sides, a California redwood top, curly maple bindings, ebony fingerboard, faceplate and pin bridge. Its looks very elegant and sounds great.

In progress:

A California curly claro and Swiss spruce tenor for a customer in Hawaii. Its sweet !

A sharp red electric 15 fret long scale tenor in the style of a LP Junior for a customer in California.

An all Honduras mahogany custom tenor for an Hawaiian player. Custom scale, custom nut width, special setup.

There are some very interesting things going on these days in the world of technology, where my professional roots lie, and i'm getting more and more involved in a software startup. I'll be turning my building efforts back into a hobby next year. I've learned from the experiences i've documented for you in these notes and observations over the last few years that lutherie makes a great hobby but its logical development as a business capable of providing a living wage, health and retirement benefits etc for a family man changes its character completely and leads to a career managing a woodworking factory and significant artistic and lifestyle compromises. That's not where my interests lie. Faster, faster, harder, harder, cheaper, cheaper.

If you have been talking to me recently about a custom build, best act soon !

Clever fellows

nospam@example.com (William King) — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 10:35:44 -0500

I've been watching our fennel plant so that i could document an example of one of the great mysteries and treasures of life, metamorphisis - in this case, of a caterpillar into a butterfly. Having denuded almost totally, but not completely, our fennel plant of flowers and tender branches, the monarch caterpillars suspend themselves in an inconspicuous place by a couple of fillaments of gossamer and go into a state of silent and motionless contemplation, preparation for their rebirth as a butterfly.

After a couple of days, they acquire an appearance remarkably like a fennel flower pod before it opens, or the sheath like part of the plant that covers the bifurcation of a fennel stalk, shown in the photo to the right. Clever fellows. In case you are wondering, the caterpillars left a few flower tops. These will go to seed and provide next year's food and shelter for the monarchs.

Footnote: apologies for the quality of the photos. I don't have a macro lens. These were shot with a Nikor 50mm 1.8, which has a minimum focusing distance of about 18".

Fennel on the menu

nospam@example.com (William King) — Fri, 18 Jun 2010 09:20:08 -0500

The Monarch butterflies came thru central Texas on their way north from Mexico this spring and left their eggs in the fennel plants. They hatch into colorful caterpillars which feed on the fennel flowers and tops. We'll have clouds of monarchs this summer, and they'll pollinate the fennel before heading south in August. Here's a photo of a monarch caterpillar on a fennel branch entwined by a morning glory vine native to our area.

A tenor in rosewood and spruce

nospam@example.com (William King) — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 12:29:31 -0500

Here are some photos of a model A3 14 fret long scale tenor ukulele i finished recently. It features Brasilian rosewood back and sides, an Adirondack spruce top, a Spanish cedar neck, a radiused and bound rosewood fingerboard, a rosewood bridge with ebony pins, a bound rosewood faceplate, top and side purfling, and a paua abalone rosette and fingerboard markers. It is fitted with Gilbert tuners with ebony buttons, finished in a gloss lacquer finish and strung with Savarez strings.

It sounds sweet !

A classical guitar in rosewood and cedar

nospam@example.com (William King) — Mon, 24 May 2010 14:46:30 -0500

Here are some quick photos of a classical guitar in select Indian rosewood and red cedar I finished recently. It has mahogany bindings, top purfling, a Honduras mahogany neck with an ebony fingerboard (650mm), a Indian rosewood bridge and a bone nut (52mm) and saddle. It is fitted with deluxe Gotoh matte gold tuners, finished in lacquer and strung with D'Addario J45 composite strings.

This guitar has a very balanced and clear tone, with solid, somewhat gravelly bases and clear, bright and slightly assertive trebles. Intonation, playability and loudness are good. It has a lot of presence with body effects providing an interesting moody and dark feel to the tone. In the right hands, it can soar !

As part of a rare end-of-month/2010 recession special, I am offering this guitar on ebay with no reserve, together with a new lattice top tenor ukulele.

Hand made

nospam@example.com (William King) — Fri, 21 May 2010 10:06:19 -0500

After binding the headstock on this custom Brasilian rosewood tenor, I cut the mortice ramps. Here is a photo of the tools used. From the left is a tsukinomi (Japanese push chisel), a Chirozuru Sadahide kiridashi (Japanese woodworker's knife), a cedar pencil, an oirenomi (Japanese bench chisel) and a 270mm dozuki (dovetail saw).

This tenor is nearly finished now. I should be tuning it up next week !