Finished Pics! A little acoustic 6-string for little people

[Andyjr1515]

My building is slowing down a bit and I decided last year to start doing some of the more personal projects and not let them slip from the familiar 'Oh, I'll start that after this one...hmmm, and that one...oh, and that one' syndrome 

Earlier in the year was the Swiftbird/Fireswift, built for my son-in-law, which you kind folks voted as June's GOTM

And this one is a special one.  It is a mini acoustic 6 string for my two grand children as they grow up to pick up and learn to play if they want to, or use as a tennis racquet/racket or wall hanging if they don't.

So why not start them off with a ukelele?  Well - if either of them are eventually interested and want to play guitar going forward , then it is a lot easier if the starter instrument already has the right number of strings and tuning.  Admittedly, a ukelele would work just as well on the tennis court... 

So my plan is this:

• Build a tenor uke-sized 6 string acoustic
• Incorporate all that I have learnt over my acoustic builds and rescues over the years to try to get the best sound that I can from such a small-form instrument
• Add a bit of Andyjr1515 fancy stuff just in case it does end up as a wall hanging.

And so I drew out a full-scale highly detailed construction plan simple outline and have started on it 

[Andyjr1515]

There's quite a bit of stuff in my bits-box and wood racks that should be good for this.  Even found a set of nylon-string tuning pegs!

And the offcut of mahogany I thought I might be able to use for the neck  is exactly the right width!!

So that's where I started. 

I chose a 10 degree headstock angle, cut that and drilled the three through holes:

And then cut the headstock core to thickness (it will have plates top and back):

 

I rough-cut the two access slots and - well, this might just work!

 

 

 

[ScottR]

I love the project and the sentiment.

I'm coming along for the ride.

SR

[Bizman62]

9 hours ago, ScottR said:

I'm coming along for the ride.

Me too.

 - Should there be a # before that?

[Andyjr1515]

Thanks, guys.

Rooting around my wood offcuts for something that would be OK for a fretboard (a bit of a challenge as I tend to buy fretboard blanks for specific projects and so my offcuts tend to be softer woods, not really suitable) I stumbled across a narrow but long offcut of purpleheart.  I often use it for laminated necks and have, in the past, used it for a fretboard - but then remembered @mistermikev's immaculate and stunning entry to this month's GOTM...and that has more purpleheart than you could throw a tree at!!  

So - purpleheart fretboard it's going to be. 

Great thing about such a small form instrument is that things like 'using a radius block to radius a hard wood' actually becomes physically feasible.

And 30 minutes later we have a radiussed board:

 

Next was fret slotting.  I had originally assumed that I would need to mark out by hand, but then remembered that you can, of course, create a full scale from any fret of a fretboard - and so I would be able to simply use any of my G&W fret mitre-block saw scale templates, simply starting further down the fretboard.  I chose 5th fret onwards of a 25.5" template, which should give me a 17" scale:

The blank was a little narrow, and so I added a tapered binding, cut from the same purpleheart blank to either side and planed and radius blocked that flush with the board top:

Hmmm...if this is going to potentially just be hung on the wall, it needs to look a bit fancier than this...

I was thinking of the top plate being ebony.  Classic, yes.  But "Oh Grandpa, you are very clever!" enough?  Hmmm, perhaps not.  Passive-aggressive competition between grandparents is an important factor.  Let's think about this a bit more 

 

 

[mistermikev]

thank you for the compliment.  can't go wrong w purpleheart imo.  should make for a pretty lil gtr.  purpleheart bridge might pair nicely - just sayin'!

[Andyjr1515]

2 hours ago, mistermikev said:

should make for a pretty lil gtr.  purpleheart bridge might pair nicely - just sayin'!

Yes indeed - already in the plan

And talking about pairing, well, how about a little bit of purpleheart in with the traditional but maybe slightly staid ebony headstock top plate 

So, bringing the proceedings fully up to date, I cut and shaped a thin sliver of purpleheart to go in the middle section of the headstock:

 

Then cut some thin ebony sheet to match, adding a little bit of purfling as I did it, glued those and cut myself a mother of pearly swift:

 

Out with the Dremel and a 1mm bit fitted in the precision router base:

 

And then, finally fitted some MoP dots and the frets. 

So here it is, now in real time.  Clearly, things will slow down a bit from now on 

 

 

 

[mistermikev]

wow, looking sharp.

[Bizman62]

That headstock really is something else!

[ScottR]

Yeah, that got classy in a hurry!

SR

[Andyjr1515]

Thanks, folks

It is, of course, going to slow down from now on.  That said, I do have some lovely sitka spruce for the top just arrived, and I found a complete acoustic back and sides set in plain mahogany in my shed's small wood rack (when I bought that ,and for what, has disappeared with their respective little grey cells).

And on order - should arrive relatively soon - is a tenor ukelele mold.  Yes - I could have made one.  But y'know...

I'm hoping to have thicknessed the top, back and sides by the end of this coming weekend so hopefully next week should see some hand bending of the sides.  Hmmm - gosh - a uke - those are tight bends!!?!  What could possibly go wrong   

 

 

[ScottR]

22 hours ago, Andyjr1515 said:

It is, of course, going to slow down from now on.

Whew, my head was starting to spin.

SR

[Andyjr1515]

The neck won't have a trussrod, but it will be thinner than a standard guitar and the total string tension will be similar to normal and so I'm opting for some 4mm square, hollow carbon fiber rods inserted to keep everything straight:

 

I've also been giving some thought to the design features of the rest of the build:

- I'm planning to use ball-end nylon strings but a steel-string type bridge rather than the more conventional classical guitar horizontal through bridge.  The reason is that I think (probably erroneously remembering vectors from my 50-year-ago engineering studies) that design gives greater pull tension on the top and greater break angle potential on the saddle.  Someone will no doubt correct me that they are going to be self-cancelling 

- Conventional 'folk' X-brace pattern rather than the more common classical fan or ukulele ladder pattern

- 25 foot radius top, 15 foot radius back

- A relatively high saddle position, again to increase the break angle.  And wider bone saddle to increase the opportunity for intonation adjustment 

- I might incorporate a side sound hole as well as the front one.  The more satisfying it is to play should mean the more likely that flitting-interest children want to play it...and side sound holes sound better to the player!    

[Andyjr1515]

I have a tenor uke mould on order and will wait until that arrives before starting anything related to back. top and sides.  Still a few more jobs that can be progressed on the neck.

 

I cut out the side profile of the neck and added an extension to the heel.  And that meant I could start carving:

 

And that included getting the neck spine down to final thickness and starting the initial carve of the profile.  It will probably end up a little less U shaped but I'll see how it feels once the necks fitted with the fretboard, which won't be for a little while yet.  Here's how it's starting to look:

Yes - sunshine!

Next couple of days I'll sort the back plate for the headstock and then wait for the body mould to arrive

 

[Andyjr1515]

Still haven't got to the bottom headstock plate, but I have added a swift to the heel cap:

And no - the mahogany isn't pink...it's just last year's x8 iphone camera showing its age!

[Bizman62]

1 hour ago, Andyjr1515 said:

last year's x8 iphone camera showing its age!

That mahogany sure looks strange, no details at all for the most part despite the weathered table and the heel cap looking perfectly in focus. Oh, and isn't that the same table that looks much newer in your previous post??? Same camera?

My current phone, a Nokia 6230i from 2003 simplifies colours to look like the neck...

[henrim]

The camera probably thought it is skin and applied an anti-aging beauty filter automatically!

Btw, the build is looking nice!

[Andyjr1515]

The tenor uke body mould still hasn't arrived and I won't do the sanding on the neck until I can fit the fretboard...which can't be done until I've sorted the neck angle...which can't be done until the body complete.  Hmpfff!  

I can still busy myself thinking about soundhole size, shape and purfling and I can make a prototype bridge - but the neck will have to go in the cupboard for the time being.

Here it is in its pre-sanded state and with fretboard still unattached but with headstock backplate now fitted:

  

[ScottR]

8 hours ago, Andyjr1515 said:

The tenor uke body mould still hasn't arrived and I won't do the sanding on the neck until I can fit the fretboard...which can't be done until I've sorted the neck angle...which can't be done until the body complete.  Hmpfff!  

I can still busy myself thinking about soundhole size, shape and purfling and I can make a prototype bridge - but the neck will have to go in the cupboard for the time being.

This sounds familiar....

Time for testing new ideas on scrap.

SR

[Andyjr1515]

While still waiting for the tenor uke mould, I started roughing out the bridge.  As I mentioned earlier, I will be using ball-end nylons and a steel-string-type through-body pegged bridge. 

But a knock on the door this morning and guess what arrived?

Yes - it's the mould!!!  

 

And so I could work out where the soundhole is going to be and cut the fretboard end accordingly:

And yes - neck join at the 12th as with a classical guitar.  Little people have little arm stretches...and if either of them start shredding above the 12th fret, then I'll  just have to buy them a Parker Nitefly instead! 

And yes - the plan is X-bracing!  More about that in future posts.

So top wood thicknessed to around 3mm (I'll scrape down to final thickness later) and joined on glass using reinforced tape while the Titebond cures.

 

 

[ADFinlayson]

how did you find that tape for joining the top? I used the stewmac brown binding tape to glue my top together and when I pulled it off I did notice a tiny bit of tear out in places, fortunately nothing serious

[ADFinlayson]

what do you think of the radius dish uk mould? I've had a few bits from him, table saw blade for fret slotting which is fab, a few ziricote fretboards and recently got his fretboard radius jig and a rosewood back and sides set. So far very impressed with everything he's sent me 

[Andyjr1515]

6 hours ago, ADFinlayson said:

how did you find that tape for joining the top?

I didn't get it from G&W (had that roll for years - way before G&W were trading), but pretty sure it's the same stuff:

https://guitarsandwoods.com/guitar-binding-tape-3m-filamented-reinforced-tape.html

It works well and doesn't create tear out too badly at all - I've taken the tape off this morning and no tear out at all.  I think the magic letters are '3M'

6 hours ago, ADFinlayson said:

what do you think of the radius dish uk mould?

It's really nice.  I used one of their moulds for the Trini Lopez 335-ish too.  Well made and work well.  My only gripe is that they take a surprisingly long time from order to receipt.

 

[ADFinlayson]

15 hours ago, Andyjr1515 said:

My only gripe is that they take a surprisingly long time from order to receipt.

Yes I had that same gripe, took a good couple of weeks to get my latest order after a bit of nagging. 

[Andyjr1515]

In between life's inevitable distractions, a bit more progress.

I cut a couple of sides from a mahogany back and side set I found at the back of the shed.  1st job was to slim them down from 4mm to just below 2mm.  I used my low-angle plane which did nicely:

 

Then, after a decent soaking and plenty of water spritzing along the way, it was over the heat pipe and fitted progressively around the mould.  Mahogany and walnut are both generally pretty well behaved over a hot pipe.

 

Must be time for a mockup!!  

 

Once that's fully dried, I'll cut them to length for the two sides to butt up front and back and then fit a mahogany tailblock and neckblock.  Something I've never done before, but might with this one, is rout the tenon slot in the neck block before I glue it to the sides.