Griffin Ukuleles - Blog

HERE IS "JOURNEY"

9/22/2017

The owner of #99 has named her new Concert "Journey" and refers to her as feminine. I think that quite appropriate as this is a trim little lady with a bright and bell like re-entrant voice. I find her very playable and have been enjoying her song for several hours today after getting her strung up this afternoon.

She has a Cedar top with natural staining, and a Casuarina fretboard and bridge. Those colored strings are by Aurora. The rosette is spalted maple pieces and the saddle and nut are bison bone.

The sides and back are Cocobolo and the binding is figured Australian blackwood.
the neck is Honduran Mahogany.

Cocobolo is extremely hard, dense wood and I think is what gives this use its crisp bell like tone. It is also very lovely wood. It is fun to work with beauty.

So meet "Journey", I will try to give you a little sound bite if my I-phone will do the job

#98 IS STRUNG

9/21/2017

And I am delighted with the results! This is one big voiced tenor with bright trebles and rich warm and strong basses. The Cocobolo/Cedar combination is an excellent one as I had hoped, plus I like the looks.

I sat outside in the sunshine this afternoon, "playing in" the strings and feeling this new tenor out. I love it !. I will hate to see it leave, It is headed for Philadelphia. The
following photos illustrate the last little details of stringing it up.

After calculating where I wanted the strings to go, I marked the spot on the bridge with a sharp point. Then the hand drill is used to carefully drill a hole for the tapered auger. In the second picture the lighter colored sawdust indicates the drill now going through the cedar top and the walnut backing plate under it.

Now the auger enlarges each hole for the bridge pins. I put the blue tape on as a security measure in case either the drill bit, or the auger should slip and scratch the soft cedar top. Each bridge pin must be carefully fit as they can vary a bit in size. The second photo shows a bridge pin in a hole that needs a little more work on the auger, maybe two turns.

Two turns didn't quite do it. Lets try just one more

Ah!, now they all fit just right.

Now the bison bone saddle must be cut down to size. That is easy to do with the jewelers saw.

Now to level it off with a file and put the bevel, or slope in it to guide the string over it properly

Now, with this tiny saw, I will cut a slot for the string at the center/front of each pin hole.

And now it is time to insert the strings, a knot, into the slot in the hole, push in the pin and go on to the next. Voila, before long it is strung and ready to play, Now for the moment of truth!

#98 is a good one.

FINAL DETAILS

9/20/2017

With this little file I am rounding off the sharp edges of the frets. The file has a rounded edge that allows you to run it over the wood of the fretboard without marring the wood. Each fret end will get the treatment.

These rubber blocks have a slight amount of abrasive in them and are used to polish up each fret making them shiny and smooth

Now a final coat of Olive oil on the wood of the fretboard to seal it and make it look spiffy,

See how shiny it makes the fretboard? I got the tuners installed and the pin hole locations marked on the bridge. Tomorrow we will string it up and see what we have got.

#98 GETS ITS BRIDGE

9/19/2017

The French Polishing is completed and it is time to get this baby tuned up. First I carefully position the bridge on the top and mark off its position with blue tape. several layers of the tape will keep the bridge where you want it while clamping it in place.

then a razor blade is used to scrape away the dried shellac and exposing the wood to accept the glue.

Now a little glue on the top. Not too much, just enough. and spread it out thinly.

and also a thin coat on the bottom of the bridge.

. Tomorrow I will string this uke up once the tuners are installed.

THE BEAUTY OF WOOD

9/12/2017

I turned a small spalted maple bowl today. I was so fascinated by the beauty of the wood that I wanted to share it with you. This is unfinished wood.

Isn't nature wonderful ?

A JAM IN BLAINE

9/12/2017

I had a fun afternoon playing my bass at the Jam at the Blaine Senior Center. Pat Madsen organized this recently and they have been playing every tuesday from 1:30 to 3:00. They will be doing it every week thru the winter- you ought to join them.

Thats Pat in the white shirt with his baritone.

There were 15 of us playing and singing, and most of the time we sounded pretty good.

-It was lots of fun, a great way to spend an afternoon, and Mt. Baker was magnificent on the drive back to Bellingham.

A SHOP TOUR

9/10/2017

A nice gal came to my shop today to pick up her ukulele and she thought my shop pretty interesting. I guess it is a little goofy so I thought I would share some images of what is in it other than tools.

If I ever finish painting it this is going to be an umbrella handle just like Mary Poppins used.

An ostrich egg resides in a watercolor paper box painted in a Haida design

The workshop rooster

Shoe boxes filled with scraps of wood. I cannot stand to toss the beautiful scraps.

A puffin wind vane from long ago. He flies in the wind

An ornate old molding plane

A painting of the rooftops of the Doges Palace from a trip to Venice years ago

This was to be just one of a series of Mason Bee Houses in this architectural style hung side by side on a sunny wall. paper tubes would be inserted into each hole for the nesting bees to use. A great idea but I failed to make a mold because of the holes. This was the prototype. It would have been called "Bee Street"

I was into making frames for my paintings for awhile. This one was pretty ornate.

This big painting of a Naples fishing boat hangs behind plumbing pipes in the corner.

A poster advertising a french art exhibit hangs beside my grandfather's cigar molds. He was the first cigar maker in WA territory in 1885.

A pencil sketch of my wife Marya is taped to the freezer door.

Here is a little bowl being turned on the lathe

.This is the wooden foundry pattern used to cast the bronze manhole cover in Fairhaven Village Green. A fun project. The letters are purchased and glued on, all else is carved bass wood on a plywood circle. Cast at Bellingham's Union Foundry.

Hope you enjoyed this little tour. Come and visit my workshop some day.

THE SATURDAY B.U.G. JAM WAS A GRAND SUCCESS

9/10/2017

Here is our new leader, Wes Lewis who did a great job. He sets an excellent tempo, sings very well, and kept the pace for a really fun afternoon for our first jam of the season.

Thirty five or forty players showed up. Here are a few during a break in the action.

And a few more

Then it was back to the workshop for a little more French Polish for "Journey"

It won't be long now before I am stringing it up

HERE'S A NICE ONE

9/7/2017

I only had time to turn one today-but it is going to be a beaut when the finish is on it.

This morning I had the great pleasure of helping the Port of Bellingham dedicate a couple of displays on the Marine Park picnic building clarifying that the park is at POE'S POINT. not Post point. Thanks to Commissioner Dan Robbins, this long needed clarification was done and these terrific displays mounted. This is one of them, showing the great glacial moraine that was atop Poe's Point before it was graded down to provide much of the land that now supports the shipyard, the cruise terminal and the railroad station. Go to the park and take a look. A great job. The day also celebrated Dr. Warren Bergholz's 100th birthday. "Bergie" has been working to get Alonzo Poe recognized for 30 years. Happy Birthday "Bergie".

And on the way to Marine Park I saw this sight. A comely bronze Mime sitting with JJ Donovan with an affectionate arm on his shoulder. I slammed on the brakes and got out of my car to take this picture and put a fiver in her bronze pot. I think I saw a hint of a smile on JJ's face.

I PROMISED YOU BOWLS

9/5/2017

Here they are- in various stages of completion. Back in 2007 I was vending bowls and watercolor paintings at our newly opened farmers market. I turned many bowls from wet wood and set them to dry, to be finished later. Now it is indeed later, These are just the small bowls. I have an equal number of big ones in my wood storage locker.

Many of them are spalted maple which develops these interesting random patterns. These two will be lightly sanded and then get a final coat of finish.

infinite variety in the wild patterns that the beginning decay imparts

These two have no finish on them yet.

I love this one, Anyone want a bowl, Most of these will be for sale.

But don't be alarmed, I am still working on ukes. Here is #98 in its current state of the finishing.

This baby is getting pretty close. Usually at this stage I have another build started. Must be the hot weather, I haven't decided on the next instrument. Been thinking about a baritone for the 100th. It ought to be something special. How about a Cocobolo body and a Sitka Spruce top, That might sing.