Griffin Ukuleles

THE LINE UP

11/21/2020

I am presently working on five ukuleles in various stages of the build. I thought I would line them up and show you.
Top to bottom; Paul's East Indian Rosewood and Redwood tenor--Stephen's Mahogany and Bearclaw Spruce tenor--Lloyd's Maple and Bearclaw Spruce tenor, P. J's Concert Pinecone, and finally, Mo's East Indian and Bearclaw Spruce baritone. The top two may get strung up tomorrow, The others are coming along well and keeping me plenty busy. Three more orders to start when these are done. What happened to my retirement?

One of todays projects was the end piece on Lloyd's tenor. Here was the process.

fit and insert two pieces of black/white/black on the sides after cutting it out of the top and bottom of the gap.

Fit and insert a piece of Koa wood to match the binding as close as possible. Glue and tape it in while the glue dries.

After a couple of hours a little work with a rasp, scraper and sandpaper and it is done.

Next project, the heel cap with some ebony and maple veneer to give it an accent similar to that of the binding.
Then one last application of french Polish for Paul and Stephen's tenors. Here is what Stephen's is looking like.

How do you like my wild socks? Too tired to do the cropping tonite Im hitting the hay

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ANOTHER BUSY DAY

11/20/2020

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Getting more time in the workshop recently and making rapid progress on the ukes. Paul and Stephen's tenors are almost ready to get their bridges, tuners and strings. Lloyd's tenor got it's bindings today. The Pinecone got its sides and tentalones. Running hot it seems.

I think Paul is going to be happy, these East Indian Rosewood and Redwood tenors have been very successful. Stuart Fuchs is very happy with his.

Lloyds Maple/Spruce is in the bench vice being held for the router cut for the end piece.

And the cut got made successfully. Now for the bindings.

First they must be bent on the hot pipe. Go slowly, easy to break them

All bent and ready to install.

But first, get the tape ready and handy to grab

Doesnt take long, the first one is on--Soon they are all on and the clamp is put on to control those joints at either end. They are difficult to tape.

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WHAT A DAY!

11/19/2020

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And the highlight was my friend Bill bringing me a huge log of Laburnum. I have been looking for a good chunk of this beautiful wood for years without success. Bill cut this tree 8 or nine years ago, painted the ends and has stored it ever since. It is the largest trunk of the "Golden Chain Tree' that I have ever seen. At least ten inches through the trunk.

This dense, dark wood reminds me of Cocobolo. I am excited to cut and resaw tbis log and see if there are some ukulele bodies in it. When I make the cut I will report on the blog. Thanks Bill, A magnificent piece of laburnum.

This big old plane is 18 inches long. I must have picked it up at a garage sale years ago. It still has an important use.

When I need a straight edge I simply clamp it in the bench vise

and here's the proof
now this bari side is ready to bend. And bend it I did !!.

and run the stock over it. Does a perfect job

I got the hot pipe hooked up and plugged in and got a perfect bend of the East indian Rosewood for the big baritone. I will let it dry and set up in the mold for a couple of days, No rush.

'while in the mood I also decided to thin and bend the sides for the concert Pinecone. Here the 31 inch long side gets repeated runs through the sander

Using the heat blanket draped over the Concert mold, the thin maple bends easily and is then clamped to the mold to hold its shape as it cools.

So it was another good day in the workshop with a lot of progress made.

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ANOTHER DAY IN THE SALT MINES

11/16/2020

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Just kidding, I had a great day and loved it. Lots of variety today.

i didn't get all of those pores filled the first time so after a couple more applications of French Polish I decided to pumice one more time.

A few drops of alcohol on a pad, dip it in pumice shaken out on a piece of paper. Wait for the pumice to clear and then rub firmly with a circular motion. You can feel the pumice gently grinding and filling those pores with shellac and maybe a little wood. Pumice is a very fine abrasive.

As the French Polish slowly builds up with each application the beauty of the wood begins to reveal itself. Notice how the "bear claw" markings begin to stand out. That will continue as the finishing goes on.

Next, I decided to make the neck for the Concert Pinecone which will be #148. This is a black walnut neck from a stash of walnut I have had for 35 years. It ought to be plenty dry by now.

Looks like everything turned out fine. Now for the whittling. Oh! but first I must saw the slots that the sides will slip into. I make pinecones using the Spanish neck method as I do all of my instruments.

the cuts are made on the band saw. I always use a test piece of curved wood to simulate the side and to make sure it will fit nicely in the slot.

Then I tackled the neck for #147, a Baritone. I even got the router out and cut the slot for the carbon fiber rod before taking the neck to the band saw.

Got them both nicely shaped and ready to attach to their sound boards.

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'ALL IN A DAYS WORK

11/15/2020

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The little spring clamps did their job and the tentalones for 146 are now securely attached.

Now it is time to install the side sound port. Lets cut the hole for it. a drill bit in the
Dremel will do the job

and next, to perfect the hole with a small sanding disk in the Dremel.

Got a good fit for this honduran mahogany ring.

Now for the super glue to fix it in place. I am sucking it into an applicator from the large bottle. Makes for a better application.

A little bit of super glue both inside and out and the wooden ring is secure

Now a little knife work and sanding and the job is done.

Now seemed the time to turn to the lathe and turn a bunch of strap buttons. This is kind of a fun job that needs to be done from time to time. Working with a lathe is always fun.

The results

And finally, a few applications of french Polish were applied to 144 and 145 and a bit of pumacing was done on the East Indian Rosewood of Paul's uke. Rosewood has deep pores and pumice treatment fills those pores making for a smooth and shiny surface.

These ukes are beginning to look pretty good.

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AN AFTERNOON IN THE WORKSHOP

11/12/2020

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It began with fret work. The sharp ends of the frets must be filed smooth so they don't snag the fingers. This is done with a small file that is rounded on one edge so that it will not damage the wood of the fingerboard.

The job gets more difficult when you are over the soundboard. The wood is protected with old credit cards.

when the fret ends have been filed and smoothed it is time to level them. High frets are detected with the 'rocker", a perfectly flat device that spans 3 frets. If it rocks it means the middle fret is higher than the other two.

Any high frets are lowered with a variety of tools, re-crowned and polished smooth.

The next activity was finishing the sanding on #s 144 &n 145 and beginning the French Polish with the first wash coat. These two should be ready to string up after a couple of weeks of French Polishing. The bridges are just laid on for effect. They will be glued on after the finish is applied. Won't be long now Paul and Stephen.

Now turning to Lloyd's #146 I shaped and glued on the butt block. Tomorrow I will be able to put on the sides. I realized my supply of pre cut butt blocks was running low. Remember all those necks I cut a few days ago. I saved the scraps for just this purpose.

With band saw and table saw I cut many of those scraps into a new supply of butt blocks. This will last me well into 2022.

So now, with 144 and 145 in the finish stage is on onward to #146

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BEAUTIFUL WOOD

11/9/2020

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The Greatest joy a luthier experiences is enjoying the wonder of wood. This is East Indian Rosewood I have selected for the back of a baritone for a gent named Mo.

Spalted Maple brings another wonder of nature. Notice the tiny and intricate lines created as decay begins in wood.

And the net result is ukuleles with lovely wood that also provides wonderful tone.

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SEVERAL SUCCESSES

11/7/2020

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I took the maple sides out of the mold after 48 hours. Just a perfect success. A great bend and no spring back. Tiger stripe maple can be tough to bend so this is a success.

A big project completed. 18 Honduran Mahogany necks completed and ready to use. Whew!

I even got the 3/16th slot cut in each neck to accept the carbon fiber rod. Lots of work with the router and lots of sawdust flying around.

And finally I mixed up a lot of epoxy and installed several carbon fiber rods. These necks will never warp.

A Couple of Successful projects

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AN ANCIENT ARBORAL ROMANCE

11/6/2020

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Many years ago, as long as 1750, an English arborist planted in his arboretum an exotic tree, Platamus Orientalis, a tree from Turkey. A few years later the wealthy arborist imported another tree from the American colonies, Platamus Oxidentalis. They were close relatives and thus they connected sexually. The result was their hybred offspring, Platinus Acerfolia, the tree we commonly call the London Plane Tree. Its parents , the Oriental Plane Tree and the American Sycamore.

The Oriental Plane Tree
Platanus orientalis

the American Sycamore
Platanus Occidentalis

And this is their child, the most popular street tree in the world,
THE LONDON PLANE TREE

All of these related trees share a unique bark texture,

This is a London Plane planted in downtown Bellingham about thirty five years ago. They are famous for enduring the polluted air of large cities and the limited soil , water and root room along city sidewalks. They are the famous street trees of London, Paris, and most European cities.

And why are we telling this story? Because the London Plane is a wonderful instrument wood. Like its parent the Sycamore, it must be perfectly quarter sawn to reveal its amazing beauty. If the saw cut is just a few degrees off a perfect quarter sawn cut the magic is lost. I have been fortunate to receive Sycamore and Plane wood cut by Jon Dale of Jupiter Ukuleles. Jon cuts it perfectly and I now have enough for four more tenors made with this lovely and interesting wood.

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YOU CAN'T HAVE TOO MANY CLAMPS

11/4/2020

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I have been picking up odd tools at garage sales and where ever for fifty years. Nice to have em when you need em. I needed a few today.

I will have eighteen nice Honduran Mahogany tenor necks ready to go when these are all finished. I great way to speed up production, just grab a neck off the shelf and go to it.

I am starting on an order for a Baritone. Here I am plotting out all the tone bars. I have lots more whittling to do !

Cut to length, all 23 of them. Now the whittling begins.

Got my order of UkeLogic strings in the mail today. I am very impressed with these new strings, they represent a new enterprise of Joel, the set up man for The Ukulele Site. I tried a set on a recent new tenor build and I was terrifically impressed. They come in both high tension and low tension. Joel calls them "super fluorocarbon" the low G string is an extremely smooth wound string in a lovely gold color. It can be purchased singley. They sound bright and are very responsive but rich and warm. I think I will make them the standard string on my new builds. I think they will make any ukuele sound better. Give them a try.

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