iI just came home from the BUG (Bellingham Ukulele Group) December Christmas Jam. Great fun- great people. It put me in the Christmas spirit so I mixed myself one of my "planatary delights" a round ball of ice, representing the earth, the cherry-perhaps the moon. A bit of bourbon, a splash of red vermouth and you have a delightful drink to enjoy before the fire burning in the fireplace. So this has been a nice day.
It began in the workshop where the first build of Pinecones are ready for their bridges. Here is the process. Put a temp. nut in the slot, a saddle in the bridge and determine the bridge position with the jig.
carefully place tape around the bridge, demarking the place the bridge will be glued. The tape will prevent the bridge from slipping out of place as the glue and clamps are tightened.
Now with a razor blade, I scrape away the shellac finish down to bare wood
brush off the scrapings and apply the glue to both top and bridge
and clamp it on tight. I only made two of these custom clamps, so this is a one at a time process. Note the glue squeezing out under the bridge. You want to clean that up before it sets up.
While that uke gets its bfidge, lets put the tuners in the other two. Drilling holes in the peg head is best done gently and slowly with a hand drill. Otherwise you might split out the back a bit. I start the hole with a bit the size of the hole, then before it penetrates I use a smaller bit to go all the way through marking the center of the hole.
Then the uke is turned over and the regular bit can find its way back from the underside making clean holes large enough to work the tapered auger through.
Now the auger opens the hole until the tuners fit just right.
These great "Peghed" tuners make their own threads and screw into the Peg Head. The rubber band wrappings are to aide me gripping them as I screw them into the right depth. A touch of glue is added to the threads and they are there forever.
Time to leave the workshop and go to the bug jam. I love to play my big old bass for the jam. Note that it is amplified with a small but powerful amp powered by just that little black battery laying on the floor behind it. It will play for hours with high volume, powered just by that little computer battery. This is a two string bass I built a couple of years ago. Cello strings, plenty of volume, good tone. Big fun
It was open mike day and one of the hits was the Wes and Tally father and daughter number. They are always good and today was no different.
