A LAZY SUNDAY

11/18/2018

Not much done in the workshop today.

I did get the cross grain patches on the center seam and around the sound hole. These are made of very thin maple veneer with the veneer grain lying counter to the grain of the Redwood top giving considerable strength and avoiding splits in the soundboard.

Now the soundboards are complete. On to the next project.

I will use ebony veneer to reinforce the glued joint in this rosewood back. Here are the half inch wide braces waiting to be glued.

And here are the backs getting their seam patches glued on. This will be finished in the morning. Then to carve the necks.

3 Comments

Rich

11/20/2018 10:41:07 am

Hi Brian, it’s Rich again. As I watch you build these ukuleles, l like to read articles online about the various aspects of luthiership ( if that’s even a word). I know that can be dangerous, in my business we call that talking to Dr. Google! Anyway some luthiers talk about wanting g a straight tight grain for their soundboards, yet you see the most expensive ukes often have curly koa tops or sometimes quilted maple or mahogany. Does the vertical straightness reall make much of a difference in the sound?

Brian Griffin

11/20/2018 06:15:24 pm

Rich. I belong to the straight, vertical quarter sawn wood for soundboards. Much of the highly figured woods like Koa and Maple are still quarter sawn. I suspect that plain non figured woods have better tone, but I cannot prove it. Ask 100 luthiers, you are apt to get 100 different opinions. I think tightness of grain is probably over-rated, its just that I like the look of it. Tone tapping wood tells me that the sound of a piece of wood is difficult to predict, thus I tap each piece seeking good resonance and tone. When an instrument is finally strung up I am never quite sure why one sounds better than another. That is what keeps us luthiers building yet another, trying to solve the mystery

Rich

11/20/2018 10:26:18 pm

Thanks. As much an art and a science I suspect.

A LAZY SUNDAY

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