It has taken me 167 ukuleles built to discover this simple method of pre shaping tentalones before applying them.
Simply bend them over a curved surface such as this un heated hot pipe. If you push on both sides of a section you will develop a bent piece that will fit your uke just right. so simple, why did I not think of it years ago?
Pre-bending makes for a much better contact and better glue adhesion
Proof of the Pudding
Rick and I visited Nik S. this morning. Nik has ordered a tenor but wants it made of the wood he has salvaged from a huge old Maple tree that graced the intersection in Bellingham's Fountain District forever. There is lots of beautiful spalting, fiddleback grain, quilt figure. We selected what we thought would be the best chunk to resaw into ukulele wood and Nik cut it out with his electric chain saw. Ought to be a fun project.
