I was playing my uke and enjoying a martini on the lanai this beautiful evening when I was joined by my neighbor across the street. I have been teaching her to play the ukulele for a few months now. We worked on a new song and some new chords . "April Showers", and the chords, Dm, Dm7, and Fm. She did fine and she is sure fun to teach. This is the age to learn.
By way of contrast look at this great old 1907 or 08 photo of the Bellingham Mandolin Club courtesy of Todd Warger and the Galen Biery collection of historic photos provided by Galen's granddaughter Laura Jacobi.
I don't see any ukuleles here. I think they were still a Hawaiian secret in 1909 but the joy of playing stringed instruments is not a new idea.
I don't see any ukuleles here. I think they were still a Hawaiian secret in 1909 but the joy of playing stringed instruments is not a new idea.
I did make some progress in the workshop today. Here is the first fret board glued on. Now begins the fun part, shaping the neck to make it slick and fast to play.
I do most of the neck shaping with this great scraper. This is the best scraper I have ever used. It hogs off amazing amounts of wood, works up tight in edges, has flat and curved sides | And look how thick it is, It is easier on the hands to hold, and best of all it sharpens easily by just holding it to a fine grained grinding wheel. this is just a great tool for luthiers. |
Here it is in action
this afternoon I tired of working on ukes and turned to making a couple of bowls for upcoming weddings.
These bowls were turned in rough form from wet maple. They must dry for a year before finishing. They warp as they dry and so when finally dry you can turn them again to perfect roundness. Turning bowls is another passion of mine that has been on hold for a bit, but they make great wedding presents-so the boss has ordered a couple.
These bowls were turned in rough form from wet maple. They must dry for a year before finishing. They warp as they dry and so when finally dry you can turn them again to perfect roundness. Turning bowls is another passion of mine that has been on hold for a bit, but they make great wedding presents-so the boss has ordered a couple.
Now that I have the shape and thickness I want, I will turn to the sanding.
This is the bowl turning corner of the workshop. There is 400 pounds of sand in that wooden box that the lathe motor sets on. No shake-no shimmy.