This afternoon I leveled the frets on #42, put a coat of olive oil on the fret board and re-strung it with Southcoast " Medium Gauge Linear w/ flat wound basses" Wow! what an improvement. A week ago I had strung #42 with Southcoast" extra light linear" strings, the ones that the company recommends for concerts. The tone was fine, but they were way too slack, light and weak in volume. Those light strings might be OK for a Chinese laminate but they don't do the job with a solid wood instrument like mine. Now this uke has some power and depth, It is going to be a beaut. South Coast's website indicates these strings are for tenors, I am here to tell you that if you want a big concert, use em.
The final act is leveling the frets. See the orange thing in the picture, That is a diamond grit sharpening "stone". it is perfectly flat. you grind down the frets so they are all perfectly level. Some will be hardly touched. Some will have significant flat tops. In the picture I am using a fretting file to put the rounded surface back on the flattened frets. The special file has teeth on both edges that are concave, thus the round is filed back on the frets.
Then with one of these clever little sanding devices with very fine sandpaper, I smooth up the rather rough file marks. I am constantly checking progress with a ten power magnifier cuz you want these frets nice and smooth, and nice and round.
Of course the blue tape is to protect the wood of the fret board from slips of the file etc.
Of course the blue tape is to protect the wood of the fret board from slips of the file etc.
Now I polish the frets with these rubber bars impregnated with abrasive. First the red one, then the green which has a finer abrasive and finally the yellow bar which has the finest abrasive.
Then a final look through the 10 power glass and if all is well, on to the next fret.
Then a final look through the 10 power glass and if all is well, on to the next fret.
Once all the frets are done and the levelness is double checked it is time to put a little olive oil on the fret board and put the strings back on.
This uke really has nice tone from the get go. I suspect # 42 may be the pick of the litter. This uke has a little bit of bear claw in the Englemann Spruce top, a Honduran rosewood fretboard and is really pretty. I played it a bit tonight and think it has exceptional tone. It will grow into a really nice instrument.
This uke really has nice tone from the get go. I suspect # 42 may be the pick of the litter. This uke has a little bit of bear claw in the Englemann Spruce top, a Honduran rosewood fretboard and is really pretty. I played it a bit tonight and think it has exceptional tone. It will grow into a really nice instrument.
