Construction on these tenors is about done. Today I glued on the spalted maple peghead plates and shaped the peg heads and added the little dark strip of rosewood that rests between the nut and the peghead. Now for the final shaping of the necks and then lots and lots of sanding in preparation for the French Polish.
I am pushing the envelope a bit with these ukes making the necks just a touch over 1 1/2 inches wide at the nut. The typical uke is just 1 3/8ths inches wide at the nut. I have made several at 1 1/2 and found them easier to play. With these I am adding a 16th of an inch. Ought to make those tight chords easier to play and reduce finger over reach. If necessary I could always narrow the necks and refinish them, but I think this a worthwhile experiment.
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Pretty wood. French Polish will make them really jump.
At this stage of the build I always begin thinking about the next project. This morning I took the big 1 1/2 inch thick plank of tiger stripe maple over to George Thomas's shop. He has a big powerful Grizzley bandsaw much better at re-sawing than mine.
We sawed that big 9 inch plank perfectly in half. From it I can now make six Concert Pinecone backs. Here it is stickered and weighted down to prevent the two pieces from bending from the release of pressure in the wood after sawing. I will leave it this way until using it, to get it as dry and stabilized as possible. What beautiful wood it is. At least three pinecones will be my next build.
We sawed that big 9 inch plank perfectly in half. From it I can now make six Concert Pinecone backs. Here it is stickered and weighted down to prevent the two pieces from bending from the release of pressure in the wood after sawing. I will leave it this way until using it, to get it as dry and stabilized as possible. What beautiful wood it is. At least three pinecones will be my next build.
