Another slightly different build

[nehemiah]

Hi Everyone,
I appreciate the thoughts and comments of everyone here as much as I enjoy making instruments, so with that said I thought I'd post the progress of this tenor ukulele, coming along nicely so here's a little detail on it and a couple photos: Not finished yet, but...soon
Six string tenor
Goncalo Alves B/S
Sitka top
Mahogany neck w/purple heart ribbon
Purple Heart bridge, finger board and heel cap.
Beech bindings
cut away
17" scale
1-3/8" nut, 1-11/16" string spacing, bone saddle
Slot head tuners
and yes a tru-oil finish will protect it.
I wanted to do something a little different with the sound hole, so here's what I came up with, it will also have a sound port in a lunar theme once I settle on one, I still have some fine tuning and sanding to dress up the "moons" but I'm liking them,..... suggestions are welcome and encouraged for the soundport

Thanks for looking--NC

[Kitchen Guitars]

Very neat. The very interesting and cool looking but fragile looking sound-hole decoration scares me lol.

[K III]

I love purpleheart, Nehemiah, but other builders posted that it is going to turn brown very soon. Not sure if there is a UV resistant lacquer that can be used to conserve the color. Great looking soundhole, too.

[Steve Kinnaird]

Hey Nehemiah (what a cool name),
The uke looks great!
I've always thought that mahogany and Purpleheart looked fine together...glad to see you trying it.
I've got some Purpleheart bindings on a guitar that have remained purple for at least a decade. If properly sealed you shouldn't have trouble with a color shift. At least we can hope, eh?

Steve

[nehemiah]

Thanks for the comments Yama, KIII and Steve.
I 've used purple heart a few times, no real problems with fading if sealed properly, I use egg whites early on before even final sanding and finish and it seems to work fine.
The sound hole moons are braced underneath and backed to add some protection against damage, braced lightly in a radial spider leg style, this little body should sound nice under 70 lbs of strings.

I like the name Nehemiah, but years ago got stuck with the nickname "Nick" as I found so many folks that looked at me funny and confused when I stated my name, middle name is Josiah, so that wasn't a whole lot easier.

Thanks for looking -Nehemiah Josiah Covey

[Fliss]

Really nice - I love seeing instruments that are a bit unusual. I'm curious to see how the soundhole will look when it's all finished, hope you'll post more pics as it progresses?

Fliss

[Taylorplayer]

Hello nic36:

It looks like the build is coming along nice. Thanks for sharing the pics and info with us.

Peace,
Bill

[nehemiah]

As I get time I'm trying to finish this little tenor, nearly completed now.....
Just put the first coat of tru-oil on.. decided since its a ukulele and they're called a sound port, I just made a portal trimmed in beech to match the bindings. The purple heart really pops and the goncalo and mahogany are darkening up real nice under the TO, sweet. should have the bridge on and nut and saddle made by the weekend. It has a little contrast here and there doesn't it.

A little work to do yet, neck is just posing for pics, but soon

[TedShred]

very cool!

.... 'specially now that I get it

must admit that, kinda like those optical illusion drawings that float around, at first I was seeing a little chubby robot man and not 2 expressive crescent moons. (Now I have to try hard to see chubby robot man... which is good, the moons are much better!)

[mmmaak]

Originally Posted by TedShred

must admit that, kinda like those optical illusion drawings that float around, at first I was seeing a little chubby robot man...

I didn't see the moons at first either, but I'd never have thought of describing the other image as a "chubby robot man"! You have quite the imagination, sir!

[wingman399]

Originally Posted by mmmaak

I didn't see the moons at first either, but I'd never have thought of describing the other image as a "chubby robot man"! You have quite the imagination, sir!

Yeah I have to say I didn't either. I thought it was a snowman with a hat on and some funky arms. Takes a little while to get your eyes to follow but well done. It looks really good. Awesome sound hole. That looks beautiful.

[pappy27]

Took a while but the moons finally appeared. I thought robot man was kind of cool too!

[sarNz]

oh wow, that is cool! i didn't see the optical illusion till i read the thread. the first thing i saw was:



i love that purple fretboard!

[nehemiah]

Not surprising really that many didn't see the moons right away, so far the majority of folks have looked at me perplexed with a simple "???" look on their faces, maybe this inverted shot will make the moons pop a bit more. Actually this inverted photo has me thinking about making something look like this, kind of cool I think.
Should be finished soon, once I get caught up a little.

-quite often building is just about having fun

[mmmaak]

Maybe get some sort of product-placement deal with Google