Seven Heirlooms - Time to Start Shaping the Necks

[Malc2098]

I like the threads too, even though as an amateur musician I don't like uke's at all. I do admire seeing someone learn the luthiery craft, adopt new methods, critique their work and improve all the time. And here we have an actual production line.

Thanks, Adrian. It's not the quickest of production lines, though. I'm currently bending two pairs of sides and their lamination veneers per day.

 

[AJB Temple]

The point though Malc is that you will get a consistent product, of heirloom quality, that in years to come will still be talked about in your family. It's a priceless legacy. You can't buy this. You should be very proud.

Next time though, do guitars!

 

[AndyP]

Malc may soon have his own 7 piece ukulele orchestra.

 

[Malc2098]

Fourteen sides and 28 veneers bent in the bending machine.

I've worn out the Chinese heating blanket. It's blistered and perished in places after a total of 26 sides and 20 pairs of veneers. I've written to a British manufacturer for a quote.



Ready for laminating. First dry run.

Although some will have to have some manual bending with the heating iron because of excessive springback.





First wet run.

 

[Malc2098]

For the last few years, I have decided to laminate the sides of my instruments. Some people say then that the instrument is made of plywood. I have to remind them the plywood is manufactured with each alternative leaf's grain being perpendicular to the leaves either side of it.

The outside timber of my sides is wood that has been sawn from a length of attractive, in my view, looking wood, and planed and sanded to thickness. The inner leaves of my sides are veneers which have been sliced from a log. Mostly I choose Swiss Pear when I can get it, which is dense with a tight grain, and that grain is in line with the timber of the side.

My goal is to make the sides as close to the half shape of the instrument with little or no springback, so that when joined to create the rim, they are not forced together.

The image below shows the difference between a bent side and its veneers only having been bent in the machine, and the laminated side released from the mould.




My first couple of instruments were made with sides just bent by the machine and they had to be forced into the shape of the whole instrument.

With the current lamination process, I don't have to do that.

 

[duke]

Wow, big difference in the spring back. I can see your preference for using the veneers only method.

 

[Malc2098]

Wow, big difference in the spring back. I can see your preference for using the veneers only method.

Thanks, Duke. But it's not veneers only, it's a proper timber side with veneers laminated to it. The whole structure is stiff.

 

[duke]

Got it now.

 

[Malc2098]

I made up a second mould to reduce the number of days gluing.

 

[DaveL]

It's a bit like watching paint dry

 

[duke]

Or time to have a beer!

 

[Malc2098]

It's a bit like watching paint dry

Nah. Glue takes longer.

 

[Malc2098]

Seven pairs of sides laminated.



Nos 6 and 7 are laminated with Ayous veneer that I ordered before the Swiss Pear was available.


Some of the ends are a little rippled...



..so I dampen them and clamp them in this mould for a while before I saw the neck and tail joints and tidy the edges.

 

[Malc2098]

The two sides clamped in the mould in the above picture allow me to cut the joins at the neck and tail in one go each end.

The tail blocks previously milled as a long blank on the cnc machine to match the curve at the tail joint, and the flat neck blocks I cut to length, and using the same mould, I can glue and clamp the blocks to to the sides, thus creating the rims of the instrument.

I've tried hard to match the grain at the tail joins so I don't have to make grafts for all seven instruments as I have on previous instruments.

Having glued the first rim together, I plane and then sand the top (the soundboard side) edge flat using the flat side of the sanding board to create a right angle between the rim and the board. (The other side of the sanding board is radiused to match the curve of the instrument back.)





Using a cardboard template, I will mark the shape of the back edge of the rim and plane it roughly to that line before sanding it on the radiused side of the sanding board.

Now to do all that six time more.

 

[duke]

What grit sandpaper do you use? Looks like a good workout Malc.

 

[Malc2098]

What grit sandpaper do you use? Looks like a good workout Malc.

It's either 80 or 120. I can't remember. They're self adhesive and the rating is printed under the adhesive.

When it comes to sanding the curved side, that's a proper work out!

 

[Malc2098]

All seven rims glued together.



The sanding board is double sided. One side is flat and I sand the soundboard side of the rim on that.





I milled a dish on the other side with the CNC machine and the radius of that dish is the same radius as the back braces. You might just able to make out the back contour of a couple of them made by sanding in that dish.

I've tried to bookmatch the rims, but as you know, a bookmatch is not a mirror image and the wider the grain, the more obvious it's not an identical image.

One or two of them are going to need a graft on the back join to hide the imperfect join.

 

[Dr.Al]

Top work as always. How long does the sanding take?

 

[Malc2098]

Top work as always. How long does the sanding take?

Thanks, Al. Sanding the flat sided not take too long, especially as I use a little plane to hog off as much as I can. But the contoured back took an hour with one of them because I cut the blocks too long and they had to be sanded down as well as the thin sides.

I spotted that one and then cut the blocks shorter as I glued up each rim. I did three yesterday and three today.

The blocks form part of the gluing surface for the soundboard and back, so they can't be cut short and not be contoured.

 

[Malc2098]

This is the first dry fit of the linings. These provide a gluing surface when gluing the backs and the tops to the rims.



They're kerfed so they can bend round the rim. This is the flat side and is easy. the contoured side gets tricky.

Two down, 26 to go!

 

[NickM]

Malc, do you make the kerfing, or can you buy it?

 

[Malc2098]

Malc, do you make the kerfing, or can you buy it?

I've tried making it, Nick, but it's very time consuming and difficult to get right. There are DIY jigs on YT, but I choose to buy it.

However, it's the only timber item of the construction that I buy ready made. Everything else, I now make myself.

 

[NickM]

I've tried making it, Nick, but it's very time consuming and difficult to get right. There are DIY jigs on YT, but I choose to buy it.

However, it's the only timber item of the construction that I but ready made. Everything else, I now make myself.

Makes perfect sense. It looks like it would be really hard to make well which is why I asked!

 

[duke]

This is the first dry fit of the linings. These provide a gluing surface when gluing the backs and the tops to the rims.

View attachment 33763

They're kerfed so they can bend round the rim. This is the flat side and is easy. the contoured side gets tricky.

Two down, 26 to go!

Hey Malc, make sure you have enough clothespins left for drying the laundry.

 

[Malc2098]

Hey Malc, make sure you have enough clothespins left for drying the laundry.

Haha! These are mine, all mine! We've each got our own.

 

[Malc2098]

All the linings have been glued. I took the trouble to wet the linings for the soundboard side which made them pliable and easier to glue round the bends of the upper and lower bouts.

The linings for the back contoured side were a different kettle of fish. So I not only soaked them, but I also used the heating iron to bend them to shape and then fitted them 'dry', that is wet but not glued, into their respective places, so that when dried they came out as an exact fit. That was when I glued them. This has taken a week in and out of the workshop, waiting for each of the 14 pairs to dry, clamped with the spring clips and clothes pegs.

So, as I glued the linings proud of the rim edge, they now have to be sanded back to the rim. Not a problem and easy with the flat side of the sanding board. All got done quite quickly. But the contoured back side is bent over a second axis because of the contour so the amount that is proud of the rim varies around each side. I use a mini block plane to take as much off as I can see, leaving about 0.5mm proud and then turn the sanding dish over to the dish radiused side, and get busy sanding.



This is the first one finished sanding to contour. You can see the top is flat, and the lower edge fitting the curvature of the dish.



Hopefully you can that I've turned the rim over, and the flat side doesn't fit the dish, but the contour of the back is now visible on the top.




I'm not sure if you can see, but I chalk the whole of the rim edge and every so often look while sanding, to see how much chalk is left. When it's all gone, the sanding is finished.




This demonstrates the amount of curvature to the back of the instrument. I can assure you that is not the camera lens creating those curves. And to make sure the back will fit properly, I hold the ruler on one end, and maintaining that bend, pivot it round to the left side and then the right and with that bend it should move smoothly round confirming that the edge is completely dished to the radius.




Checking on the inside that the back fits.




And checking the back fits with no gaps.


Six more to go.

 

[Malc2098]

Seven instrument rims all kerf lined.





Ready for fitting the soundboards.



Just got to fit the braces in recesses in the linings.

 

[AndyP]

I am sure you are aware how many views this thread gets Malc.
Amazing to follow. Are you getting at all, just a little bit, bored of doing the same thing seven times over. I feel sure that I would.

 

[Malc2098]

I am sure you are aware how many views this thread gets Malc.
Amazing to follow. Are you getting at all, just a little bit, bored of doing the same thing seven times over. I feel sure that I would.

Gosh! I hadn't looked at that before, Andy.

No, not bored at all. I have the time to fill as I'm retired, and I try to do each process better than the last year, and each instrument better than the last one. I've been debating with myself as to whether to install tail grafts because some of the tail joints aren't as clean as I'd like them. That'll probably take me another couple of weeks to complete.

 

[AJB Temple]

This is absolutely top class work. Very well done Malc, I am impressed and I have seen some seriously good luthiery in my time.

I'm not wild about the visible knots in the outer veneers on the sides but I know that perfect timber is a premium price.

I very much like the fact that you take the trouble not to get glue everywhere. I've seen some seriously high end hand made guitars (I know these are ukes) with visible glue blobs around the kerfing. Most people are not going to inspect the inside of a high end instrument with a light, but I do and it can be an eye opener.

 

[Malc2098]

Thank you, @AJB Temple. I agree with you. I've seen some poorly finished interiors of expensive instruments, so a) I try to leave as little squeeze out as I can when gluing the linings, and b) I go round and clean up any squeeze out that is visible, both when wet and when dry. I also sand the the interior veneer laminate.

BTW, the 'outer veneers' on the sides are not veneers. As you know, veneers are sliced from a log. My sides are solid timbers I have sawn and sanded to thickness. Four of them are from a slab of Monterey Pine I bought from a sawmill in North Devon and three of them are Sycamore from offcuts from @NickM 's elliptical table.

I sometimes also have to remind some people that the laminations do not make the sides plywood. Plywood's leaves are bonded at 90 degrees to each other. The instrument laminations are all in line.

 

[Malc2098]

I've also decide to install tail grafts. I will make the grafts double the width of the binding. So I started ripping up some beautiful Padauk out of my stock. I had a fairly large pice with some shakes in it which was heavily reduced when I bought it. Ripping down to about 7mm by about 3.5mm and only needing 28(!) 450mm lengths, I can avoid the shakes and throw those pieces away.



Sanding to installation thickness tomorrow.

 

[PAC1]

Stunning work you should be proud of that especially as once you put the back on no one will ever know.

 

[AJB Temple]

Thank you, @AJB Temple. I agree with you. I've seen some poorly finished interiors of expensive instruments, so a) I try to leave as little squeeze out as I can when gluing the linings, and b) I go round and clean up any squeeze out that is visible, both when wet and when dry. I also sand the the interior veneer laminate.

BTW, the 'outer veneers' on the sides are not veneers. As you know, veneers are sliced from a log. My sides are solid timbers I have sawn and sanded to thickness. Four of them are from a slab of Monterey Pine I bought from a sawmill in North Devon and three of them are Sycamore from offcuts from @NickM 's elliptical table.

I sometimes also have to remind some people that the laminations do not make the sides plywood. Plywood's leaves are bonded at 90 degrees to each other. The instrument laminations are all in line.

Apologies, I do know that (re your sides). I've been a guitar player and collector since I was young, and I fully accept I am a bit finicky and and do not buy things that have flaws in the cosmetics. Knot marks in the outer wood are a flaw to me, as is wavy grain and significant colour changes, unless we are looking at things like birds eye or flamed. This is not a criticism of you as I know you are working to a tight budget and not focussed on the collector market.

You my friend have come a long way since you started and I am full of admiration for your attention to detail and quality.

I think you have reached the skill point where you could sell a few top notch instruments each year for proper money. Especially if you can link with a good player.

 

[Malc2098]

Thank you, Adrian. That's kind of you to say.

 

[Malc2098]

I've sent the rough sizes through the drum sander to hog them to over thickness, I've sent them through the bandsaw to over width, now I'm going to plane them all, 30 something of them, to thickness with my my new doings.

 

[Lons]

.............. Ripping down to about 7mm by about 3.5mm and only needing 28(!) 450mm lengths,....

Brilliant work and the word "only" made me chuckle. The thought of needing 450 lengths would give me nightmares.

 

[Malc2098]

Slowly getting there, but the little plane make good square edges to seat in the binding channel.



You might notice some broken bits. Someone mentioned elsewhere that Padauk can sometimes let go. As I'm pushing the plane on the strip against a stop, sometimes the strip just folds up. Better that happens now than when I'm bending the curves with the heating iron.




So, I'm making about 10 spares.

 

[Mike G]

Malc, as you're probably aware I haven't commented in here very much. This is all completely outside of my skill and knowledge sets, and I've no interest in musical instruments. I just wanted to say, though, how jaw-droppingly wonderful all this work is, and if you are starting out in this field, what an incredible journey you have been on to be so good so soon. Bravo.

 

[Dr.Al]

Regarding bits of thin wood folding up when thickness planing...

I've never tried this and I can't remember where I saw it, but I seem to remember seeing someone using an alternative planing stop arrangement to overcome this problem. He was making long thin strips (might have been for Kumiko, might not). Rather than having a conventional stop that the wood was pushed against, he banged a few (three I think) small pins into the work surface, all very close together. The pins protruded a millimetre-ish out of the work surface.

The end of the (over-length) to-be-planed strip was then pushed onto the three pins and then planing was done away from the pins. That meant that the strips were in tension rather than compression and hence no chance of them folding up.