Building a Cigar Box style Ukulele from a Firewood log

My firewood delivery arrived back in December and amongst them where several square chunks of poplar So I thought I would challenge myself to build an instrument out of one.
All wooden instruments start of with a log at some point but rarely builders actually start with one preferring to use pre processed wood that is already planed dimensioned to make less work.
Here is the chopped log roughly 12" long and about 5" wide

First job is to process the wood so I cut as many 5mm thick slices as I could whilst still leaving a large enough block for the neck

After measuring the neck pieces I realised I had enough to make a tenor scale but had to scarfe joint the headstock on. The poplar is really nice to scarfe joint as it's pretty fibrous and grips really well so only 1 clamp needed.

Next was to rough shape the neck

So at this stage I have the neck blank top and bottom which are in two halves and the sides and enough left over for bracing. I decided to use a thin slice of mahogany for the fretboard for extra stability and a bit of contrast although I did have enough to make it out of the log.

I then glued on some sides to the headstock to increase the width

Along with the mahogany fretboard I decided on an Amazique bridge as the poplar wouldn't be strong enough for my design of bridge as the strings rest in slots.

Next was to sand the body panels and joint them together I only sanded them on the insides as it's easier to sand the outside once it's been made into a box.

The box construction is simply gluing little bars along the inside edges of the panels leaving a little recess for the sides to fit into (sorry forgot to take pics of this bit) Then clapming the sides down

The picture shows the top on here but that was only to hold it together as haven't put the bracing on yet.

Gluing the bracing you can see the inner frame that the sides fit into here.  The bracing is simple I have no method really for a cigar box instrument my main concern it to re-enforce the top there is also the bridge plate that sits behind the bridge.

I made some dowels out of some of the poplar for the fret markers. (Unfortunately when I stained the uke these virtually disappeared)

So here is the neck Blank Mahogany fret board and Bridge all completed.

Next job is to glue the fretboard on (I always do this before shaping the neck).

Then final neck shaping

I cut an (not sure why but an egg shape took my fancy) sound hole

and glued the top on

Then once that was dry I sanded down the outside of the box thinning the top down to about 3mm

Here it is with the neck placed and bridge on to see what it would like completed.

Next job fretting the board and drilling the holes for machine heads

Once that's done its the job of gluing the neck on. Again sorry for the lack of pics but I glued in a rctangular block of poplar in the L shape of the heel and fret board and cut a slot in the top of the box to make a tenon joint. There is a heel block inside the box for this tenon to fit inside. A bar clamp to keep the heel against the body and a clamp to keep the fretboard on is all that's required.

To fit the bridge I drill two holes with a deep counter sink. Glue and screw the bridge. The screws go through to the bridge plate underneath the top. Then fill the countersunk hole with the rest of the dowell

1st stain going for my rustic aged look

2nd stain and coat of clear matt lacquer

I cut a corian nut and saddle  fitted the machine heads strung it up(Sorry no pics again) and here is the finished Uke

And here is a video demo of the finished Uke

A Cigar box tenor Ukuele and an electric solid body steel string tenor ukulele.

The latest offerings are these Tenor Ukuleles.
Pretty much completely handcrafted. Particularly pleased with the Cigar box Uke's neck.
The electric uke has a slightly odd shape as it was made up on the fly. Freestyle!
Both are available from my Website

 

Tenor Ukulele

Here is the Finished Tenor Ukulele that I mentioned a few posts ago.
Mahogany Back & Sides & Cedar Top with Rosewood binding. (the rosewood is not too noticeable but should darken with age. The neck is made from some unidentified exotic hardwood with a Wenge fingerboard. The fret markers are Weng and Aluminium. The Saddle Is made from the the same wood as the neck with a Wenge  accent The Headstock also has a Wenge accent and there is a Wenge Bump Strip and Jack plate on the Bottom. nut and saddle are hand carved from Corian. the machine heads are open faced ones with plastic buttons which I treated to make them look like bone.
The mahogany is reclaimed The neckwood and wenge is very old stock and the cedar is sustainable.
It has Aquila strings and it has been fitted with 2 Piezo discs.

Really pleased with the look and design of this build It's only the second full acoustic build I have done the first being a strumstick which is pretty simple. I found it very nice and comfortable to play. soundwise a very mellow warm sound. Not as loud as I would have liked. I think I am also getting very good results with the antique patina finish. It does look like it's very old and well played and loved.

The owner Marko who originally commissioned a cigar box Uke but due to an error on my part with the original build and the lack of a suitable cigar box to build another one. ended up with letting me build my own body. He has kindly written me a comprehensive review which is under the pics.

Hi Anthony,

 

Uke arrived yesterday. It was very nicely packed, thank you.

 

I really like it. I spend a couple of hours last night playing it.

 

Sound is very nice and rich, very suitable for blues (as well as the looks). It is not as loud as I wanted to be, but it still might get better when it matures. All the sounds come out very clearly, you can hear all the strings individually(what is not always good thing when it shows the lack of your skills J ). Sound is very balanced and it doesn’t get muddy if you strum it harder.

 

I like the aged look. Very nice.

 

The neck is a bit thicker than I originally wanted but it works well with levelled back. Very comfortably to take barre chords. So nothing to complain there. Action is spot on. Very pleased with that. Much better than any ukulele I have played. Very low and no buzz. Perfect. Feel a bit like playing an electric guitar.

 

The balance is pretty good. The headstock could be a bit lighter, but it sits nicely with the quite heavy neck joint. Very comfortable to hold even standing up.  Many ukuleles are very light to give good resonance but are many times very fiddly to hold and move easily when moving chords quickly. Overall this uke is much heavier than most of the ukes I have played (except resonator ones) but it is not a bad thing.

 

Build quality and finish is very impressive.

 

I don’t currently have an amplifier, so I couldn’t test how it would be plugged in, but hopefully soon. I am sure it would be pleasure to play it amplified.

 

It was nice touch how it stands up on the floor.

 

So overall I am very pleased with it and this beauty jumped to my number one uke straight away.

 

Thank you.

 

Tenor Ukulele and the second firewood special

Here is a bit of a depature from my usual cigar box guitars and customised and solid body jobs yes it's a proper hollow bodied tenor ukulele.
It is for a commission and it was originally going to be a cigar box guitar which it actually turned out to be. Unfortunately for some reason I decided to put an angle on the neck to body joint and miscalculated it somewhat. I ended up with a bridge saddle that was nearly an inch high. looked ridiculous and was leaning over due to the string tension. There was no other option but to give up. After a bit of a discussion with the customer we decided to build a new body. so I didn't want to just build a standard shape so decided on a funky shape not a million miles away from a box but hopefully with a bit more comfort and a better sound.

 

Also on the table is the second fire wood special. This one is based around an acoustic guitar neck I bought of ebay. When I got it I thought I had made an error as it was a right mess but always up for a challenge It's a bit more complex and refined than the first Firewood special but I am still building it to be a slide guitar 6 strings and I am trying out ernie ball beefy slinky (11 - 54's) for extra growl in open D.
Also it will be fitted out with 2 Humbuckers and gold Hardware. I like the fact that on first glance it looks like some super expensive boutique guitar but then you look closer and realise it's made from bits of old furniture and various offcuts.
Pictures to come soon.