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

Cigar box Ukulele and a 3 string cigar box guitar. oh and a warwick refinish.

This month has been fairly quiet. The post Christmas duldrum and being off work for a few days after my finger met the bandsaw (I'm very lucky to report was not too serious) Also a nice bout of Flu this last week has made it a reasonably unproductive month. I had two commissions one for a cigar box guitar and another for a 3 string cigar box ukulele to complete which I managed.
I actually had both of these commissions before Christmas unfortunately I didn't really have any cigar boxes suitable so I had to go on a major hunt to find suitable ones. Since I have started it seems cigar boxes have become a bit scarce on EBAY uk and the ones that are there are becoming fairly pricey. where I used to be able to pickup a nice vintage box for 3 or 4 pounds they are now going more to the 8 to 10 pound and even more. plus the postage. In the end I won a joblot of 25 boxes from the USA of which 10 are really good for instrument making. Even with the postage and import duty it was still cheaper than buying 10 separate boxes from the UK.
The box for the Ukulele I found On Ebay USA too.
The 3 string is for a customer in Austria. he saw the last one I had made on facebook. a nice simple plain wooden box with a nice flat neck which can be played with a slide or like a fretless instrument and wanted one similar.
It's only a small box but amazingly loud acoustically. and when it's plugged in Wow!
I soaked of the label from the inside lid to put on the headstock as it was such an attractive one. It also has position markers on the fret board which show on the front as well as the edge.

 

 

 

The Cigar box ukulele is for a customer a bit closer to home In Wiltshire.  She wanted a nice box with attractive labels on.  I found this one on EBAY USA and knew it was perfect for the Uke.

It's actually a new box but has that vintage look to it with the embossed labels and Victorian style artwork.  This one is without a doubt the best cigar box ukulele I have made. It really is not far off a standard Uke in terms of tone and volume and I will be keeping my beady eye out for more of these boxes.  I tried out a different sound hole design with an X brace on the top which may have helped with the sound quality. 

 

I Also managed a refin of a local chaps Warwick Bass which came to me in a plain finish which was looking a little tired. So it was given a transluscent  red brown brown (Looks very red in the picture) coat. The plan was to finish it with a matt clear coat but as it looked pretty awesome with a bit of gloss decided to leave it like that.

 

 





 

 

 

 

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