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.

 

Performance with a ShonKy Tenor cigar box guitar on you tube

Here's a fantastic video of John Diment Performing his Song Winky on the Wing with the Tenor Cigar box guitar He purchased of me.

Firewood special No2. Recycled art guitar for monster slide blues

So here is the second Firewood special. that I mentioned in my Previous Post
I really like the multi level designs and might utilise it in a proper guitar in the future. It really opens up the possibilities of what raw wood you can actually use to build a guitar with rather than being stuck on the idea of having a big chunk of ash or mahogany. Believe me this is as solid as a rock and sustains as well as anything. I believe there are 12 separate pieces of wood that make up the body.
Everything on it apart from the strings and the glue, paint and solder of course, is recycled. Even the pots and wires. The knobs are of an old hifi.and the machine heads are counter fit Grovers which work ok but are not the quality of genuine ones.

 

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.
 

Shortscale Bass and 12000 views

I am quite happy to realise that I have managed 12000 views so thank you all for visiting.
Heres the latest guitar from me which is  a shortscale bass made from the neck of an encore shortscale.
The original Encore bass is aimed at the child student market, the body feels like it's made from papier mache although it is some sort of wood.   It's so light and distinctively wobbles when you play it and I am the least fussiest person when it comes to what material a guitar body s made from but in this case!. The electronics are not up to much either and fitted with cheapo strings makes for a horrible instrument. It's one saving grace is it actually has a reasonably nice neck. so I parted out the body. The pickups I'm going to use for four string cbg's.
With the neck and an oddball shaped body from Mahogany offcuts comes this creation.
Yeah it's pretty ugly but that was the Idea It's a bit reminiscent of those old Russian guitars.
It doesfit into a standard size gig bag and is pretty easy to play sat down. On the strap it suffers from neck dive due to the lack of upper horn.
Any how here's some pictures.

you can read the spec and maybe purchase a rare ShonKy bass (Only the 3rd bass I've made)
from HERE
 

New Guitars

I have had a little busy spell in between the commissions I have had. so here's a quick update on the latest instruments from ShonKy.


There's this big ole Box guitar made from an old oak box and a Kay neck and pickup.

There's also this nice little tenor cigar box guitar

And the latest is this smiley little fellow.

You can click on the pictures to be taken to the web album
or go to My Website where you can see the full details and prices.

Fretless Mountain Banjo | eBay

Here's a nice home made scrap wood banjo that I quiet like the look of.

Fretless Mountain Banjo | eBay

New Cigar box tenor guitar

I actually finished this tenor cbg last month.

made with an antique cedar cigar box with a Mahogany neck.
The neck is tenon jointed to the body to maximise the acoustic volume and tone.
It has a wenge fingerboard and aluminium and wenge marker dots.
traditional vintage style machine heads with bone effect buttons.
Walnut floating bridge with a brass string retainer.
Triple piezo pickups.
I have just received a couple of nice boxes one of which I think may become another tenor guitar.
This one will be on sale soon.

 

Shortscale ShonKybox 6 string Cigar box guitar, Cigar box amp and case

I was contacted by a nice chap called Andy who wanted a short scale 6 string cigar box guitar with an amp and also a case.
I've veered away from doing cigar box amps and cases before now but seeing as this was a commission I thought it would be an opportunity to do a whole set.
Andy also wanted an antique rather than beaten up look so after a few communications I set to work and created this for him. (the Tiger fur was Andy's Idea :-) I wasn't sure but I actually really like it and think it looks pretty funky)
I am really super pleased with the finished set. The box for the amp was a good find as it comes from the same era and the same area (Jamaica) as the box used for the guitar. It all goes together really well and I'm really pleased with the case too.
It's probably made from  70-80%% recycled material and parts.
It has 3 Piezo discs stuck to the lid. Volume and tone controls. The neck is permanently bolted on to a Central Mahogany core. I drilled holes into the core to allow for more air movement as Andy wanted it to be able to play acoustic (As much as possible for a cigar box) but with the ability to plug it into an amp.
The amp was made from a 5 watt mini amp that I purchased new from Ebay. Yes you can buy amp kits but they actually cost more. The amp had a 1 watt speaker which I upgraded to a 5 watt speaker..

The case is made from from some pine T&G offcuts for the walls. The front and back panel is Oak laminate panels from an old cabinet which happened to be pretty much the exact same size. Faux tiger fur lining and faux reptile skin covering.

 

tenor guitar recordings

John D Revelator has posted some songs he has recorded using the Tenor cigar box guitar He purchased from me just before Christmas.  

 

Good stuff it is too. I guess for any instrument maker the reward for making the instrument is to hear it being played.
Thanks John