Official Luthiers Forum!

When I was visiting a mate in the bush, we were having a drink in his shed - as we always do.

He's a signwriter who is on the verge of retiring, or becoming an ex-signwriter. He showed me some of the tools he had collected over the years, and he said "If there's anything here you want, you can have it".

I took his scroll saw, and next trip I'll pick up the band saw. Problem is, I haven't got a shed, which is slowing my progress considerably.

Meanwhile, I'll keep lurking and learning.

Cheers Hip. (that's what they call me - short for hippie I suppose)

Welcome Hip! Hope to hear more about your building experiences once you get the going. It's good to have another Aussie on the board. Having built one concert ukulele, I can tell you that it is not necessarily easier than building a guitar. Just a little cheaper because the parts are smaller. But I love the instrument, and think it is a great way to learn guitar building.

Don't know if you know this, but I just came out with new ukulele sized radius dishes that may be of use to you if you plan on radiusing the back. Also have some cool ukulele neck templates that will aid in neck carving.

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Tracy
http://www.luthiersuppliers.com

And I am likely to be teaching my course on mandolin building in four days adapted as a ukulele session in Melbourne either later this year or early next year. Check in with Mick Richardson at the Acoustic Centre whom I visited about three days ago. I'm teaching the mandolin course in April in Woodbridge, Tasmania under the auspices of Tasmanian Adult Education.

Welcome to the OLF Hip!

One more welcome to OLF, Hip. Great to have another on board. Keep us informed of your progress.

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Waddy

Photobucket Build Album Library

Sound Clips of most of my guitars

Welcome to the OLF Hip!

There are many very nice and very talented people who are members here and they are fortunately willing to share their unbelievable knowledge and skill. Since I’m still searching for talent I must be one of the nice ones.

The ukulele is a great instrument and it happens to be my favorite. Yes they are smaller than a guitar but they take just as much work and provide a great deal of satisfaction when you string them up and play those first notes. However, you must remember that anyone can build a ukulele or a guitar. The trick to make an instrument that sings verses on that just looks like a guitar or ukulele and just sounds bearable. I would never hesitate in recommending you check out the HanaLima web site. The ukulele is what they live for. They have a wonderful resource in the Hana Lima ‘Ia “Ukulele construction manual”. They also have a ukulele builder forum that can be quite useful. By the way Hana Lima ‘Ia is Hawaiian for “Made By Hand”.
The bottom line is to enjoy and challenge yourself. With a little effort you will soon experience that smile you get when you string up your instrument and it sings a song in your heart.

Philip

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aka konacat

If you think my playing is bad you should hear me sing!
Practice breeds confidence and confidence breeds competence. Unfortunately, I'm stuck in practice.

Thanks for the rev up fellas.

I don't even have a shed at this point. Just a bench in the back porch.

To use the thicknesser, I took it out into the back yard. The shavings blended into the lawn.

BTW I won't be putting ebony through that thing again.

Konacat. I bought that instruction manual you mentioned. At some point I'll take a local guitar building course.

I also found a link to Australian Tonewoods on this very page, which has uke kits.

At the moment I'm not well equipped - and shedless.

Cheers Hip.