Official Luthiers Forum!

Well I have returned from the Island of Oahu where I attended the Hana Lima ‘Ia School of Ukulele Building (Hawaiian for “made by hand”). The class was a wonderful learning experience. The instructor and owner is Mike Chock who studied with Richard Schneider and Sergei de Jonge. Mike has taken his training with Schneider and produces modified Kasha braced ukuleles although in class we built fan braced instruments.

The class was a two week condensed course and I must say that we hardly had time to breath. But we took piles of wood and turned them into musical instruments in that amount of time. It took no time at all to prove to myself that I am a wood working dork but found that I too could effectively complete the tasks. To no ones surprise we all made some errors and having Mike there to help us work through it was great. There are certain things that I would do differently if I would have had more time but I’m satisfied with the results. We only had enough time to put on 1 quick coat of finish before stringing and setup so I’m not quite finished yet. I have been thinking about sanding the thin finish off and then do a better prep before applying the final finish. I may even thin the neck a bit more and maybe lower the action just a hair more. Oh yes, I learned an important lesson “Don’t sand through your sides”. My uke was hand sanded except for a few moments on a hand held when I realized that funny color on the side was my lining. Oh well, other than that it looks nice and more importantly its sounds very good and has great intonation.

The wood is Mahogany with a rosewood fret board and bridge and a koa head plate. The top, back, and sides are Quilted Mahogany and look much better than the photo below. I will post better pictures when I get a chance. There is nothing fancy about my ukulele except maybe the paua abalone rosette and markers but I am very pleased. The best thing is that I will be able to apply this learning experience directly to the guitar that I am going to build for my Father. I'm sure that I will be needing help and support from the OLF Ohana (family)as I pursue my first guitar build.





Philipkonacat38925.8062037037

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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.

Philip,

That is so great. Congratulations! A very good way to start, plus you got to be in the islands! Perhaps some closeups?

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now known around here as Pat Foster
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http://www.patfosterguitars.com

Good on ya Philip, must have been quite a lot of fun and a lot of info to sink in, now get busy and build us some very fancy instruments bud!

Looks great Philip

Bravo

Cool lookin' Uke Philip.Very nice job!

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Anderson Guitars
Clearwater,Fl. 33755

[QUOTE=konacat] .....will be needing help and support from the OLF Ohana (family)as I pursue my first guitar build.
Philip[/QUOTE]

Cool uke Phillip!

I like what you wrote....OLF Ohana (family)

We are like that aren't we!

Hey Phillip, great looking uke! And the proud smile on your face is great too!

Congratz!

-Mark

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Pullman, WA

The more I know, the more I know I don't know.

trippguitars.com
OR
Find me on Facebook

She's real pretty! Two weeks, huh? That's really impressive! Nice job.

Steve

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From Nacogdoches...the oldest town in Texas.

http://www.stephenkinnaird.com

Very Nice! Congratulations and Welcome home

Mike
White Oak, Texas

Way to go, Philip, it looks great.

And welcome to the OLF, Jeanne. Sorry I'm late saying hello.

Ron

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OLD MAN formerly (and formally) known as:

Ron Wisdom

Somewhere in the middle of Arkansas......

Great job! It turned out really nice. I'll be starting my first uke in about a month. I have some plans for a martin 5k concert that I'll be using. Hope it turns out as nice as yours. Thanks for sharing!
Tracy

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Tracy
http://www.luthiersuppliers.com

Will probably add a couple of ukes to my projects, My wife's 2 grand daughters want to have a small guitar now that they've seen Pepere the Bear play guitar

Awesome Phillip!

Perhaps I could convince Dawn to go to Hawaii for the honeymoon...I'm sure she wouldn't mind me spending all my time building a uke...nah    

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Joe Breault
Merrimack, NH
Perpetual novice

Bravo, Philip!
What, no grass skirt?

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Give me 50 cents worth of regular.
Check my oil too, if you don`t mind,,,

You just didn't look happy in the picture I guess its just all hard work and no fun .

Great job. It must be great to go start to finish that quickly. Now you just have to remember what you learned before you forget it all... Does that make sense?

Donovan

Nice looking uke. Please post more pictures when you get the chance.

Congratulations, Philip! It looks great. I'll bet it's a lot of fun to play.

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Todd Rose
Ithaca, NY

https://www.dreamingrosesecobnb.com/todds-art-music

https://www.facebook.com/ToddRoseGuitars/

Wow - Oahu, eh? hmmmm...............
Oh er, um I mean - nice Ukulele
Seriously though thats a fine looking instrument!
Cheers
Charliewood

Thanks for all the kind words. I did learn a lot and it helped me appreciate the building process and the support offered by the OLF members. I will post photos when the ukulele has completed finishing.

Philip

_________________
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.