Official Luthiers Forum!

Well I think I’m going to join the challenge. I’ve watched the last two and they look like great fun and a cool way to share progress. I’ve learned a bunch watching the different approaches from the other build threads.

I’m about to start my 3rd build. Here is a picture of my previous builds.


I started with the uke. That took me about a year to complete. It drove my wife nuts. Then one day a uke was in the house. Of course our daughter was born during that time and she didn’t take near as long to make. And I have to say, not as many mistakes were made in her construction so hats off to my wife. The L-00 took two years to build. I started in October of 2010 and finished at the end of October 2012. Hopefully I can pull this one off a bit quicker and make this deadline.

I’m going to use the Stew Mac 000 plan. For the most part I’m going to stick as close to the plan as possible. It will be my second attempt at a slotted headstock.

For materials I’m going to be using Cherry for the back and sides. I have a redwood top that I’ll be using. The fret board bridge and headstock veneer will be Boise D’Rose. I haven’t decided on binding or what I’m using for the sound hole yet. The neck will be Mahogany with a maple center strip.


I have to throw out a disclaimer here. Back in the day I joined most of my back sets when I was practicing pulling that off. This set has been together for over two years so technically that would put me out. Most of my back sets that would be appropriate for this build have been joined. This is the set I have been planning to use for the next build so I’m going to have to ask forgiveness here. I still have to join the top set, so I have to go through the process as part of the build for the challenge. Also, on the wood I’m using for the neck, I have already cut the scarf joint. I didn’t think this blank was going to be long enough so I used it for practice during my L-00 build. As it turns out I have just enough material to use on this one if I do a butt joint. Hopefully this will be a nice save for an othewise nice neck blank. I originally bought the neck blank to go with the cherry set (both are from Sniggly) so I’m going to go ahead and use it.

My plan at this point is to give hot hide glue a try. We’ll see how that goes. I have the glue and I have a hot pot so I’m close to giving it a go. If it doesn’t end up in the build, at least it will make it in this thread. I’m going to try and inlay my last name in the headstock. People keep asking me why I didn’t do that on the last one. We’ll see how the practice goes. I also want to create a label for this one. It is so easy to just not do and I have fallen into that trap on the last two builds. I like building jigs so I’ll probably be showing a bunch of that in my progress posts. I also like acquiring lutherie tools. I have a bunch, but still need more. I’ll be showing what I use as I use it. For finish I still have half a can of EM6000 left. I may use that. With Cherry I’m thinking I should be able to avoid the blue tint I got on the last build. I may however try a nitro finish as I see myself using that more in the future. We’ll have to see when I get closer.

Thanks for watching,

John

Welcome to the build John! Best of luck!