Australian/New Zealand Luthiers Forum

So have you worked out how the tension compares with a standard baritone?

Thanks Luke. This detour into banjo ukes has really piqued my enthusiasm. Goat hide from Elderly. Wet for 20mins in the laundry tub then tack on with a bit of hide glue between the skin and the pot before hammering in the tack. Given that I've got a grand total of one tackhead under my belt my comme...

I was round playing this uke last weekend and it is a stunner. Beautifully smooth, harp like tones. I didn't want to put it down. The new back garden's a pretty nice place for a cup of tea and some nice uke too.

See Allen's tutorial. His results speak for themselves.

You've outdone yourself this time Markus. Bonus points for the Banjo Ukes too.........

Has the sky fallen down yet?

Here's some photos of my bending set up. It is a very early MkI design. So far I've bent WRC, Qld Maple and Silky Oak at 3.5mm.
The photo's show me bending some ebony for a tone ring. The position is shown on the completed rim in the last photo.
OK so the photo's seem to be in a reverse order.

Yes please Rob. Martin, I've had problems gluing MDF with titebond. I made a sanding station for the drill press and it cupped up so that the drum wasn't square to the table. When I peeled the two pieces apart they were barely glued together. The joint was starved due to the MDF soaking up the glue....

It's twice as heavy as any maple in my stash.

Ok, so amongst the stash of timber I inherited from my other half's old man's stash was this stuff. He was a woodturner and carver. Pretty much all the stuff in his stash is natives like Silky Oak, Aust Red Cedar, Huon etc, which make me think this is likely to be native. It has very small pores and...

Alan, I used to dread the sharpening process. Nothing ever went right. Get yourself a 1000 and a 6000 grit water stone from Terry Gordon: http://www.hntgordon.com.au/waterstones.htm Make up a little holder out of scrap. Use wet n dry on glass to get your primary bevels then flip the turny dial on th...

They've alined the screws, what more do you want?

Nick wrote:Nice job Liam What wood is the saddle made from?

That bridge is super-high-tech pallet pine. Botanical name: Chepus Cratus. I've made one's from Queensland maple and Qld Kairi Pine too. From what I/ve read the bridge can make or break a banjo. Might be another myth, might not.................

The sound is a little mellower than a regular banjo although you wouldn't mistake it for anything else. Certainly louder and plunkier than a regular ukulele. Nick, those are upholstery tacks holding the head on. Tackhead banjos were common in the mid-nineteenth century but have been used by home ins...

Here's a tenor scale banjo uke I've just completed. It's inspired by mid-nineteenth century minstel banjos

Built from Western Red Cedar and Indian Rosewood.

I would have thought a redwood sapling would be big enough for a bass

I've used it for a few ukulele necks. It seems similar to Spanish cedar in weight and stiffness but with courser grain that wants to tear out if you're not careful. I found there is also a fair bit of difference in how the end grain verses side grain takes up finish.

Some of my thoughts: (I stand to be corrected).* For string through bridges I use a hardwood bridge plate to help resist the string knots/beads from chewing up the top wood. For a tie bridge you could probably go with a spruce bridge plate or none at all. A string through bridge transfers the force ...

very interesting stuff Craig, I look forward to the progress.

kiwigeo wrote:

rocket wrote:

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Takes all the love out of it doesn't it!!
Rod.

Hey Rod, has your wife noticed the underblanket is missing off the bed?

Who says it's off the bed?

I hope you've got enough for the mother's day rush.....

Here's to Micheal Connor and his Woodwork.............

http://www.carbatec.com.au/micheal-connor

I pattern routed the wedges for my dish. They were cut with the required radius ie. not straight. I'd be suprised if that worked. The 3mm mdf top was glued with go bars.

That sander's come on special this week too. Mustn't have cleared out enough of the extra stock.

So................

Lucky I couldn't head down with you. I would have had to nurse a jointer on my lap for 2000km.

Probably around Tugan the door would've accidently flung open and the jointer would've been a speed hump for all the boy-racer cars that frequent the goldcoast highway.