Official Luthiers Forum!

new to this forum.....anyway just got back from hawaii and ordered a koa concert uke from david gomes on the big island....he makes terrific guitars too with a 2 yr waiting list... and is a master player spanish and slack key...anybody hear of him back here on the mainland?......im a lucky guy....ill have my uke in 6 months ........thanks

anybody have any love for ukes or is this just the wrong forum??????? peace.....

A few of us are building uku's (and playing 'em?) on this site......I built five tenors last year (as a change from guitars)....redwood, maple, koa, ebony....there are plans, materials and resources available...check out the archives....or is there a specific question? Are you planning to build a couple? I'm back on guitars, but like the weissenborn stuff I've seen lately.....

I am building a uke for my five year old, and my brother has built a whole pile of them, they are a fun project and i bet a lot of us have built a few.

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Jordan Aceto
Ithaca, NY

I've been known to build a uke or two, or 50.

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John Mayes
http://www.mayesluthier.com

wow, those ukes are killer! One of these days...!

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http://www.PeakeGuitars.com

those are some beatiful ukes... no im not building, im playing.....no question just love the little buggers........

I build ukuleles too. Just finished this Mango body tenor.
Sometimes I think that guitar builders assume ukuleles are easy to build and less prestigious. Ukes are less work to build....but NOT easier.

I build ukes too (tenors and concerts) and they are a lot of fun to play!

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A higher purpose for wood.
Rich Smith
Issaquah, WA

beautiful work guys...... i hear that low g tuning is more "in" these days. not that i care whats in or out ....any thoughts....i like hi g myself

are you building for hi or low........

and what strings do you use on yr concerts......i understand that hilo strings are good...........

Skypilot, re-entrant or high G is popular for strumming along especially with other instruments that cover bass. I prefer low G because it gives you more "bandwidth" or greater range for picking out melodies. I have found most tab for ukulele melodies call for low G.

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A higher purpose for wood.
Rich Smith
Issaquah, WA

I made mine standard hi-g tuning. I think its still the more popular way
The only thing "in" in ukes is slot heads!! I didn't realize how trendy I was until I started reading the ukuleleunderground forum. Guess I just have cutting edge tastes

The tag-line for this post caught my attention because I've thought of ordering StewMacs kit, but convert it to a six string as to be a "traveler". The kit comes with the fretboard pre-slotted. Would I need to order another board and slot it differently?

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DES - Farwell, MI

?????????..........

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DES - Farwell, MI

No you won't have to slot it differently. You may have a different width neck, nut and saddle with 6 strings. Get a plan and see what mods you might have to make to your kit.

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A higher purpose for wood.
Rich Smith
Issaquah, WA

Thanks, Rich! Sorry for hijacking the thread.

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DES - Farwell, MI

Not sure if you got this from what Rich said, but if the StewMac slotted fretboard is already profiled ( width/taper) then I suspect you''d be SOL on fitting 6 strings onto the neck. I'm not familiar with their kits, just want to emphasize the caveat.