If you really want to prove your woodworking chops, building an acoustic guitar, or a ukulele in this case, is a great way to do this. Woodworking skill aside, you will, apparently, also need an incredible array of clamps to hold everything while gluing, as seen in the original imgur set for this project, completed by Alex Mikes.
This tenor ukulele, not to be confused with an acoustic bass guitar, has a body made of Koa, and a a bridge, fingerboard, and headstock veneer made out of Rosewood. Part of the body was already in the process of being formed when documentation started. Fittingly, the first construction slide features close to 10 clamps!
Much of the construction centers around cutting out the flat top and bottom, which had to be braced and then glued to the sides with violin clamps. Once the body was glued together, the edges of the top and bottom were routed to match the sides, then the neck was attached to the body. Finally, after quite a bit of preparation, the beautifully inlaid fingerboard was attached, as well as the bridge. Finally, after 10 coats of lacquer, the ukulele was finished.
Of course, if you’re not much of a woodworker, you could always 3D-print a guitar (or ukulele) instead! Maybe it’s not as traditional, but being translucent is pretty cool in its own right!
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