T004 Tru-Oil Finish

MAKAIO Ukuleles are finished using an oil varnish product called Tru-oil, which is a special blend of linseed and other natural oils. Application of an oil finish such as this is a slow process of thin coats and long periods of drying. For this ukulele, the Tru-oil finish was applied without prior pore filling, as the timbers used in this ukulele are fine grained and only have small pores.

The Tru-oil finish is applied by starting with two very thin coats of oil, which serve to seal the timber surface without soaking into the timber significantly. This is particularly important for softwood soundboards such as Bunya Pine. Following these two base coats, a further six heavier oil coats are then applied with one day of drying time between each coat. The oil finish is then allowed to cure for several days before being level sanded using fine grit sandpaper. Following this a further 4 coats of oil were applied with about two days drying time between each coat. Finally, the uke is allowed to cure for almost a week before the finish is sanded and polished with micro mesh polishing paper.

This process produces a hard and light finish which is tonally excellent, aesthetically beautiful, and can also be easily repaired in the future.

Too4 Tenor Ukulele oil finish - hanging to dry

Tasmanian "Tiger" Myrtle back and sides

T004 Headstock, Neck, and Fretboard

Having completed the tap tuning and inlay of the body, its time to again work on the headstock, neck, and fretboard of the ukulele. This uke will have a slotted headstock in the same style as classical guitars. This is not standard for ukuleles, and I have spent many hours working on the 3d design of the headstock in CAD, to make sure that the string angle over the nut is correct, and to ensure that the strings pass freely to each of the tuner posts. Unfortunately there have been no high quality ukulele tuners manufactured for slotted head instruments, so I have adopted the headstock design to work with geared guitar tuners. I have selected Gotoh SEP700 tuners for this instrument.

Shaped and slotted headstock

The necks of MAKAIO Ukuleles are thin and have a compound C shaped spline profile, and when combined with the radiused fretboard, this gives the ukes a fast and light feel. The timber selected for the fretboard of this ukulele is a lovely piece of native Australian Mulga from Tim Spittle at Australian Tonewoods. When sanded out to fine grit, the red and brown streaks through the fretboard are stunning, and complement the rest of the timber in the uke beautifully.

T004 Binding and Purfling

While the binding of a ukulele appears as a significant aesthetic design feature, many musicians don’t realise that it also serves an even more important structural role. Once the body of the ukulele is boxed up, the edge of soundboard and backboard are exposed around the body at the join with the sides. In many places, this edge presents open end grain of the soundboard and back timber plates, which is significantly softer and more prone to moisture ingress than the rest of the timber surface. By routing and installing solid timber bindings around the joint between the sides and the soundboard/back, the end grain is protected from both dings and moisture. Binding has even greater importance for ukuleles built with a softwood soundboard such as the Bunya Pine on the T004 Tenor Ukulele.

Body binding being glued in

The body binding also allows a luthier to show some creative expression in the selection of the binding timber colour, as well as the decorative purfling. For this ukulele I selected matching “Stealth” body binding timber strips, that were the same Tasmanian “Tiger” Myrtle as the back and sides. I coupled this with black/white/black purflings along the soundboard, back, and sides. This combination of binding and purfling is eye catching, yet doesn’t detract from the beauty of the timber in the rest of the body, as contrasting bindings tend to do.

Stealth "Tiger" Myrtle body binding

T004 Tap Tuning

Once the body of the ukulele had been closed up, the soundboard felt a little on the stiff side. The tap tone of the soundboard also suggested that the soundboard was too stiff, with a very short tone that was a little too high in pitch. I decided at this point to loosen the soundboard up by thinning the soundboard over the whole lower bout/bridge region. Using a small finger plane, I was able to carefully shave about 0.3 mm off the thickness of the whole lower bout area, and a further 0.5 mm in thickness off the outer perimeter of the soundboard. While thinning the soundboard, I progressively checked the tap tone until I was happy with the volume and the body resonance pitch had dropped suitably. At this point the soundboard started to become significantly more lively when tapped, with a clear increase in the sustain of the tone. It also became evident at this point that the whole body chamber was significantly more lively, as the soundboard resonated nicely when air was blown across the soundhole.

T004 Body Construction

A range of steps were completed to progress the ukulele from separate back, soundboard, sides and neck, to the completed or “boxed” body. At the start of this process, the components of the ukulele included the back and soundboard with shaped bracing, the neck with Spanish style heel block and carved heel, and the thicknessed timber for the sides. The steps that have been undertaken form the constructed body for this ukulele include:

1. Cutting the side pieces to the required profile, so that they follow the domed shape at the soundboard and backboard edges

MAKAIO Ukuleles are produced to have a 15 ft radius domed back and a 20 ft radius domed soundboard. The doming of the ukulele soundboard pre-stresses the soundboard to resist string tension, allowing the soundboard to be built lighter than flat topped instruments. The tighter curve for the ukulele back gives the instrument greater projection and helps make the ukulele body more comfortable to hold and play. To allow the soundboard and back to truly follow the domed shape, the side width of the instrument varies around the instrument perimeter. To allow for this, the sides are cut to a pre-determined profile prior to bending, increasing the ease of forming the ukulele body.

2. Bending the side pieces

Following initial profiling the ukulele sides are bent to shape using a specially made steam bending form. The heat and moisture applied to the timber side pieces allows the timber to become pliable, and the pieces are pulled into shape on the bending form.

Bent Tasmanian "Tiger" Myrtle side pieces

3. Joining the soundboard to the neck table at the heel block

The first step in forming the ukulele body is to join the soundboard to the neck, by fixing the soundboard into the recess that was previously cut into the neck block.

4. Shaping and joining the tail block to the soundboard

To reinforce the tail area of the ukulele, a solid timber block is placed between the soundboard and backboard at the tail of the instrument. This block also allows a strong joint at the tail of the body between the two side pieces. The tail block is first shaped to form the curved body profile, and has the slope sanded on to the top and bottom of the block to conform to the domed shape of the soundboard and back. The soundboard and neck are then placed on a specially made ukulele construction jig, and the tail block is glued into place on the soundboard.

Neck and tail block fixed to soundboard

5. Cutting the bent sides to length and joining to the soundboard

The bent side pieces are cut to the exact required length, and are dry fitted to the soundboard and neck. Once final adjustments are made, the sides are glued to the soundboard, neck, and tail block.

Fitting side pieces to soundboard and into neck block

6. Fixing the kerfed lining between the sides and the soundboard, and the sides and back

To reinforce the joint between the soundboard and sides and the back and sides, solid timber kerfed liner strips are sanded to shape and glued into place. This maintains the strength of the ukulele body, even once the perimeter of the instrument is cut to allow timber binding to be fitted.

Completed body with kerfed lining installed

7. Closing the ukulele body by joining the back plate

Once the kerfed lining is fitted, the interior of the body is final sanded, and the ukulele back plate is fitted to the body sides. During this step, the cross braces on the back plate are cut to the correct length, and the kerfed liner strips in the body are notched to allow the cross braces to fit neatly. The back plate is then glued and clamped to the sides, and the body allowed to dry overnight.

8. Trimming the back and soundboard to be flush to the sides

The final step in forming the ukulele body is to trim the excess material from the soundboard and back plates to form a neat flush joint with the instrument sides.

Completed body front - Queensland Bunya Pine soundboard

Completed body back - Tasmanian "Tiger" Myrtle

Bunya Pine soundboard with Tasmanian "Tiger" Myrtle rosette

The beautiful Bunya soundboard gives this ukulele a nice contrasting appearance against the "Tiger" Myrtle back and sides, and the timbers combine to provide a strong but unique tap tone. The ukulele body will now be further refined by selectively thinning areas of soundboard and back to improve the voice of the ukulele by allowing the soundboard and back to resonate more freely.

T004 Tenor UkuleleNeck Preparation

The Australian native Queensland Maple neck blank that was selected for this ukulele was initially milled to size for a guitar neck. This was re-sawn to produce a neck with the required dimensions for a 12 fret 17” Tenor ukulele scale, along with heel blocks for a stacked heel neck design. Queensland Maple is extremely similar in appearance and strength to a Honduran Mahogany, and is one of the best native Australian timbers available for use in instrument necks. The scarf joint was cut and joined to produce a 12 degree break angle between the neck and headstock, which will provide the right string angle from the nut to the tuning slots, and ensure suitable downward string force over the nut. This break angle differs from the standard 15 degree angle used for ukuleles, as this ukulele will have a slotted “classical” style headstock. The top surface of the neck was slotted along its length, and a carbon fibre stiffening rod fitted to increase the stiffness and stability of the neck. The heel blocks were then glued to produce a stacked heel, following the plans for a Spanish style neck/body connection, with the neck joining to the body at the 12th fret.

Queensland Maple neck blank

MAKAIO Ukuleles are constructed using a traditional Spanish style neck/body connection. With this neck design, the sides are fitted into pre-cut slots in the heel block, and the soundboard is recessed into the top of the heel block. This creates an extremely strong one-piece connection between the neck and body, which reduces loss of sound energy into the neck. By not using any mechanical fasteners to fix the neck to the body, the heel of MAKAIO Ukuleles is able to be made delicate and in proportion to the small body size, allowing access to more of the fretboard.

Once the neck scarf joint and heel blocks had been completed, the neck was tapered roughly oversize for the finished dimensions, and the heel carved to its final shape. The table of the heel blocks was then recessed to accept the Bunya soundboard so that when the body and neck are joined, the soundboard and upper neck surface are perfectly flush. The remainder of the heel blocks were cut down to reduce mass, while maintaining strength in the neck/body connection.

Spanish style Queensland Maple neck

T004 Tenor UkuleleSoundboard and Back

The initial thickness of the Bunya soundboard plate was approximately 3.5 mm, and was very stiff both cross and long grain. The two bookmatched pieces of Bunya were edge sanded and joined at this thickness, before being thinned down to approximately 3.1 mm. At this thickness, the rosette was inlaid and level sanded.

To match the back and sides of this ukulele, a timber ‘Tiger’ Myrtle rosette was made, which also provides a striking contrast to the cream coloured bunya soundboard. The timber rosette was designed to have a black and white purfling either side. The soundboard was routed to a depth of 1 mm, and the ‘Tiger’ Myrtle and black/white purflings installed, before being level sanded. Following this, the soundboard was further thickness sanded down to approximately 2.4 mm, and the soundhole cut out. The Bunya soundboard is still surprisingly stiff at this thickness, and will probably require considerable thinning to produce the desired tap tone, once the instrument is assembled.

Bunya Pine soundboard plate, and routed channel for the rosette

.

Tasmanian 'Tiger' Myrtle timber rosette

.

The Engelmann Spruce braces that are used to reinforce MAKAIO Ukulele soundboards, are specially profiled before installation into a trapezoidal cross sectional shape, that provides a good compromise between stiffness and mass. Once profiled, the braces are sanded so that they conform to the 25 ft diameter dome that will be given to the soundboard by sanding the bottom of the braces on a convex domed/dished work board.

All bracing is fixed to the inside of the soundboard using a go-bar deck, and another concave domed backboard, so that the soundboard takes on the 25 ft domed shape. This in effect pre-tensions the soundboard plate against the force generated by the strings, and allows the soundboard and bracing to be constructed fractionally lighter, improving the ukuleles sound. The first bracing added to the inside of the Bunya soundboard plate was a 1.8 mm thick cross-grain Engelmann Spruce bridge reinforcing patch. This patch will ensure that the force of the fully tensioned strings do not split the soundboard along the grain. The cross braces above and below the soundhole were then added, followed by the soundhole reinforcement plate. Finally, the three fan tone bars were notched to fit over the bridge patch, and were then fixed to the soundboard. The braces and tone bars were then scalloped to further reduce their mass, and increase the flexibility of the soundboard plate.

The bookmatched ‘Tiger’ Myrtle back pieces were first edge sanded and candled so that they fitted perfectly together, and were then joined. Following this, the back plate was thickness sanded to approximately 2.5 mm, and the backstrip inlaid. For this ukulele, a yellow and red marquetry strip was selected for the backstrip, combined with a black/white/black purfling on either side. The inlaid strip was then sanded down flush to the back plate, and then the whole plate was thinned to approximately 2.0 mm.

Three Engelmann Spruce cross braces are used to stiffen the back plates of MAKAIO Tenor Ukuleles. These braces were first profiled to the same trapezoidal cross sectional shape as the soundboard braces, and then sanded to conform to a 15 ft dome. Following this, the braces were fixed to the back using a go-bar deck, and a convex 15 ft radius domed workboard. A 15 ft dome in the back plate of the ukulele will increase the projection, and give the ukulele a larger voice, as well as increasing the strength of the ukulele body.

'Tiger' Myrtle back, and Bunya Pine soundboard

.

After the three cross braces were fixed to the back, cross-grain Engelmann Spruce graft pieces were fixed between each of the braces to reinforce the join between the two halves of the back plate. Preparation of the back plate was completed with the addition of the paper MAKAIO label. Every MAKAIO Ukulele has its own individually produced label to identify the instruments.

.

Braced soundboard and back

Soundboard and back

T004 Tenor UkuleleMaterials and Preparation

The T004 Tenor Ukulele is the second MAKAIO Ukulele to be made using all Australian tonewoods. The back and sides for this ukulele are the second Tasmanian 'Tiger' Myrtle set that I selected from Tim Spittle at Australian Tonewoods. This back and side set has a lighter tiger grain figure near the centre, varying to a darker wavy 'Tiger' figure nearer to the outside edge. A large Bunya Pine plate was selected from Guitar Woods which was cut down to three tenor ukulele soundboards, one of which has been selected for use on the MAKAIO T004 Tenor Ukulele. The Bunya has a smooth tight texture, and has a streaky appearance that ranges from light brown to cream in colour, with occasional silver hues.

Bookmatched Bunya Pine soundboard plate

.

Tasmanain 'Tiger' Myrtle back and sides

For the neck of this ukulele, I selected a Queensland Maple blank from Guitar Woods, which has a light pink tone, and should match reasonably well with the 'Tiger' Myrtle back and sides. The fretboard and bridge of the MAKAIO T004 Tenor Ukulele will be Mulga, from Australian Tonewoods. The piece of Mulga selected varies in colour from chocolate brown through to dark red, and has a striking cream coloured sapwood section along one edge. This ukulele will have a 'Tiger' Myrtle timber rosette, and Tasmanian Blackwood bindings from Australian Tonewoods. All bracing and patches will be Engelmann Spruce.

.

Queensland Maple neck blank

Mulga Fretboard and bridge blank

T004 Tenor UkuleleDesign Details

This ukulele was designed and started in early 2007, and is the second of the MAKAIO ukuleles to be made with all Australian tonewoods. I expect to finish this ukulele in late 2008.This ukulele will have a traditional fan braced soundboard with a ladder braced back. The soundboard will be built with a 25 ft radius domed profile, while the back will be built with a 15 ft domed profile. The neck will be designed as a standard length with a 12th fret body connection, and will be reinforced using a carbon fibre stiffening rod.

Components of the T004 Tenor Ukulele are:
Soundboard: Bunya Pine (Araucaria bidwillii)
Back/Sides: Tasmanian "Tiger" Myrtle (Nothofagus cunninghamii)
Neck: Queensland Maple (Flindersia brayleyana)
Fretboard: Mulga (Acacia aneura)
Bridge: Mulga (Acacia aneura)
Binding: Tasmanian Blackwood (Acacia melanoxylon)
Rosette: Tasmanian "Tiger" Myrtle (Nothofagus cunninghamii)
Tuners: Gotoh SEP700 Vintage Slot Head Open Geared Style in Nickel Plated