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.
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