Ukulele Pop Up Factory

[Malc2098]

I've been away on an internship at the above producing instruments with other interns and the pro.



Initially he put me on the CNC machine producing bodies. (I've no idea why! ) This is how the body came off the machine. They are hollow bodied Concert models called The Revelator, a design which he copyrighted.



I was machining Mahogany, but mainly Korina, or Black Limba as it is sometimes known by.

We were so busy, that I forgot to take many photos of the manufacture process, but I'll share what did take to show some of the beautiful instruments that were produced by us interns.

This is a Yew topped model that's just been strung.



This is the Korina body and neck.





The carved neck joint.



It was carved with a mini arbor tech type machine. In skilled hands it only takes a couple of minutes to carve the joint to shape for sanding.



My workbench, preparing the neck before fitting the tuners, saddle and nut.



A selection of instruments produce by the team.



This is a commission that I finished off just before shipping.



Here's a production technique for a bit of bling.





Who'd have thought that the bling is installed at the beginning and then the instrument is built around it!





The unfinished instrument with the components just held together.



Mods, perhaps you can rotate the odd one or two that needs it.

Well, that's all I've got I'm back home now. But before you go, if anyone still thinks that the ukulele is just for cleaning windows or leaning on a lamppost, did I tell you they were electric?!

[youtubessl]PYd5v8gvzzE[/youtubessl]
https://youtu.be/PYd5v8gvzzE

 

[Dr.Al]

Beautiful stuff. I don't really have much interest in musical instruments themselves, but I'm really enjoying reading all your posts about the process.

 

[AJB Temple]

Fascinating. So the CNC one makes the back and sides as one piece?

The shape is very reminiscent of a Les Paul Junior guitar. And the vine type inlay reminds me of the more ornate Martin D45 styles of old.

There is obviously more demand for Uke's than I had realised. Nice post. Surprised not to see a bit more grain filling (eg inside curve of the cutaway).

 

[9fingers]

Starting with the "bling" or perhaps one of the more difficult aspects of a project reminds me very much of my approach.
At work I was often criticised for an "unstructured" approach to a design because I always started with what was deemed the most difficult part. My theory was if I could not get that bit to work then fretting about the rest of the design was wasted. eg if I couldn't write a software process to execute in a short enough time then the project would fail no matter how much other detail did function.

The same with the instrument. If you can't get the bling right then go back, re group until it is right!

Bob's Law!

Bob

 

[Malc2098]

Thanks, Al.

Yes, Adrian, that Korina end grain was a bit tricky at times and in the last week, I was picking up quality issues from the previous three weeks and rectifying them. The back and sides were indeed milled from one piece. For such a small bodied instrument, when played acoustically it was incredibly loud.

Bob, I think it was simpler than that. CNC work like this relies on the workpiece to be flat, rigid and stable. So, the soundboard even before it has been profiled is flat and at its most stable to take on the pocketing for the blingy rosette, or any type of rosette.

 

[Malc2098]

Here's a couple of the instruments I was working on in their retail environment.

So far as I could tell, these were being demonstrated acoustically, i.e. not plugged in to an amplifier.

[youtubessl]nCaqaZvmXV4[/youtubessl]
https://youtu.be/nCaqaZvmXV4

Check out the links below the video to see their current retail price.