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I taught a course for inexperienced folks (mostly retirees) on how to build a ukulele at Montreat Conference Center last week in Montreat, North Carolina (more on the location below). This was as part of a craft-themed religious retreat.

The class only has about 24 work hours available to the students, split up into two sessions on each of four days (three hours per session). In that short period of time, we needed to build the ukuleles, apply a finish, string it up, tweak the setup, and be ready to play them for the rest of the conference attendees.

Given the limited time available, and the lack of building experience among the students, I had some choices to make about how to make sure everyone left with a working ukulele. One way is to start with a decent kit, like the StewMac kits. That is a good path, but I was stubborn and wanted to build these ukes from scratch. So, I opted to buy raw materials and partially build the uke parts myself, then let the students complete the build process.

I pretty much built the necks from start to finish, and only left final sanding to the students. The necks were to be attached to the bodies via a single 10-24 bolt through the headblock and into a threaded insert in the neck heel, made more secure by a dowel imbedded in the neck heel.

I built the rim sets myself, installed the kerfed linings, and profiled the rim sets for a 28’ radius on the top, 15’ radius on the back.

I cut out and braced all the tops and backs, using a fairly simple bracing pattern similar to a classical guitar. Per the above, the tops had a 28’ radius and the backs had a 15’ radius.

I made all of the bridges myself, opting for a “closed slot” saddle slot and a simple tie block design. We were going to have some variation on the action on these ukes, and not much time to tweak, so I wanted a bridge design that could tolerate a tall saddle better than a “slot all the way through” bridge design could.

The only adhesive used on these ukes, both by me and by the students, was hot hide glue. The only finish was shellac, using the azeotropic solution method (i.e., a mixture of alcohol and acetone) to make the finish dry super duper fast.

I pre-cut the nuts and saddles for their ukes, so that only minor tweaking would be needed after assembly.

The students were expected to glue the tops and backs onto the rim sets; trim the tops and backs to be flush with the rim sets; mate the neck to the body; determine proper bridge placement via the use of a jig; glue on the bridge; install their tuners; install the strings; and tune up their ukes. I followed the “hear one, see one, do one” approach to teaching, so I build a uke along with them.

I’m happy to report that everybody left with a working ukulele!

Here is a photo of a representative sample (and a bag my wife made for each student):



Here is a photo of the class, each with their uke. I’m on the far right:



Here is a photo of the special headstock inlay, showing the logo of the retreat center:



Here are some of the workstations I prepared for each student (with a parrot vise and assorted tools at each workstation):



Here is a student’s individual artwork on their uke:



I had 8 students, I made a uke along with them, and I wanted 3 sets of parts in case somebody broke something. So, I had to make 12 of everything. 12 of anything is a LOT of that thing. Here are 12 necks, all hand carved by me:



Here are most of the rim sets, hand bent by me:



And here is my shop helper, getting into the sawdust:



The process of grinding out all of these parts ahead of the class was exhausting. I’m glad I did it, but if/when I run this class in the future, I will need to start sooner on parts prep, find more efficiencies, etc. Like I said, 12 of anything is a lot.

I learned a lot, the students LOVED the class, and they adore their ukuleles. All turned out great, despite some setbacks for a few of them.

But then, we all had to deal with an overwhelming problem. Remember where I said this class was held (Montreat, NC)? And remember when I said it was held (last week)?

Yep. Those of us not smart enough to bug out Thursday afternoon got stuck in Montreat for a visit from Hurricane Helene. Montreat and Black Mountain (the larger town just south), along with just about any place near Asheville, NC were torn apart by Helene. My wife and dog and I were stranded in our rental house for three days with no electricity, no running water, no cell phone service, no internet service, almost no food, no gasoline, and impassable roads. I don’t know if you have ever had to ration small amounts of food and water to ensure survival for a few days, but I can tell you, it is no fun.

With the kindness of neighbors who shared their working cell phones, along with food, dog food, and a small amount of gasoline, we were able to plan our escape. My brother, who lives in Charlotte, NC, had to drive down through Spartanburg, SC, up to Asheville, NC, and then over to Black Mountain, his car laden with numerous cans of gasoline, so that we could fuel up and get the hell out of there. The escape plan worked, but it took two days to fully implement. We finally got back home to WV late Monday night.

If you have the means to contribute toward relief efforts associated with Hurricane Helene, I strongly urge you to do so. Those folks are going through hell right now. I only had to endure a few days of it, and I never, ever want to go through that again.

Eventually, the horror will be an asterisk, and the headline will be these wonderful little handmade ukes 9 of us made together.

Congratulations on the successful class! That was a big undertaking for sure. It must have been very satisfying to see all the students with their completed ukes.

And, good to hear that you made it through the aftermath of the hurricane.

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Once in a while you get shown the light in the strangest of places if you look at it right - Robert Hunter

Good job on making that happen.

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https://www.instagram.com/fostinoguitars/
https://www.facebook.com/PuraVidaUkuleles/

I don't know how many times I've written something, and gone back later, and it is gone. I think that someone posted before, and I didn't see it, when the alert comes up to say, "You might want to change your post."

Oh well.

Nice Job Don. Glad you got back ok. We lost power for a week several years ago because of a bad ice storm. But at least we could get out, and spend Christmas at a Holiday Inn Express!

We had no clue about rains in the mountains until we went to Falling Water in PA, and we heard someone talking in the morning one day about how a couple roads were washed out from the rain overnight. We didn't even realize that it rained overnight.

Hah. I watched a few videos on my Kindle after posting the first time, and opened a new window to OLF when I was done. Closing the windows to shut it off, I see the post waiting for confirmation.

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Why be normal?

Excellent work, Don! I know that was a huge time investment. The ukes look great. Congrats and glad you made it home safely.


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Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/cbcguitars

Here is a really interesting fact about my students. The trimming of the tops and backs to be flush with the sides took some time. We did it with hand planes and chisels, then sandpaper. After that day, I asked if they thought I should use a power tool to make that job go faster, freeing up more time for other things. To a person, they said: don’t you dare! They all LOVED using edge tools and sandpaper to get the job done. They came for the experience, not the end result. It’s like a dude ranch. If you are going to herd the cattle for them with a four wheeler, why should they bother paying the money to come in the first place?

By the way, if you ever need some inexpensive small block planes, I can highly recommend these:

https://www.amazon.com/JORGENSEN-Planer ... 126&sr=8-3

These little Jorgensen planes came with irons that were actually sharp right out of the box! Not Lie Nielsen sharp, but sharp enough to cut end grain mahogany with no trouble. I was impressed! Quite the bargain.

There’s a lot here. Most importantly, I’m glad you’re safe. Secondly, what an incredible experience for everyone involved!


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wonderful , memories and music. What more can you ask for

_________________
John Hall
blues creek guitars
Authorized CF Martin Repair
Co President of ASIA
You Don't know what you don't know until you know it

Firstly, very glad to hear you guys made it out safe. My daughter's best friend is a student at Montreat college and they were stranded for several days. The damage to the western have of NC is gut-wrenching. The class sounded like a wonderful time, and no doubt one that will be a good memory for many for a very long time.

Here are a few working photos from one of my students. This first one is a photo of one of the bodies being held in a body mold (which was, in turn, held in a parrot vise), showing the top’s overhang that needed to be trimmed back to flush with the sides:



This one shows me trimming the waist area with a chisel (the students did the rest with small block planes):



This one shows me teaching the right grain direction for using the block planes (always trim wide to narrow), and answering a question about what “quartersawn” means, and provides a quick view of our hot hide glue pot: