This post is more of I'm still here since I haven't posted anything for the past month and a half. Finding the time to work on the ukulele has been hard with the kids getting sick, then me getting sick, then the wife getting sick, then the kids all over again. Also, my wife had a special request for a stepping stool for our daughter, so the ukulele had been put on hold.
I sanded up 220. Then using a spray bottle, I sprayed the wood the ukulele with water to raise the grain. The wood swells up and wood fibers tend to stick up (wood whiskers). I then sanded the whiskers out with 320. I repeated the process three times. By the third time, very few whiskers would pop up. Here is the uke after all that sanding.
Next I marked off where the bridge will go on painters tape.
Then I cut the tape to size. When the tape was pulled, it pulled some of the wood with it resulting in more wood whiskers. A light sand with 320 fixed the problem.
Taped off the fretboard before applying a finish.
I don't have the equipment to do nitro, so I went with Tru-Oil. There are many ways to apply the oil. A quick google search on Tru-Oil finish yields many results. I decided to just go with the directions on the bottle. Apply a thin coat, let dry at least 2 hours, buff with 00 steel wool, repeat till you are happy. This is a picture of the ukulele after the first coat.
A few good tips I read in a forum in storing Tru-Oil is to not remove the foil seal but punch a small hole in it, pour out only what you need and store the bottle upside. The first coat will use up a lot of oil as the wood soaks it up. I used about just over 1/4 of a shot glass. Subsequent coats used very little as the wood is already covered. I probably used about 1/8 of a shot glass worth of Tru-Oil.
At the time of writing this, I applied the 6th coat. I feel just a few more coats will fit my taste. After that, just need to let the uke cure for a week or two.
So hopefully in about two weeks, I'll have the bridge glued on and the hardware installed.
Thanks for looking.
I sanded up 220. Then using a spray bottle, I sprayed the wood the ukulele with water to raise the grain. The wood swells up and wood fibers tend to stick up (wood whiskers). I then sanded the whiskers out with 320. I repeated the process three times. By the third time, very few whiskers would pop up. Here is the uke after all that sanding.
Next I marked off where the bridge will go on painters tape.
At the time of writing this, I applied the 6th coat. I feel just a few more coats will fit my taste. After that, just need to let the uke cure for a week or two.
So hopefully in about two weeks, I'll have the bridge glued on and the hardware installed.
Thanks for looking.
Comments