Tinkerer's Thoughts

My first attempt at cutting the body template was a bust. I used a forstner bit to remove material about half an inch to the body outline. Then I thought I could could use a sanding drum for a Dremel in a drill press to shape the template. The dremel drum could only remove very little material at a time, so I gave up on that idea. I do not have a bandsaw nor a scroll saw. I also do not have the funds right now to get one. I found an old coping saw in my wife's grandpa's tool shed. Unfortunately, its rusted beyond belief and the blade needs replacing. I used the saw anyway but cutting through 1/2" MDF with an old rusted and dull saw just was not happening. I will have to get a new saw. Luckily, there is a 1/4" MDF board laying around that I can use to make a template out of. Cutting through the 1/4" board should be much easier than the original 1/2" board. Then maybe I can use this template to cut out the 1/2" board with a router. With the body o...

Why build one? Why not? My quest to build my own solid body ukulele was inspired by How to Build a Stratocaster Style Guitar "The Hard Way" and the many awesome DIY quilted maple guitars. I eventually want to build a quilted maple top Les Paul and figured why not start with something cheap and small, hence a ukulele. My plan is to make an 18" tenor sized Les Paul solid body ukulele.  I actually started this project before building the Stewart MacDonald Tenor Ukulele Kit . I put the solid body project on hold to build the kit. I have come to a point where I can't do much on the kit since the finish needs to cure so why not pick up where I left off on the solid body. For wood, I didn't feel like forking over $$$ for wood blanks. I like the look of guitars that have the stringer look so I thought why not just glue up 1x2's of mahogany and douglas fir. I know this is not the best method or even the best wood but these woods were readily available from th...

Shishi Toilet?!? Shishi Toilet? Shishi doo doo? OMG! Potty training is tough. Shishi is the Japanese American word for urine. We asked our daughter that every 15minutes when we first really started potty training. That didn't work out so great, we realized we just had to take her and let her sit. Over the course of several weeks, she could finally tell us when she needed to go. My wife got tired of lifting her onto the toilet and asked me to make a stepping stool. I was more than happy to oblige. I had old 1"x12"x4" pine boards laying around. I wanted the stool to be as simple as possible with just those boards. So here is an easy stool with just two 1"x12"x4" pine boards. My boards weren't nice looking so I covered the stool with wallpaper. Table of Contents Summary Materials Tools Plans Assembly Summary Simple, quick, cheap and easy stepping stool. The stool can be built in just a few hours. I'm not sure of the cost becaus...

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 app...