Well, I let the Tru-Oil cure for more than just a few weeks mainly because I did not had time to work on the uke. I had five weddings to go to in October, so that pretty much ate up each weekend. Good times though.
So here is the uke fresh from sitting around for about 6 weeks. I just put on enough oil that made me feel good. I'm going for a satin sheen and I did not completely pore fill. Might not be a super smooth finish but I'm happy with it.
I removed the the protecteve tape on the fretboard and noticed that the buildup of the Tru-Oil creates a ridge right where the neck meets the fretboard. I think next time I won't tape directly on the line. Maybe just a little up as a buffer when I sand the ridge smooth.
The bridge tape has lines that I had marked for bridge placement. Before I removed the tape, I cut little holes in the tape so that I could mark off the bridge lines on the wood.
I laid down new tape to mark off where the bridge will go. Here is a pict of the test fit of the bridge.
With the test fit, the outline of the bridge was marked. Here it is before I cut out the excess tape.
Aside from the weddings postponing work on the uke, I did not have the proper equipment to work on the uke neck. I had to make a mini neck caul to fit the uke. Here is a pict of a simple neck caul. It is basically just two pieces of 45 degree corner lattice covered with cork glued to scrap wood to form a V.
I opted to not use the fretwire that came with the uke. Instead I used medium high fretwire I had laying around. Okay, another reason for the medium fretwire is that I only have medium and wide fret files. I don't have narrow fret files.
Here is a shot of the whole uke so far.
So here is the uke fresh from sitting around for about 6 weeks. I just put on enough oil that made me feel good. I'm going for a satin sheen and I did not completely pore fill. Might not be a super smooth finish but I'm happy with it.
I removed the the protecteve tape on the fretboard and noticed that the buildup of the Tru-Oil creates a ridge right where the neck meets the fretboard. I think next time I won't tape directly on the line. Maybe just a little up as a buffer when I sand the ridge smooth.
The bridge tape has lines that I had marked for bridge placement. Before I removed the tape, I cut little holes in the tape so that I could mark off the bridge lines on the wood.
I laid down new tape to mark off where the bridge will go. Here is a pict of the test fit of the bridge.
With the test fit, the outline of the bridge was marked. Here it is before I cut out the excess tape.
Aside from the weddings postponing work on the uke, I did not have the proper equipment to work on the uke neck. I had to make a mini neck caul to fit the uke. Here is a pict of a simple neck caul. It is basically just two pieces of 45 degree corner lattice covered with cork glued to scrap wood to form a V.
I opted to not use the fretwire that came with the uke. Instead I used medium high fretwire I had laying around. Okay, another reason for the medium fretwire is that I only have medium and wide fret files. I don't have narrow fret files.
Here is a shot of the whole uke so far.
The frets are in. I'm going to glue them in. I personally like them glued in. I just have peace of mind knowing that the frets are semi-permanently installed.
Next time should all the hardware should be installed and ready to play.
Thanks for looking.
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