Official Luthiers Forum!

I haven't posted in awhile, and thought I'd share a couple of quick pics of the Uke I finished last summer. Cedar/Maple with florentine cutaway. Tortoise binding, abalone zip flex rosette and hibiscus inlay on peg head.
I had bought the rims from John Mayes about 3 years ago, and just finally got around to finishing. If you see this John, a big thanks to you!
Also forgot to mention that the finish is Pratt & Lambert #38 varnish in satin. Enjoy!
Tracy

_________________
Tracy
http://www.luthiersuppliers.com

Very. Cool uke Tracy. It is a real looker !!!

_________________
Joe Beaver
Maker of Sawdust

Thanks Joe!

_________________
Tracy
http://www.luthiersuppliers.com

Sweet, Tracy!

_________________
Todd Rose
Ithaca, NY

https://www.dreamingrosesecobnb.com/todds-art-music

https://www.facebook.com/ToddRoseGuitars/

I really like this Tracy. The cutaway has an elegance about it. Very nice.

_________________
jw ( o)===:::

Thanks Todd and Joe!

_________________
Tracy
http://www.luthiersuppliers.com

Very nice ! I like it.

What tuners did you use? They look just right!

Sweet comes to mind for me as well. Job well done.

_________________
Thank You and Best To All

very nice work

_________________
The Shallower the depth of the stream , The Louder the Babble !
The Taking Of Offense Is the Life Course Of The Stupid One !
Wanna Leave a Better Planet for our Kids? How about Working on BETTER KIDS for our Planet !
Forgiveness is the ability to accept an apology that you will probably NEVER GET
The truth will set you free , But FIRST, it will probably Piss you Off !
Creativity is allowing yourself to make Mistakes, Art is knowing which ones to Keep !
The Saddest thing anyone can do , is push a Loyal Person to the point that they Dont Care Anymore
Never met a STRONG person who had an EASY past !
http://wiksnwudwerks.blogspot.com/
http://www.facebook.com/groups/GatewayA ... rAssembly/

Thanks Alain! I think the tuners I got from LMI. They are Gotoh open backs uke tuners and have adjustable posts that you can adjust up and down. They really work well and are really light.
Tracy

_________________
Tracy
http://www.luthiersuppliers.com

Well that's just about the cutest darn cutaway I've ever seen. Nice Tracy.

Danny

Really nice. There's been some nice ukes here on the OLF lately...

_________________
"I want to know what kind of pickups Vince Gill uses in his Tele, because if I had those, as good of a player as I am, I'm sure I could make it sound like that.
Only badly."

Is that silk on the cedar? Almost looks like fiddleback. Wow!

_________________
Pat

I thought it was nice brown Sitka at first...

I (over) built a guitar from maple and cedar way back in the day (#2) which looked awesome but sounded like crap. Way over-braced. (Rookie mistakes) So now I'm wondering how this uke sounds with this combo.

_________________
"I want to know what kind of pickups Vince Gill uses in his Tele, because if I had those, as good of a player as I am, I'm sure I could make it sound like that.
Only badly."

Thanks guys! Really appreciate the nice comments. But I can't take credit for the shape, as John Mayes had already done that. I just finished it for him! However, the top was from some nice sets of cedar I got a couple of years ago. I think they weren't wide enough for a guitar, so I used one of the boards on this. I think it is just one board and not joint down the middle, but can't remember. I think I finished the top about a year ago. But yes, the silking on this piece was phenomenal!

I'm actually not crazy about the sound. I like more sustain and clear notes. This seems to have a little more muddy notes. On the plus side, it is VERY loud. It has 3 braces and a bridge patch, but are pretty thin and short. I'll try to do a sound clip tomorrow from my iphone.

Are you still building Don?

_________________
Tracy
http://www.luthiersuppliers.com

Like Danny said.Really cute

_________________
James W Bolan
Nashville Tennessee

Tracy, stop me if I'm telling you things you already know, but you might get a sound more to your liking with different strings. You might try flourocarbon strings, such as these

http://www.stringsbymail.com/store/wort ... 3hv5lg4v14

or these

http://www.stringsbymail.com/store/sava ... -7298.html

Another thought, which may be of no use to you whatsoever: as you get to know this uke, you may discover ways that the lack of sustain is musically useful. Depending on the musical context, sometimes short sustain is exactly what you want. Again, my apologies if I'm telling you things that are already obvious to you. Maybe you're an experienced uke player who knows exactly what you want in a uke. I only say this about sustain because it seems that just about every time I hear sustain mentioned, it seems to be with an assumption that longer sustain is always a good thing.

_________________
Todd Rose
Ithaca, NY

https://www.dreamingrosesecobnb.com/todds-art-music

https://www.facebook.com/ToddRoseGuitars/

I dabble. That's about it these days. I have the most recent Smiley-Uke going to Japan in a week or two, and an few other projects in various states of (in)completion. Some day I may finish something again.

_________________
"I want to know what kind of pickups Vince Gill uses in his Tele, because if I had those, as good of a player as I am, I'm sure I could make it sound like that.
Only badly."

Beautiful uke man!!

Todd,
Great information, and I do understand what you are driving at. I didn't really think about trying new strings, but I hear from some of my uke playing friends that strings really matter on a uke. So thanks for reminding me, and giving the links. I'll definitely try one of them out.

Your other thought about sustain is right on...Maybe my description was not correct. What I really mean to say is that this uke does not sound like a traditional uke. However, it does have a nice sound and can be used for certain types of uke music. I think it would be good in a studio or strumming in a group because it is so loud. So thanks for your observations.

_________________
Tracy
http://www.luthiersuppliers.com

That is about like me Don. One or 2 instruments a year is all I have time for anymore. But I still get excited about new instruments, and when I need inspiration, I head on over to my good friend Edward Dick at the Colorado School of Lutherie(http://www.coloradoschooloflutherie.com/). He lets me use the space to build, but that is only a few times a year. Post another pic of your smiley uke. I remember the one you had at ASIA convention back in 2005. It was the hit of the party!

_________________
Tracy
http://www.luthiersuppliers.com

Thanks for all your kind words everyone. I decided to record a quick 1 min strumming and doodling on this thing. Does it sound like a traditional uke to you?

https://soundcloud.com/tl507362/recording-3

I'm not sure the link will work. If so, there is a orange play button at the top left. This was recorded on my iphone with the fire recording app. Sounds pretty good for an iphone. Excuse the playing, I really only can play very little on it.

_________________
Tracy
http://www.luthiersuppliers.com