It’s been awhile since I posted. I’ve been fighting a crud I picked up in Humboldt. I’m on antibiotics and am finally getting over it. I mostly made the gate, needs a little sanding on the arches, but nearly ready for hinge plates and mounting. 
This week I fixed a beater ukulele by making a new fret board, routing out the old tourist souvenir and adding the new board for correct intonation.
That worked and was good practice on building a good fret board. I used the small arbor press, worked really well to install the frets, using pliers to get them started straight first. This instrument plays in tune now, a fair accomplishment.
Today I worked on the tenor ukulele I’ve been putting off. I finally decided to use a Spanish heel to make it, I’ve been undecided, but the Kamaka is made that way, can’t be wrong. The neck needs to have slots cut to insert the uke sides instead of a tongue and groove connection. I had to use a wooden clamp and piece of wood to set the neck square, another clamp to hold the neck fixed in place. This is so I could cut the slot using the bandsaw on the upper side, with another pass to widen the slot for the side piece. The other side was easier to just use the table squared to cut the slot from the back. Band saws have limits, but this worked well enough. I’ll need another jig to hold the sides waist in with dowels while I glue it up. Here is a mock up with a clamp, it’s going to work.
I cut the neck down at the heel at an angle using the bandsaw and an angle board, then sanded them more even on the drum sander. Next I need to finish forming the neck to close to final dimensions, with holes for the tuners, but just flat under to affix the fret board. This tenor uke should be a good instrument with luck and a little skill.
Happy New Year!
8shotoflove8 