Wow, I had a great day. Still sniffling from this cold I’ve had since Wednesday stuck at home. I got up early for a Saturday, into town for coffee and made it to Sally’s last days before the 9:30 whistle. I scored an 8 foot aluminum ladder and a router table, a good deal. It will replace the tall wooden one with the broken rung. A piece of cloth to cover bread rising and a sink valve included. No more bins and mostly empty stores, I’ll miss it.
I didn’t cook much today as I did that while home during the week. A batch of beef jerky in the oven on low to keep the house warm. Steak and egg breakfast was tasty. Potato bacon soup bin nuked for lunch, good stuff, a couple more left for lunches.
I fixed the tire on the bicycle I bought last week for $2 bucks at Sally’s. I replaced the front inner tube for $8 with tools. Ten dollar bike, I rode it into town and back, not used to that. Adjusted the seat, a good $100 bike cheap.
Time to work on the ukulele. I clamped the fret board into place on the neck and drilled two small holes through the missing two frets to align it with pins while gluing. I cut a tiny wedge to fit under the fret board end. Wires clipped, ready to glue with clamps set to length. Glue on, clamps on, set to go.
Meanwhile, I cut a bridge of rosewood long stock, cut to a foot for working room. I used the table saw to cut a couple shallow slots to make the saddle. Not enough room on the saw, I moved to the sander to make the flat on just enough. Back to the saw, I cut a couple deeper slots to allow for the through strings. Sanded a chamfer to allow the strings up from the planned holes. Cut to length on the band saw. Drilled them with the old hand drill after setting the centers with an awl to match the one I got in Sebastapol. I sanded it smooth with a stack of sand papers, missing a couple sheets.
By now the neck is dry. Clamps off, time for the missing frets. That proved difficult, but finally got it after re sawing the slot and arbor pressing it in.
The neck is wider than the fret board, time to file using a Sally bought sharp file by hand. My foot fell asleep a couple times but I got it, the neck to body joint needed a lot of filing.
Short on sandpaper, I drove up to Bosworth’s for a couple sheets to even my deck.
I made the neck heel of rosewood, rough formed and glued in place.
While that dried I worked on the bone nut. The piece I have isn’t big enough. I cut a new one from the old cow bone, had to re attach the band saw blade jumped. Rough sanded on the lapidary, then trued on the file. Fitted, sanded smooth and shiny.
It’s almost done.
I need to sand it all down and lacquer it after I attach the bridge. I’ll masking tape the fret board first.
So close to done, with two more days off I should be able to finish it.
8shotoflove8 