Harp Ukulele
Bear Claw Sitka · Koa · 8 String

I spent the day preparing to build a harp ukulele for a city arts program auction. I bought a set of plans from Pete Howlett in the UK. I always take the plans to Kinko’s and do a few full-sized copies — this allows me to keep the original and cut up a set to make the acrylic templates I like to have.

For the top I started with Western Red Cedar, and I found some Thuya Burl and Amboyna Burl at the woodworking store. Dave asked about the Thuya — the fragrance when you cut into it is unbelievable.

With the bass guitar out of the way and a couple of weekends doing garden work, I finally got back to the harp ukulele. First up, I made a shooting board to help join the top and back plates.

I ended up not liking the colour of the Thuya Burl on Cedar — they are so close that they clash. So I changed my top to Bear Claw Sitka Spruce with Amboyna Burl for the rosettes and pegboard veneers. I was able to make and install both rosettes — the little rosette in the harp neck was trickier than I expected.

Normally I have a nice tool that allows me to drill the slotted-head holes and route out the slots. I don’t have a tool with the right spacing for the ukulele holes or a template narrow enough for the slots, so this one I mostly had to do the old-fashioned way.

I made my first bridge today. No one seems to stock harp ukulele bridges, so I was forced to make my own. I used a cheap cross vise and a 1/8″ end mill — more accurate than me with a router.

I finished making all the components and am ready to start putting the instrument together. Thanks to a timely post on Kathy Matsushita’s website about binding her instrument, I had a good approach for the odd shape.

I put in the end wedge today and have the top glued down. Doesn’t everyone have the wedges thin-to-wide front-to-back? Oh well — a design feature! More aerodynamic! I am sure the reverse direction will improve the tone.

I was on vacation for ten days enjoying tropical storm Debby in Orlando for most of it. But I got back to the harp ukulele and started working on the sides and body assembly.

I managed to make a bit of progress this weekend. I successfully trimmed the top where the Spruce inlays into the pegboard. Getting the headstock veneer to match up with the top joint was fiddly work.

I spent this weekend almost finishing the bindings. I used a StewMac true-channel binding tool with a Colt router to route most of the rebate. I was able to use my Ibex purfling cutter to finish most of the rest near the harp pegboard. The remainder, including the top edge of the rim, I did by hand with a chisel.

I am in the end game of the construction phase. I have the body, neck, and headstocks sanded. I drilled the harp tuning pegs. The neck angle is set and the fretboard is glued to the neck. I also laminated some black veneer to a bit of Koa for the truss rod cover.

I just completed the construction and am ready for finishing. I’ll pore-fill with Zpoxy. I am still debating between a U-Beaut French polish or spraying EM6000.

One step forward, a few steps back. I was doing the final sanding of the top, getting ready to spray, when I sanded the treble side of the upper bout too thin — not paying attention while trying to fix a flaw. I started a repair and was making good progress, but it wasn’t right.

The bindings are back on without the messed-up top or purfling lines. Now I am really glad I changed the top.

I have it back in the finishing room. I cleaned everything up from pore fill to prep and have started spraying. I am getting pretty excited again.

I went away to the mountains for a month — no internet, not even cell. My wife and I dropped our youngest off at college, and instead of going home to an empty nest we kept going. But I digress.

I came home and I am not happy with my application of EM7000 — it is very blue. Maybe my coats were too thick. I am going to strip and refinish.

Those that have followed this post will note that after spraying with EM7000, the instrument had a very muddy blue finish. I usually try to follow a rule: when things go wrong, put the tools down to think things through.

Stripping it meant taking off the back, the bindings, everything. I could have kept the old back, but once it was apart and given that I had an orphaned back, I made a no-compromise replacement. I admit this one hurt more than others.

I have the instrument back in the finish room with a couple of coats of Zpoxy. I am so happy to see the wood again without the blue tint. This weekend I will start to spray EM6000 instead of EM7000.

But then I changed my mind. After I put a wash coat of shellac on the pore-filled back and sides, I noticed that the instrument has an older-time feel to it. So I decided to apply a French polish finish. I like doing FP — each night you can leave the instrument looking better than the night before.

I am on to French-polishing the top. This is a bunch of fun. What I like about FP is that I can get a good even surface with no sandpaper or even polishing compound.

I am getting very close. I need to wait a few days to let the finish set, but I have finished the French polishing.

I figured out how to glue on the bridge — hopefully. I was struggling because my hand is too big to get a caul in the right spot inside the instrument. I was working on a vacuum clamp but ran into problems. This is an 8-string instrument with a complex bridge geometry; nothing is off the shelf.

I strung her up today. It does sound good — still like a ukulele, but with a bit of punch and power. I have no idea how I want to really tune it. Right now it is standard tenor ukulele except the 4th string is an octave lower. The sub-bass strings repeat the notes an octave lower, more like a guitar tuning.

I gave the instrument to a flamenco player I know and he had a great time with it, including the bass strings. He was combining chromatic bass runs on the harp strings with scale-like runs on the fretted strings. Then it sounded more than OK.

Please excuse my bad playing — at least you can see and hear the instrument. I get so nervous when I try to play before others or record.