Hana Lima 'Ia - Mango Tenor Finished

Quine Member Offline Any Uke Builders in St Louis?? Posts: 30 St Louis, MO Gender:	Mango Tenor Finished Apr 9^th, 2009 at 10:40am Hi Folks Here's my completed Uke based on the Hanalima Tenor Plans. I followed the plans pretty closely but changed the neck to bolt on Mango Body Mahogany Neck Maple/Rosewood rope binding Nice sounding ukulele....
Back to top	« Last Edit: Oct 16^th, 2009 at 4:01am by Hana Lima Ia » IP Logged

lefty Junior Uke Offline I love YaBB 1G - SP1! Posts: 95 Riverside, California Gender:	Re: Mango Tenor Finished Reply #1 - Apr 9^th, 2009 at 11:18am Very pretty. Any way to make the photo larger? My eyes are not as good as they once were. How was the mango to work with? Lefty
Back to top	IP Logged

konacat Big Uke Offline The only thing worse than my playing is my singing Posts: 150	Re: Mango Tenor Finished Reply #2 - Apr 10^th, 2009 at 6:45am Looks good from what I can see. Yes a different photo(s) would be helpful as it would be nice to see some of the details. I have a real nice set of curly mango waiting for a build later this year. This set has a real nice tap tone so I can't wait. Philip
Back to top	IP Logged

zog Ex Member	Re: Mango Tenor Finished Reply #3 - May 12^th, 2009 at 8:48am I have made 3 mango topped ukes, but the last board I got was spalted and super curley but it was soft and broke easily. I had to throw it all away. Have you experianced bad wood before? Mike
Back to top	IP Logged

Quine Member Offline Any Uke Builders in St Louis?? Posts: 30 St Louis, MO Gender:	Re: Mango Tenor Finished Reply #4 - May 13^th, 2009 at 3:56am I got pretty good wood I guess. It only had two small bug holes in one side. Otherwise it was pretty good to work with Finishing is another story with those HUGE pores in mango. I didn't fill the grain and just french polished until I was happy with it.....sort of a semi smooth finish
Back to top	IMG_0113.jpg (Attachment deleted \| 47 ) IP Logged

Quine Member Offline Any Uke Builders in St Louis?? Posts: 30 St Louis, MO Gender:	Re: Mango Tenor Finished Reply #5 - May 13^th, 2009 at 3:57am the back
Back to top	IMG_0110.jpg (Attachment deleted \| 37 ) IP Logged

Quine Member Offline Any Uke Builders in St Louis?? Posts: 30 St Louis, MO Gender:	Re: Mango Tenor Finished Reply #6 - May 13^th, 2009 at 3:58am home made rope binding....
Back to top	IMG_0108.jpg (Attachment deleted \| 36 ) IP Logged

unkabob Big Uke Offline I love YaBB 1G - SP1! Posts: 225	Re: Mango Tenor Finished Reply #7 - May 13^th, 2009 at 5:40am How did you make the rope binding? Bob
Back to top	IP Logged

Quine

Member

Offline

Any Uke Builders in St
Louis??

Posts: 30
St Louis, MO
Gender: male

Re: Mango Tenor Finished
Reply #8 - May 13^th, 2009 at 8:02am

Making the rope was.....interesting. Angry

1. I started with 1/8" thick boards of maple and rosewood from the hobby store. They were 3" X 24" to start with. One board of each was enough to do the body and fret board.
2. I tilted the table saw blade to 45deg and ripped lenthwise about 3/8th wide stips
3. Then glue the strips up m/r/m/r and plane the new board smooth. Make sure you don't have the same color strip on both sides or the pieces won't match (start on maple, end on rosewood)
4. Then cut that board at 45deg cross-wise about 1/4" wide.
Now you have strips of binding 1/8th thick by 1/4" tall with 3/8" sections. My strips were ~4" long but it depends how wide your glued up board is. You can glue them end to end to make a long strip or use them separately. (I broke a lot of strips in the table saw)

I installed each 4" strip separately. I used a clothes iron to heat up each strip and bent it right on the uke body, then glued and taped. I think its easier to work with short strips. Just lay a strip on the workbench and drop the hot iron on top of it and wait 20sec or so. Then butt it up to the previous strip and bend around the body.

Back to top

IP Logged

unkabob Big Uke Offline I love YaBB 1G - SP1! Posts: 225	Re: Mango Tenor Finished Reply #9 - May 13^th, 2009 at 11:38am Quine: Could you bend the strips using your side bender? You have the heat to bend and then you let it cool over-night. Just a thought. Bob
Back to top	IP Logged

Quine Member Offline Any Uke Builders in St Louis?? Posts: 30 St Louis, MO Gender:	Re: Mango Tenor Finished Reply #10 - May 14^th, 2009 at 3:41am Sure...I think people bend it like regular wood binding I wasn't sure I could glue up long strips and keep it straight. I knew the iron method from using herringbone purfling. Applying it hot makes a nice tight fit. Usually my bending forms aren't quite perfect enough to get really tight binding
Back to top	IP Logged

sweetgum Member Offline Ukulele Lover! Posts: 9	Re: Mango Tenor Finished Reply #11 - Jun 17^th, 2009 at 7:20pm very nice instrument!!!
Back to top	IP Logged