I bought a build your own ukulele kit from Grizzly industrial in 2009. I started my build, and decided to modify the kit by adding binding. Once I attached the neck and decided I really liked it, I decided the plywood fretboard they supplied with the kit wouldn’t do. I tried to cut the frets with a few different saws and was never happy with how they turned out. So, it sat in a box unfinished.
I recently decided to make the fretboard on the shapeoko and finished the project. The endmill I used for the fret slots was .024 run at 10IPM and 10 plunge. I’m pretty happy with the result and it sounds good.
I also carved the nut and saddle by hand out of home depot corian samples.
I’m now aiming to start another soprano uke completely on shapeoko, but I need to do a lot of drawing for that to happen. (I’d like to create forms to bend the sides and do a complete neck on it)
This is awesome. I recently finished my first electric guitar build so this is right up my alley. I’ve got an XXL on the way and hope to use it for a lot of luthier work!
You Uke looks good. Did you use mahogany for the body?. I have made two laptop guitars, but they were not made on a CNC. They are used for blues and Hawaiian music. The first one I also made a case out of plywood, foam, velvet and covered with leatherette.
I cut the fret slot on a bandsaw. I made a jig to hold the fret board and limit depth of cut. I used maple for the fret that was sanded with a drum sander. On the slide guitar the strings are not depressed to the fret. You use a glass tube or metal bar to slide. You usually use metal finger picks on each finger. Look at pic in the case and blow it up to see the metal bar in the case recess at the bottom of the guitar.
