Pear shape tenor ukulele

[Gary Gill]

Here is one of the pear shape ukuleles I recently completed. I only build this body style and tenor size. This is the 23rd uke in this series. The back, sides and neck are mahogany. The top is Douglas fir. The fret board is walnut. The head stock overlay and rosette are walnut and mahogany. The outdoor photos were taken my Mim's Ukes.
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[Nelson Howe]

That's a great looking uke. I like your rosette, and the walnut makes a nice fret board.

What kind of tuners do you use?

Have you had any trouble with the douglas fir cracking? I just built my first ukes, and also used douglas fir. One of my soundboards cracked pretty quickly. I oriented the tail block with the grain running front to back, and when the sides shrunk, the tail block bulged the sound board till it cracked. I also think my fir is prone to cracking. It is repurposed structural beams from an old high school, and the timbers have quite a few cracks in them.

Nelson

[Gary Gill]

Thanks Nelson. I use Grover Sta-Tite tuning machines. The Douglas fir came from a veneer mill as 5/8" thick backing boards. I have made several tops from it with no problems. The grain on my end blocks is the same direction as the sides. I use mahogany for the end blocks.

[Julie Moriarty]

Really nice work, Nelson! If you have any more pictures of your ukes, I'd love to see them. :)

[Gary Gill]

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The uke on the left is a mahogany body and the one on the right id sapele.

[Nelson Howe]

Hi Julie,

That's Gary's work, not mine.

Nelson