Uncle Dave is a member of the Guild of American Luthiers (GAL).   www.luth.org

 * This page is to share tips with hobbyist luthiers on techniques I did not see posted in other ukulele web sites. To all luthiers who labor with love on their fretted prizes, welcome. Drop me a line on anything you can share. Share your talents with the ukulele community. In case you were wondering, visitors, I have backed up orders from customers and make just enough to feed my craft fair outlet so I have none to sell at this time. I might catch up next year so stay tuned. Mahalo.

The photo illustrates the "Luthier's Friend" by luthier Ken Picou. If you don't have one, why not? Check it out at www.luthiersfriend.com.

Installing the Shadow Pickup

The Shadow pickup installation into your ukulele project is virtually simple. You can purchase it at Roy T. Cone's site (www.ukuleleworld.com). It is known as a UST for under saddle transducer.

Installing Shadow in a uke under construction.

1. The control panel box unit  is installed on the top side of the ukulele at the shoulder. This will allow you to change the battery through the sound hole. Begin the installation after the top plate is glued to the sides and before the backplate is glued.

2.Do a rough placement to see where the jack will go. There are four lines or wires coming out of the control box. One is the jack, one is the pick-up (needle like piece), and two are the battery wires. The line from the control box to the jack is 14 inches. This is enough for the jack to punch out of the bottom at the lower bout hip. But if you want it to go out of the tail block it may not be long enough for a baritone. You can get a longer jack but that will entail removal of the stock jack and soldering the new one to the three leads.

3. Position the volume/tone control box at the top of the shoulder or upper bout. The panel is curved to fit the bend of the top panel so be sure to match it up with the bend. Make a mark to ensure the curve of the control panel matches the curve of the uke's side. The battery clamps of the box must be in close proximity to the sound hole so the battery can be reached without difficulty.

4. Make a template with card stock measuring 1-15/16 inches X 1-1/4 inches. Test fit the template with the control box to be sure there is no daylight around the edges. If your have an old ukulele side that is bent this will make an ideal template

5. Use the template to mark the location at the center point between the top soundboard and back plate for the control box insertion. You may want to place higher towards the top plate to make it easier to get to the battery.

6. Make a drill guide with scrap wood at least 1/8" thick. Drill 4 holes at the waste side (inside of template line) of the control panel outline at the four corners of the template outline. A quarter-inch bit is sufficient..

7. Use a saber saw. Use a fine-toothed blade for fine cuts. Place the bit in one of the 1/4 inch holes and cut at the waste side of the template line towards one hole and continue to the next hole until the piece is cut away. DO NOT CUT RIGHT ON THE TEMPLATE LINE, CUT INSIDE ON THE WASTE SIDE TO ALLOW ROOM FOR ERROR. The cover plate of the control box leaves very little room for error.

Here the control/battery pack hole is rough cut on the top side of the upper bout using an old bent ukulele side for a template. If you are binding and adding purfling then cut your channels first. Otherwise the hole for the pickup will cause the dremel tool roller guide to drop in and go off track.

Make a rough cut square hole. Finish up with sandpaper or a dremel tool and a fine sanding drum wheel.

8. Test-fit the control box through the opening. Sand away or file the opening until the control box drops in. There are extended bulges under the plate which will require sanding about 1/16" away from the edges. Do this a little at a time and keep test fitting.

Test fit the control box before you completely remove the template.

9. Install the control box with the two screws provided. Use a number 0 Phillips screwdriver (the kind they use for wrist watch or eyeglass repair). If you do your sides very thin then glue wood patches on the inside to give the screws a solid mounting base. Drill a pilot hole using a 1/16" bit for the mounting screws. Be cautious when you do this because these two little screws are all that is holding the box and if the screws don't bite into the wood it will be useless. Some prefer to install and finish the sides and sound board before cutting and drilling. I prefer to do it while in the rough stage and finish afterwards. Just tape over the jack outlet and let the control box dangle as you finish around the opening. If you do the finish before hand then cut the openings you could possible make a mistake and all that time was wasted. 

10. Do a rough estimation of the jack line's capacity to reach the desired outlet in the lower bout hip. Measure a point at the bottom hip halfway between the sound board and the back.

11. Cut a brace patch from waste material from the soundboard or sides about 1-1/2" X 1-1/2" square. Drill a 3/8"" hole in the center of this patch. This will be the drill guide to make the jack hole. Test fit the jack to make sure you have the right size hole.

12. Center the drill guide over the point of the lower bout hip where the jack output will be. Tape the guide with masking tape. Place a piece of masking tape on the inside of the instrument. This helps to reduce splintering. Clamp the sound box securely and start to drill the jack outlet hole. You may wish to use a smaller size bit and work up to 3/8" diameter.

 IF YOU WANT TO INSTALL THE JACK IN THE TAIL BLOCK YOU HAVE MAKE A 5/8" HOLE IN THE BLOCK TO ACCOMMODATE THE LARGER HOUSING FOR THE JACK. IT IS EASIER TO DO THIS WITH CONSTRUCTING A NEW UKE. DRILL THE 5/8 INCH HOLE IN YOUR BOARD THAT YOU ARE GOING TO CUT FOR THE TAIL BLOCK. IF YOU BUY READY MADE KITS WITH HEEL BLOCKS ALREADY CUT THEN TRY TO CLAMP DOWN THE PIECE SECURELY AS YOU DRILL. A 5/8" DRILL BIT IS VERY BIG SO DRILLING A SMALL BLOCK CAN BE DIFFICULT IF YOU DON'T HAVE A DRILL PRESS AND THE CAPABILITY TO SECURE IT AS YOU DRILL.  THEN YOU NEED TO CONSTRUCT A STRIP FOR A TAIL CAP WITH A 3/8" DIAMETER HOLE. IT IS EASIER IF YOU TAPER THE HEEL CAP. PLAN THIS FIRST AND CONSTRUCT WHILE IN THE ROUGH STAGE RATHER THAN AFTER FINISHING THE UKE. 

Installing the jack as an end pin. Cut and chisel away the sides from the tail block. If you make a tapered cut it is easier to fit the end piece. The 5/8" hole in the block for the jack housing is drilled before you attach and glue up the sides.

Shape and fit an end cap piece over the tail block to fit the tapered cut. Drill the 3/8" jack pin hole after the channels are cut if you are binding and adding purfling.

Drill a 3/8" hole for the jack end pin through the tapered end cap but do it after you cut channels for binding and purfling. If you drill it from the inside you will ensure you have centered the hole.

13. Install the jack with the supplied washer and jack. You need to figure what to do with the wires. Some just tape it to the side. The newer versions come with a metal clamp with two-way tape. Brace the wires to the side. You don't want it loose in the soundbox.

14. Complete the installation of the soundboard with the placement of the bridge. After the bridge is glued you are ready to install the under-saddle transducer pick-up. This is the needle-like piece that is bent at a 90 degree angle.

15. When the sound board and bridge installation are completed drill a 1/8" hole in the left side of groove that holds the saddle. The hole goes straight down through the bridge and the sound board. The hole should be positioned about 3/16" to 1/4" to the left of the bass string position (4th or top string).

16. Poke the bullet end of the transducer through the hole in the bridge (this wire was pulled out of the control/battery unit). Lay the pin in the saddle groove with the copper side facing up. Connect the bullet end to the battey-control box. Place the saddle over the transducer pick-up. Sand your saddle to fit to desired action. Do not use bone material. Use corian, tusq, micarta or synthetic material. Bone does not work well as a transducer transfer medium.

17. Complete the construction of the ukulele. Install a 9-volt battery and test it.

Rescue work. As I said, there is no room for error. On this box I cut about 1/32" too wide. A gasket out of remaining wood was created to compensate for the error allowing for a proper fit of the control -battery pack.

Installing Shadow in a finished uke.

Installing the Shadow in a fully enclosed sound box is more of a challenge but not impossible. I never tried to do it with a soprano, only tenors and baritones.

1. Be extra cautious in cutting the control box hole because of the finish. Be sure to use a thick drill guide to prevent the drill from jumping out and damaging the finish. Be sure to use an extra fine cutting blade to prevent chipping at the edge of the saw cut.

2. Drill the jack outlet hole (3/8") and transducer pickup hole(1/8"). Locate the jack in the bottom lower bout. Locate the transducer on the left edge of the saddle slot.

3. Take a wire that is a fairly stiff gauge and push it through the jack outlet. You need enought wire to make it reach and come out of the control box hole.

4. Put the washer on the jack while holding it facing up so it doesn't drop off.. Poke your guide wire through the middle opening of the jack then hook it over the edge of the black insulation. You are going to pull this jack through the jack outlet.

5. The neck should be facing towards the ground. The jack outlet hole should be up towards the sky. You have the other end of the guide wire coming out of the jack outlet. Pull the wire and the end of the jack through the hole. Install the washer and the nut.

6. Now push the wire gently to release it from the insulation edge. Push it enough so the hook you made clears the edge of the insulation. Rotate the wire towards the center of the jack a half turn - 180 degress. If it does not rotate 180 you did not push it up far enough. Once it rotates a half turn pull the wire out gently. If you meet resistance stop and repeat. You could push the wire all the way through and pulling out of the sound hole. but be careful because you do not want to damage the three leads on the jack.

7. The next step is to set the transducer under the saddle.  Drill the 1/8" hole through the saddle slot on the left side edge of the saddle slot. Disconnect the transducer wire from the battery/control pack. It pulls right out. Push the bullet shaped end of the transducer wire into the saddlle slot hole and tilt the soundbox to let the transducer bullet shaped connection fall towards the upper bout battery/control pack hole. Reconnect the transducer lead to the battery pack.

8. Screw on the control box, push in a 9-volt, replace the saddle, string up, tune up, plug in and rock.

See my 3 YouTube videos on installing piezo pickup - go to ukeuncle on YouTube

Six string tenor with Shawdow pickup ready to rock! The "Heauk Uke" Goofy Foot.

Bending highly figured wood with the paper technique

Try this and see how it works for you in bending your koa sides. Take plain white paper (like butcher block paper) and cut to fit both sides of the piece to be bent. The paper sheet must cover both sides of the piece to be bent. Soak the wood for one minute. I submerge it totally in a tub and time it. Take it out of the water then wrap the piece in paper making sure there are no wrinkles. Any wrinkles in the paper will transfer to the wood. Place it between your metal sheets in the pre-heated bender. Heat your stainless steel metal sheets to 260 degrees using a digital thermometer and begin bending as soon as it hits 260and turning off the heat blanket at the same time. This usually takes five minutes to get to 260 degrees. Tempeature will continue to rise fast as you get to 260 and shut down the power so work fast. I start bending at the lower bout first, then upper bout, then the waist. I let it sit overnight to cool down and stay shaped. When you peel off the paper sheet there will be some color runs but no more than what you get by using the misting technique. Try with cheap wood first to test it out.

Yo! Ye Old Trusty Bender (not an actual bend in progress; demo to show sandwich technique).