Glyph Pictures
Just about a year ago (early 2005) I contacted Dave Means from Glyph Ukulele about getting a custom uke made - after many months and about a thousand changes - the first pics are back.
It is a Koa Mezzosoprano with a Pac inlay eating the fretboard dots (Power Pellet sized at the standard marker locations) with a ghost at 3.
Pictures of the completed uke are here.
Joining one of the bookmatched plates
Cutting out the plate profile
Spraying the sides with water in preparation for
bending
The sides coming out of the bender
The sides clamped in the mold to dry
Gluing in the heel and tail blocks
Sanding the arch in the bottoms of the back
braces in the 12'-radius sanding dish
Gluing the back braces in the go-bar deck
Profiling the back braces with a finger plane
Ramping the brace ends
The finished back
Gluing in the back linings
Gluing on the back
Roughing out the neck blank on the bandsaw
Drilling the hole for the neck attachment barrel
nut
Cutting the slot for the carbon fiber neck
reinforcement rod
Routing the rosette channel
Gluing in the top linings
Sanding the sides and top linings in the 20'-radius sanding dish to match the dome of the soundboard
Inlaying the rosette
Cutting out the soundhole
Gluing in the soundboard braces and bridge patch
Profiling the soundboard braces
Ramping the brace ends
The finished soundboard
Notching the top linings to receive the brace ends
Gluing on the soundboard
Fabricating the aluminum alloy neck attachment barrel nut
Preparing to rout the binding and purfling ledges
Removing the Indian rosewood binding and purpleheart purfling strips from the bender
Inlaying the purpleheart purfling
The finished soundbox, wiped with one coat of shellac to reveal spots requiring more sanding
The neck after carving and rough sanding
Slotting the fretboard
Cutting out the monster inlay
The finished inlays
Pressing in the frets
The finished fretboard
Fine-tuning the neck fit
Gluing on the fretboard
Gluing on the headstock overlay
Gluing on the bridge