uke building

Ok, I mentioned last blog that I want to build a uke. Here are some pictures of the forms, side bender jig, and drum sander I'm working on.

Looks like the blog software put 'em in reverse order and won't let me move 'em around, grrrr.

I'm using the sander plans from Shop Notes magazine. It's powered by a v-belt from the arbor of a table saw and so it doesn't require it's own motor. Maybe down the line I'll convert it, I really prefer standalone tools so I'm not changing setups all the time. I don't have a dedicated dust collector and just swapping the shopvac from tool to tool is a pain in the butt.

The drum itself is probably the toughest part of the project. Using a circle cutting jig on a bandsaw sure helped. The glue up of the disks is a pain, I'm not quite done yet. I've got most of the other pieces cut out and ready to assemble and I'm waiting for the pillow block bearings to arrive at the h/w store since they didn't keep them in stock.

The Fox style bender was fun to make and looks cool. I can't wait to try it. I still need to make the cauls to pull the wood into the form, not sure how I want to fasten them just yet. Heat will come from a halogen bulb on a dimmer from an old lamp. I've got aluminum sheet to sandwhich my wood and the whole form is lined in several layers of aluminum foil to protect it.

The uke shape is just the cutout from inside the form but gives a better idea of the shape and shows some of the layout on top. I designed the shape on my PC using Visio, print it out and use spray adhesive to attach to the form. Then just cut it out at the bandsaw and use an oscillating drum sander to bring it to the line and smooth it out. I still need to hinge the form and make cauls for holding the uke body sides tight to the form while glueing head/tail blocks and kerfing.

Como, Aug 1, 6-8pm

Brian

7/25 Como recap

Another nice evening at Como. While the radio said it was 91 with a 93 heat index on the drive down there, once I got settled in the shade near the waterfall just outside the pavillion it was very comfortable for playing.
I had a couple nice conversations with people who wondered about, or just commented on, the ukulele.
Next Wednesday is August 1st and I'll probably head down there again.
Tracie had mentioned the possibility of a meeting at her place. If anyone wants to host a meeting, please, just pick a date & time and go for it! I'll help spread the word if you wish.

I hope to follow up with another post in the next day or two. In addition to playing uke I've been nurturing my bug to build one. I've almost completed a Fox style side bender using my own design for the shape (ok, not much different from any other uke... a 1/4 inch here, a 1/4 inch there, but I did do it from scratch using Visio to get curves that I liked.) I'm also part way into building a wide drum sander for thinning ukulele top/back/side plates. Pictures will be included.

Keep StrumMn everyone!
Brian

7/18 at Como

I had company tonight! Ok, my wife doesn't play uke but she came down to Como and sat with me while I played.
The weather looked really ominous on the way down there but it never rained on us and the sun actually came out after a while and the humidity dropped to a comfortable level as well. There weren't as many people down there due to the weather and the evening concert sounded pretty good as we left.
I'm planning to go back again next Wednesday, 7/25, 6-8pm if anyone else wants to drop by and play.
Since Wednesday evenings don't seem to be a favorite for anyone except me I'm open to suggestions for meeting another day/time. Does anyone want to try a weekend or something? Or just wait until September when we can go back to meeting indoors at the library? I think everyone is just busy with their summer and that's ok too.

7-11 review

7-11 was another gorgeous evening at Como, however by 8pm my fingers were actually getting a little too cold and stiff to play well. No other uke players but I had a couple people stop and talk to me tonight.
The first asked if I was part of the band when I was walking through to see if anyone else was there and when I said no she said, "oh, you're the one who sits out there and plays that little instrument, right?"
Yup, that'd be me.
The 2nd just asked what I was playing and when I responded ukulele his response was "just like Authur Godfrey."
Lots of little kids asking parents about "the little guitar" too.
Being a glutton for punishment I'll plan to be down there again next week, the 18th.
Brian

Wed 7/11/07 anyone?

I'm going down to Como again from 6-8pm on Wed 7/11 if anyone wants to come down to play uke for a while. The Minnesota Sinfonia is playing on the promenade at the pavillion at 7pm if you have family coming along who would prefer to listen to something besides uke.
Brian

Happy 4th of July!

If you're looking for some patriotic tunes to try you should check out the Ukulele Tips 'n' Tunes book from FMM. It's got You're A Grand Old Flag, America(My Country Tis of Thee), The Star Spangled Banner, Yankee Doodle, and America The Beautiful.

My favorite book at the moment is Ukulele Gems (from FMM again. No, I'm not a shill for them, they're just great books for the uke.)
I mentioned Heart and Soul before which I found in this book. I also discovered It's Been A Long, Long Time which is a great song to play on the uke. Others I'm practicing from this book are Ukulele Lady, Bye Bye Blues, Ain't She Sweet, All Of Me, and Sentimental Journey.
Sentimental Journey is a real finger twister for me but I'm starting to hear a LITTLE progress. This one will take a long time but could be worth it. I'd love to hear/see how others finger an Am7 (2433) which needs to alternate with (2033), maybe there is an easier way than what I'm using.

Have a great 4th and come out to Como on Wednesday if you can, I'll be down there 6-8pm or so.
Keep StrumMN!
Brian

Wed the 27th recap and plans for next time...

A nice, cool, dry evening down at Como. Nicest I've seen down there this summer.

I had a nice little old lady shuffle up close and ask if it was ok to listen while I played. I told her fine, I don't normally play from memory but I'd try. So I played Blue Skies, got through 2 verses and most of the bridge when I heard her say to her grandson "this is my favorite part." As I transitioned to the last verse he sounded surprised when he asked "you know this song?" and she nodded and said "yes." When I finished she thanked me and said it was so wonderful that I would play the uke down there. Then she shuffled back to the rest of her family and kept listening and smiling. It was fun, I wish I played more songs from memory, but I'm working on it!

I probably won't make it down to Como next week due to the 4th (although I might be free on Friday the 6th if anyone else is interested in meeting up to play.)

Otherwise I'm going to plan for now on being down there on Wed the 11th unless something unknown comes up. Come on down and let's play uke!
Brian

Wed the 20th

A gorgeous evening at Como! Rain elsewhere in the Twin Cities but not at Como. I did get a rainbow, ironically just as I was playing Somewhere Over the Rainbow.

I could hear the concert, lots of patriotic tunes, and got to playing a few myself. Almost ran out of frets trying to pick out the melody on one of them, it was right up to the 12th. (I wasn't actually playing the song, just trying to pick out the melody.)
I've been practicing You're A Grand Old Flag and the national anthem, maybe I'll try to gather a few more for next week in prep for the 4th of July. Anyone got a favorite figured out and want to share it?

If you feel like coming out on the 27th I hope to be down there again, it would be more fun with some company...

Hope you're all StrumMn through your summer...
Brian

Wed the 13th

Another nice evening at Como last night. Mary joined me and we tried a few songs she had brought along and I showed her some I was working on and gave her a copy of the Bye Bye Blues I've been doctoring as more of a chord solo.

I should have Wednesday the 20th open too so I expect to be down there again barring any other big obstacles. I'll post here and email everyone on my list only if I can't make it. It's a fun place to hang out and play, stop on by if you get a chance. But keep your eye's open for us, this week we were at a picnic table by the waterfall, last week mostly upstairs in the cafeteria seating, the week before on the promenade. It's all within about 100 feet so it's easy to find.

Keep StrumMn!
Brian

Wednesdays at Como

Well, I got in a few hours of practice at Como last Wednesday and had a good time. It was a little chilly at first so I went upstairs in the Cafe and had it to myself. It actually warmed up by about 7pm and I spent the last hour outside by the waterfall playing the uke while people watching.

I'll be out there again on Wednesday the 13th if anyone cares to join me, 6-8pm for sure and maybe an hour on either end depending on how the weather is looking and if anyone else shows up. The Fridley City Band is playing a concert on the promenade at 7pm in case anyone is interested. Part of my family may come down with me this week and they'll either go to the concert or up to the zoo and the conservatory rather than watch me play.

I started on another new song, Only You by the Platters (I remember Ringo Starr doing it on his Goodnight Vienna album...) and while I only have the lyrics and chords now I'm working on getting the melody too. I'll have a couple copies along to share if anyone shows.

Keep StrumMn everyone!
Brian

Como update

I think the Como pavillion will turn out to be a great place to meet over the summer. I spent a few hours playing down there on Wednesday and it was really nice. I was under the big roof and even when the thunderstorm blew through I was easily able to stay out of the wet.

The chorale group doing the evening concert started practicing about 6pm but I just stayed off to the side and continued playing. At one point the guitar accompianist walked over and tried out my uke and we talked a bit.

The cafe was virtually empty and I learned they have a second level of seating I didn't know about, plenty of space for a small group of us to sit and play if we wanted to be indoors instead of out. I played quietly in there for a while as well and got a nice piece of carrot cake.

Wednesdays work best for me and I hope to get down there more often than our once a month meetings. Hopefully I'll see a few of you there as well.

Keep in touch and let's keep StrumMn together through the summer.
Brian

Crooning at Como

Ok, maybe not crooning, but hopefully a little bit of uke playing.

I've been terribly busy this month and weekends are shot for most of the summer. I'm planning to head down to the Como Park pavilion on Wednesday May 30th to sit and play or practice for a couple hours. If anyone else can make it I'd sure enjoy some company. I'll plan to be there by 5pm and probably stay until 8 or so depending on weather, etc. If it's too busy we can find a tree somewhere to plop under.

What to play? Just bring whatever you're working on and we'll give it a go. I stopped by Groth music in Bloomington on Tuesday and got a copy of Ukulele Gems (another Beloff book, I must have almost all of them by now...) and have been having fun with a great version of "Heart and Soul" by Hoagy Carmichael. It's perfect for my style of chord melody / finger picking but I think any of you could have fun with this old standard.

If you have questions or comments please feel free to enter them here or send me an email.

Keep StrumMn and hope to see you there!
Brian

Well it must be summer...

Only 3 of us on a gorgeous morning, I'm guessing a lot of people were out enjoying the weather. And I don't blame you!

We had fun going through some cowboy songs, some jazz, the TUSC 60's book, Jake's version of Yesterday, and more. I've got a few extra copies of some of the songs that I can hand out next time, first come first served.

Both libraries are booked pretty solid for weekends in May and I've only got 1 weekend where I'm free. I'm ususally free on Wednesday evenings however and was thinking of trying something different.

Would anyone be interested in meeting down at the Como Park Pavilion down by the lake for a couple hours some evening? There is a little food joint down there and paddle boat rental etc and if there isn't an event going on (I'll have to check) then we should be able to sit out of the weather and do some playing. It's a nice public place with restrooms etc. I'm open to other locations if you have ideas.

Any interest in something like this? What time works best?

Keep StrumMn everyone!

A couple new links...

I put a couple new links off to the right over here ------>
One is for the Ukulele Cosmos. This newer forum seems to have a lot of traffic these days. Check it out if you have time.
The other site is from the TUSC uke club. Specifically I recommend checking out and printing their 4 song books, there is a lot of good music here that we could try out at our meetings. I'm not familiar with a lot of it but I'm willing to learn if others know and can lead us in them. Maybe we can just start with their 60's book, I know almost all of those songs.
Keep StrumMn,
Brian

Next meeting is Saturday 4/28, 10am-1pm

I reserved the NorthTown library meeting room for Saturday morning 4/28 from 10-1 and I hope a few of you can make it. The month of May is going to be tough, the library is currently available on Saturday the 12th but won't let me have 2 dates on the schedule at once so it could be gone by the 28th. If someone can find another location for a May meeting I'm open to suggestions. If nothing else comes up then I'll start looking for early June locations, maybe meet at a park or something.

Music-wise we're wide open for the 28th and can always repeat some of what we've done lately. I've tabbed out the version of Yesterday from the Jake "Play Loud Ukulele" dvd and I'm working on it. It's not real complicated but is still very challenging for me to play. I only have it on paper right now so I'll try to get it on the blog or at least bring paper copies on the 28th if anyone is interested in trying it. Anyone else have something they want to share that we can post ahead of time?

Hope to see you on the 28th!
Brian

Recap and uke news

We had a good turnout on Apr 1st and I hope everyone had fun! We ran through some blues lessons and played a bunch of songs.

Here's those I remember: Between The Devil and the Deep Blue Sea, April Showers, Aloha Oe, Take Me Out To The Ball Game, When Irish Eyes Are Smiling, My Wild Irish Rose, Sloop John B, Somebody Stole My Gal, All Of Me. I think that's all that we passed out, there were others where we just gathered around a coule copies to play.

Last night I saw a new Coke commercial on TV and they where playing/singing What'll I Do, this is an Irving Berlin tune that I passed out in the February meeting I think. It's available in the Irving Berlin uke book available for $6.95 at UkuleleWorld.com. It's a good book and costs the same as one set of good strings.

Speaking of strings. A common question is which are good. Common internet concensus is that Worth and Aquila are the top brands and I agree from personal use. I haven't found either brand available in the Twin Cities but ukuleleworld.com handles both and are great to work with. Keep asking for these locally, maybe some music store will get a clue and start stocking them!

Pick a couple songs for next meeting (date TBD) and email me a link, I'll collect them and publish a list here so we can all print copies and practice ahead of time.
We also want to generate a list of songs we can practice for a nursing home gig in the future, pick a couple favorites and let me know!

Keep StrumMn!
Brian

Play the uke in public?

Would any of you would be interested in working up a repertoire of 10-12 songs and then arranging to play as a group at a nursing home? I was thinking of some old-time standards that the residents would know and could sing along with if they wanted.
If you're interested then start thinking of some songs and lets start practicing and planning. Hopefully by summer we could give it a try.
Brian

March and April

Well Gary and I had good time today up at the NorthTown library.

We went through a bunch of Easter/Springtime music like Easter Parade, Peter Cottontail, Take Me Out to the Ballgame, Danny Boy, When Irish Eyes are Smiling, My Wild Irish Rose.

Then we started playing a bunch of miscellaneous stuff and went through the Blues tutorial that Rigk Sauer of Risa Ukulele put together (it's available out on youtube if you want to watch it, or we can view it at a future meeting.)

Speaking of future meetings!

The next meeting is on Sunday April 1st, 2-5pm at the Roseville Library, Hamline & Cty Rd B.
Hopefully we'll see a few more of you since we'll be in the BIG room again.
Any ideas for new music or should we repeat the stuff above?

Unitil the 1st, keep StrumMn,
Brian

New StrumMn "business" cards

Hi all,

I haven't tested this yet (my color ink cartridge died) but I created some StrumMn "business" cards that you can print out and distribute if you feel like it. Hopefully I spaced these out so you can print the page once, then flip it over and print again, giving a 2 sided card.

The link to the pdf is on the right at the top of the links.

I'm open to feedback so let me know what you think.

As usual, keep StrumMn!
Brian

A March meeting too!

Ok, I know that no one wanted to wait until April 1 for our next meeting so today I reserved the NorthTown library again for Saturday March 10th from 10am-1pm.

Gary reminded me of the Salem uke website, lots of music here: http://www.salemukes.com/song_archives.htm

I like the version of Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea at this site. They also have a couple non-secular Easter songs, Peter Cottontail and In Your Easter Bonnet (Easter Parade) which I thought we could try.
Does anyone have any good sheet music or tab for real Easter music that sounds good on the uke? I'll have to check out a Hymnal and see what I can find...

Anyway, let me know your thoughts and what you want to play the next 2 meetings and I hope to see you there!

Keep StrumMn!
Brian