Well not quite.

 I decided to change the 'G' string for a low one, and I had a go with Aquila Red strings. These are doped with a metal which means I should be able to use a unwound string.

I adjusted the bridge and nut grooves, fitted the new string, tuned it up and TWANG; it broke. I blamed a sharp edge on the nut and gave it a further smoothing with 800 grit paper. I tried a new string and TWANG; another breakage.

For my third attempt, I tuned it up, and stretched it very slowly (over a couple of hours),  and kept it warm. It made it to F# before TWANG.

I think that my long scale length (51cm) means that the tension s too much for these strings, so finally I fitted a wound low G (again from Aquila), and this has tuned up fine and sounds very nice.

I now have to do a little work on the 6th fret which is a tad too proud and gives a very slight buzz when fretting at the 5th.

Finished!

 

I haven't been very good at documenting this recently, but the pineapple baritone ukulele is now finished. I fitted nylgut strings  from Strings Direct and it sounds mellow and reasonably loud.

The instrument is for me to play - my hands are large and I have some osteoarthritis in the joints which makes playing some instruments quite painful, even after a few minutes. This 'Pineapple' has quite a long scale length (51cm), widely spaced strings (the neck is 4.2cm at the nut), a compound radiused fretboard (35cm at the nut, flat at the soundhole) and a peghead that lets my hand travel back to the first fret easier (the tuners are set further back). Time will tell whether these help, but first impressions are good.

I will be putting away the luthiery equipment for a little while as I'm making a boat (a Mill Creek 16.5) over the next few months and the garage will be very crowded. I hope to cover these adventures in a separate blog.

Looking the part

 

I've been making a fair amount of progress. The main instrument is now complete with binding fitted, and the fretboard glued in place. I sanded down to 600 grit and then finished everything (except the belly and fretboard) with my Chestnut buffing kit . I think it looks great, but I needed to hold on tight while working on it as it is now very smooth and slippy.

I will finish the belly with Renaissance wax and will probably leave the fretboard unfinished (or maybe some Dunlop Oil).

Now that the fretboard is on, I have been able to take some measurements of where the strings will go -  I am aiming for 2.5mm at the 12th fret, and about 0.75mm at the 1st, Unfortunately, this means my bridge is a little too slim, so I will need to raise it a few mm by gluing some walnut/dyed maple underneath (to match the bindings).

Fretboard

The Fretboard is pretty much finished - it was a bit of a pain fitting the frets! The fretboard is radiused at the nut end (about 35cm radius), and flat at the bridge end (my thought is to make it a bit easier on my arthritic fingers). I started hammering the frets into the slots (I always start at the bridge end in the hope that any early mistakes are well away from the main playing area), but it was a messy method.

I decided to finish off with a press. I need to drill a hole in the end of it to take a caul (Amazon...), and make a threaded hole to lock the caul in place (I still hate tapping holes).

Pressing was SO much easier than hammering.

I finished off by dressing the ends of the frets, but I will leave working on the crowns until the fretboard is glued into place. The board develops a very slight upward bow with the fret tangs driven into the thin board, but this won't cause a problem and will be flat again once it is on the neck..

Here is the DIY fret press.

Bridge

 

I made the bridge out of an offcut of walnut. I found this video from Beau Hannam Guitars and Ukuleles very useful...

Gluing the back on

 The obligatory photo of lots of clamps. Before this went on I stuck on a label and  sprayed a couple of coast of clear shellac on the insides to seal them.

Back

 

A quick update - I have now added the three braces to the back - I went with walnut in the end - I didn't feel it needed the stiffness of spruce. The walnut dots are glued into the fretboard too.

I shaved down the belly braces a bit as part of my attempt at tap tuning. It sounds a bit brighter to me, but who knows!