When inlaying the orchid into the ebony peghead at about a three-quarters of the way done my drill bit snapped off. Mike told me to just come over to his shop that he had plenty of bits for me to choose from.
So, today that is what I did.
1. Finish routing out the cavity for the orchid. Then put some black CA glue into cavity and press orchid in. It is not sprayed with accelerator because Mike says it can cause bubbles.
2. After glue has set, Mike took it over to the orbital sander and sanded the inlay flush. Usually there are little holes you need to go back over and stick a little CA into them and resand until there are no holes left.
3. Now the neck is ready to be attached to the soundbox! Mike dry fits the neck and soundbox and wraps a strap around the top of the peghead and the butt-end of the uke. He then takes a straightedge and sees if it is lined up. It looks good. If it isn’t he says you can bend the strap a little to one side or the other to align the neck. Since it looks good it is ready to glue up.
4. White glue is applied to the tenon of the neck and is spread with a small spatula. Put a very thin layer of glue where the underside of the fretboard will meet the soundbox. You don’t want too much squeeze out at the end of the fretboard.
5. Slide neck quickly in and give a good amount of pressure. Mike says sometimes if you have a really good dry fit after you apply the glue the neck might not want to push in. But fortunately that didn’t happen here. Clamp with the strap clamp around the peghead end and the butt end again of the uke. Clamp at the heel with a cam clamp and if needed a clamp through the soundhole, clamping the end of the fretboard to the box.
Hurray! It’s together! Tomorrow will be making the bridge.
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