This was my Les Paul electric ukulele build.

This project was years in the making. I wanted to make another electric ukulele, this time modeled after a Les Paul guitar. I got blueprints and scaled it down to size, gathered materials, and then moved away to Ireland for a year to get a master’s degree.

So this project naturally went back on the project list/shelf as I did adult things like finish college and get a job.

Eventually I picked it back up though. The body is made out of reclaimed cedar that my dad had picked up in the garbage pile of a cabinet shop.

I absolutely adore how the wood looks joined together. I think it’s so pretty, and immediately knew I couldn’t paint it. The neck is hard-as-rock maple, and rosewood for the fretboard. I didn’t bother adding frets, because that’s a lot of work and I don’t have the proper tools.

I freehanded the head, which I regret doing, because you can tell. I routed out channels/holes for the electric bits, and used Les Paul style electric pickups for it. Next, I added all the bits together and stung it up so it worked.

There was something off about it, so I took it to the luthier that was in the building that I worked in. If I had been more together, I would have definitely used this resource more, but I was still overwhelmed with doing all those adult things, like establishing a career. The luthier helped me see that my action was way too high, and helped me lower the strings.

The ukulele is heavy and unbalanced, and doesn’t sound great, but I think it is so pretty that I’m very happy with this project.

Started in 2014, finished in 2017

Made in 2013.

I wanted to try to make a cigar box from start to finish in 24 hours. This project was simple and didn’t take much effort.

I took some hard as rock maple and cut a strip out of it. I also used a table saw to router out the neck so it would sit nicely in the box and the fretboard would be flush with the top of the box. There are probably better ways to router it out, but I had a table saw and a time limit, so that’s the way it goes.

I used some basic hardware from Ace to set the strings in place. This isn’t the tightest project I’ve ever done, and could definitely improve on the project.

Made in 2018.