Video: How to make a ukulele

Here’s a great video from one of the talented New Zealand makers who entered last year’s Maker of the Year awards. Making a ukulele involves lots of processes: first steambending the sides, shaping them within a former and then gluing them up. Next, the kerfings are sawn and clamped before the soundboard and back are made and glued on to complete the body. Lastly, the headstock and neck are shaped, fitted and fretted.

Rowan Dicks has taught furniture design at UCOL at Palmerston North in New Zealand for ten years. ‘I am a designer, maker, and teacher and I have been described as a fanatic when working with wood. My passion started as a young boy making projects with my dad. I then went on to study towards a diploma in Furniture Design and Making. This is where my creative nature flared and carved the path toward artistic furniture design’, he said.

A ukulele build could be your entry into the world of luthiery. You’ll still need some plans but somehow seeing the process makes it seem more achievable. See the video on YouTube.