18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Many interesting tidbits, BUT NO PLANS, March 18, 2005
This review is from: Ukulele Design and Construction: A comprehenisve guide to construct a Hawaiian Ukulele For Any Woodworker (Spiral-bound)
A fair resource with many interesting bits of information for anyone seriously planning to build a ukulele. However the book refers several times to "layouts" or "plans" for a tenor ukulele supposedly included in the book. My copy had no such plans. The plans or dimensions referred to throughout the text would have made the book far more useful and understandable.
If this book is to be used as the sole reference to build a ukulele, it probably doesn't have enough information.
I should add that I have scratch built several other instruments in the past, (several violins, and mandolins, a hammered dulcimer among other things) so I am not a complete rookie.
For a complete guide to building a ukulele I would suggest "The Ukulele" by Denis Gilbert which is more basic, but does contain enough information to build.
If I didn't already have plans from another source, I would consider returning the book, but since I have a pretty good idea of where I'm going, this book does have enough useful information to justify keeping it around.
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12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Interesting work suffering from a few problems, March 28, 2005
This review is from: Ukulele Design and Construction: A comprehenisve guide to construct a Hawaiian Ukulele For Any Woodworker (Spiral-bound)
Summary:
This book is probably not a good choice for absolute beginners. Not because it is not good, but because of the way things are organized and presented. If you've never built any stringed instrument, even if you're an experienced woodworker, I'd recommend <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0811806405/103-9920176-6446213">Cumpiano and Natelson</a> (and a plan for ukulele separately).
If you're curious, however, just go for it. Certainly the book has some good information.
Unfortunately this book suffers from full of typos, grammatical errors and a lack of a plan (despite the author saying otherwise).
Target audience:
It is apparent to me that the target readers are experienced woodworkers trying to build their first instruments or luthiers in need of fresh and different ideas. Quite often the author implicitly stresses on getting things done quickly and consistently. Access to some workshop setup is a norm: For example you're expected to use thickness sander to thickness the board, and build a Fox-type bending machine to bend sides.
How things are presented:
The book is not task-oriented (I'd call it idea-oriented). The sections are roughly arranged in the order of work-flow, but you cannot just follow one of these sections (e.g. about curving the neck) to complete the task that the section is talking about. Rather, the author shows you ideas about how he'd approach the problem. You get some general idea, often without details of the work. I'm not saying this is bad. With clear and instructive pictures, I myself found quite a few ideas (e.g. using high pressure-stamped wooden biscuit for neck joint, Spanish style ukulele instead of traditional box style etc.) that were new and interesting to me.
Problems:
Somewhat disturbing to me was the lack of plan in the book despite the author saying otherwise. As another reviewer pointed out, the author refers to a "layout included in this book", but there's actually nothing. Since the book doesn't have the dimensions of the important parts (e.g. top, back, side, bracings, neck profile etc.) anywhere, if you don't already have a decent plan you have to buy one or go on your own.
Also I have to complain a bit about the editing (or lack thereof). I doubt if the editor has proofread at all. Almost every page has spelling, grammar and/or reference error(s). Maybe it's partly because I'm not a native English speaker, but I couldn't enjoy reading when the book had so many simple and apparent errors.
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Good effort, but not for amateurs, July 24, 2007
This review is from: Ukulele Design and Construction: A comprehenisve guide to construct a Hawaiian Ukulele For Any Woodworker (Spiral-bound)
Good effort , but not for amateurs. This book was a giant disappointment, poor black and white photos, erroneus information, and poor explanation of jigs. Not enough detailed expalanations, especially for beginners.Many of the photos in this book were poorly done,Photos need to be in clear color with detailed information.Lots of spelling mistakes, and incomplete words . Measurements , were way off. the author used guitarmaking measurements for top , back and sides. The back of the book had photos of jigs, but no explanation of how to make them.I do not recommend this book . Have been woodworking for 33 years.
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