Archtop Pineapple Ukulele Part 6 – new soundboard

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I came to the conclusion that it wasn’t worth using the existing soundboard – it just doesn’t ring nicely. So I tapped all my lumps of wood to find one with a decent sound. The best was some mahongany.

Making templates for the shape based on violin templates
Templates and the wood blank
Thinning the edge with the Safe-T-Planer – great tool
Edge thinned. The step is due to the max-depth of cut of the Safe-T-Planer
Initial shaping on a belt sander
End point of belt sander
Gouge shaping
Smoothing with plane
Shape is getting there
F-hole ends drilled
Starting on the inside. I quickly concluded I needed a better way to hold the work so modified my bench hook.
Modified bench hook holding the work
Where I’m up to – some way to go but the rough work is done.
What it will look like

Going well. This top has a much better ring to it than the previous one.

Update 16 May 2024

I’m not certain what thickness the top should be. Violin tops are between 2.3 and 3mm thick. Mandolin tops (8 steel strings, larger size) are 3.2mm (edge) – 4.4mm (centre) thick. Hard to know. So I’ve taken the approach of thinning it until it all rings when tapped in the centre. This is similar to a violin top – 2.3-3mm thick.

It looks like this now:

The new top in place to see what it looks like

I still need to tweak the f-holes a bit but otherwise looking good.

Next is bracing the top and back. The back is far too thin in the middle so I’m going to add braces to strengthen it. I don’t think the back will make any difference to the sound as it will be pressed against the player. Ideally it would match the top acoustically but I’ll leave that for the next build.

Top braces will be based on the violin bass bar. Watch this space…

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