burnt orange lefty

This lefty concert scale ukulele was completed in June of 2013 and has such a mellow voice I wish I played left handed. You can see in the video below that I switched to playing right handed but turned the chords upside down just to make a decent demonstration. This is the third left handed instrument I have built. The first was for my special lady friend, and the second was for my sister’s beau. 

• tin: 7 1/2 x 2 3/4 in.
• scale length: 380 mm, 15 in.
• head to tail: 620 mm, 24 1/4 in.
• G .010, C .015, E .011, A .008
• maple neck
• cocobolo fret board
• sterling fork and rest
• silk neck tie strap

orange lefty from The Tinkers Damn on Vimeo.

electric blue

This ukulele, built in October of 2012, was an experiment in several ways. I toyed with staining the fret board (with bad effect) so it looks funny but I like it anyhow. It has a nice voice and has been my test rig for building pickup coils. Tinkering with coil pickups in these cookie tin instruments has been easy. The coil doesn’t need to interfere with the strings as the body is steel and a coil or set of coils can pick up sound anywhere on the inside of the tin. There is no need for shielding as the tin, grounded by the jack, is effectively a Faraday cage.

• tin: 7 1/2 x 2 5/8 inch
• scale length: 390 mm, 15 3/8 inches
• head to tail: 635 mm, 25 inches
• G .010, C .015, E .011, A .008
• maple neck and fret board
• two hand wound coil pickups and 1/4 inch output jack

new electric demo from The Tinkers Damn on Vimeo.

canjo

These dirt simple two string canjos are prized for their fishy twang and slippery sliding. Played with a bottle neck slide and a credit card pick.

short canjo demo 1 from The Tinkers Damn on Vimeo.
short canjo demo 2 from The Tinkers Damn on Vimeo.

banjeaurine

 I built this banjeaurine on a lark and to satisfy my interest in learning to play clawhammer. The banjeaurine seemed like an obvious choice as it has a shorter scale length than a typical banjo, similar to a concert scale ukulele, and is tuned to C. This was my first go using a tin that was not round. I have avoided using octagonal, rectangular, or other odd shaped tins because the lids are usually lose on the sides and introduce all sorts of can rattle noise. In addition, those flat sides are not supported by the shape. In a round tin the curve of the sides make them stiff. In this case, as you can see in the first image above, the back side is supported by what was the top of the tin with a round hole.

• tin: 6 7/8 x 4 3/4 inch
• scale length: 380 mm, 15 inch
• head to tail: 620 mm, 24 3/8 inch
• c .008, G .010, C .015, E .011, G .010
• maple neck
• cocobolo fret board
• silk neck tie strap

the first one

In 2009 after making a cigar box ukulele (using a neck from a toy guitar) I built my first instrument from scratch. I had seen photos of canjos and other instruments with metal can bodies and I had a swell 10 inch cookie tin just itching to be made into something new. The neck is scrap maple picture frame stock, the frets are improvised brass flat-stock, and the tin bottom was flat. The odd can noises this instrument added to the strings (you can hear it "bark" in the short video) prompted me to try my hand at shaping a resonator out of the can bottom for later instruments. This instrument has since been reworked and now has a shaped tin bottom, a better bridge, and a more predictable sound. The frets are set in a diatonic scale and it is strung like a mountain dulcimer. It is fun and easy to play. I still have this one around but I would be embarrassed to sell it. It's just too funky, even with the retrofitted body.

First cookie tin instrument from The Tinkers Damn on Vimeo.

faux cloisonné

The tin for this ukulele had an odd shaped bottom and I was not certain it would lend itself to making an instrument. In the end, hammering the steel went well and resulted in a nice voice. I used padouk wood for the fretboard and maple for the neck. Add a swell neck tie for a strap and you have a fine little instrument that was snapped up by a family that visited tinkers damn at the San Luis Obispo Mini Maker Faire in May 2013.

plain steel

This unpainted steel tin (from the bargain bin at Michaels) became a nice ukulele with a brash voice. It lives in the hinterlands now, and is played on summer nights by the campfire entertainer at a Wyoming dude ranch. The body is 9 1/2 inches in diameter, the neck and fret board are all maple, the strap pin is a bobbin, and the string anchor and arm rest are sterling silver.

the stained-glass-fruit cookie tin ukulele

This was my favorite instrument for months after I made it. I think it was the first really successful ukulele I turned out. It has a maple neck and fretboard and a seven inch cookie tin body. This one was purchased by a swell lady at the San Luis Obispo Mini Maker Fair on May 11, 2013. I'm sure it has found a happy home. Here's a short video of me putting the instrument through its paces.
Short demo stained-glass-fruit cookie tin from The Tinkers Damn on Vimeo.