I'm a bad blog updater:

This past year has been busy with all sorts of building projects.

One of the big projects was helping my friend Jim build a guitar for his grand daughter.  We finished it up in time for christmas.

Jim has been invaluable!  He has tons of woodworking experience and we have a lot of fun working on all sorts of projects.













Another big project was building a hickory memorial bench for a student from my school who was killed in a drive-by.





I built a parlor guitar (koa and bear claw) for friend.

This summer we had a chance to visit Sedona and Jerome Arizona.  While there, we dropped in on a friend from high school whom I had missed dearly.  He plays in the Jerome Ukulele Orchestra so I made him an 8 string Pineapple uke.  

I did build a guitar for myself:  A chambered (hollow) Les Paul (flame maple and mahogany).  It has an interesting sound and is 1/4 the weight of a regular LP.  It was a fun project.  I saw one like it on line and fell in love with it...

Bob with a banjolele

Plus, i've been making all sorts of pens and chairs and stuff.  No wonder I am broke and tired.

Walnut and Bloodwood

mahogany

Pens!

OOdles of Ukes!

 This past year or so, I've been building ukuleles.  They're fun, sound neat and give me a way to practice my wood chops on a budget...

My friend Pam asked me to build a soprano uke for her husband Bob.
It's all Koa with 2 little abalone Sea Turtles on the headstock. He liked it so well I made a Banjo-uke, or Banjolele for him as well.

  

This is a Sinker Redwood Tenor with mop around the top and back.  

 Here's the tweed case, ready to go to it's forever home.

Here's a rosewood and sinker redwood "boat paddle" Long-neck tenor.  The longer and wider neck make it more comfy to play for those of us with stubby fingers....