Lumberyard Uke

For years I had thought about building musical instruments. Guitars? Mandolins? Dulcimers? I wasn't sure. I had some experience repairing, and even rebuilding stringed instruments, but I had never made one from scratch. When I saw some hand-made ukuleles, I knew I'd found a good starting place. The smaller size meant a mistake might not cost me as much—and my existing tools would probably be sufficient.

I did some Internet research and discovered Stewart-McDonald, a supply house for instrument makers. I bought a tenor ukulele kit—along with a how-to DVD. My plan was to use the kit as a template for building my own instrument. What follows is a record of the creation of my first hand-made instrument. I call it my Lumberyard Ukulele because most of the materials came from my local Home Depot.