Tenor Ukulele Kit

It is possible to build a nice instrument without a shop full of tools. A drill press, and band saw are helpful but not necessary. You definitely do need a scraper, fret hammer, chisels, sanding blocks, etc.. A 6" piece of closet dowel with sandpaper stuck on it is helpful for sanding around the waist areas. The instructions are not nearly as good as the guitar kit manual but they are good enough. I dressed mine up with ebony binding and heel cap and finished with zpoxy for grain filler, vinyl sealer, and lacquer. The results are pleasing. It sounds as nice as my 1950s Gibson tenor uke.

There are a lot of things to like about this kit but there are problems as well, starting with the freehand method they use to glue the neck block to the sides. This procedure is dealt with much better in the soprano kit, don't know why they didn't just copy that. I did it with a jig, after totally being unable to do it the way they show. I've built several guitars and ukes, I think a total beginner would be frustrated right off the bat. And I had the DVD too. The neck dowel problem was mentioned. How hard would it have been to just have the manufacturer predrill the holes? The mahogany is rough textured but I don't use a gloss finish, I use a shellac and wax finish I learned from Michael Dresdner in a class. I give the uke one or two coats of polyurethane natural stain, then do the shellac and wax, it looks great if you like a non-gloss finish.

I came out with a nice sounding well functioning instrument. I have very good tools, however. Fretting and joining neck to body are difficult operations. The DVD demonstrates dowel joints drilled freehand. This is a very high risk procedure. I made jigs for doweling and still couldn't keep the holes centered. I don't recommend a dowel joint. The neck in my kit was unusable due to tear out and a tuning machine was inappropriate. StewMac rectified this promptly. The mahogany had difficult grain with deep pores. A lot of scraping was required and a lot of finish to fill the pores. I used HVLP spray gun to finish. You have to thin the brushing lacquer about 10% to spray it. I can't wait to build another one. I will not use a dowel joint.

Recently I purchased the tenor uke kit. I have purchased kits for various instruments in the past, and I expected the uke kit to be of the same fine quality. It was not. The brace wood is crude the instructions are poor and I did not want to lay out another $20.00 for the DVD. I would not buy another one of these uke kits.

This was not my first instrument build, but it was my first uke and first Stew Mac kit. Having some experience and lutherie tools it was not a terribly difficult build. The wood is nice and instructions were pretty clear for the most part. I added my own modifications, including herringbone purfling and rosette, tortoise body and fretboard binding, rosewood end wedge and heel cap, and friction tuners. I finished it with colortone stains and Behlen's vinyl sealer and lacquer with Preval units. The sound is really nice and better than most of the imported tenors that cost more money. I'm looking forward to building my next Stew Mac kit!

I received the Tenor Ukelele kit with instructions on how to assemble and found it to be adequate though I doubt that it could easily be assembled by an inexperienced woodworker. The tuners that were sent did not completely match as one of the tuners was for the wrong side. The neck assembly is a bit unsound as the connection to the body is accomplished with dowel pins rather than the conventional heel assembly that is integral to the block having the sides attach via slots on the side of the block. Nevertheless the instrument when completed looks and feels quite satisfactory and the price is right.

Waited a long time to write this review. I can only give this kit two stars. Materials are cheaply milled. Have purchased three kits now and not one could be put together with "simple" wood working tools. For sure, there is no quality assurance given to these kits. Two of three kits had warped tops or backs. I have received untrue neck blocks in all three kits that would need to be unglued straightened up and sanded for a proper fit. Two of the backs and tops cracked under light pressure from the rubber bands during glue up. The slots in all three finger boards are way too deep and showed gaps at every fret. Some nuts and saddles were plastic instead of bone. The proposed jig is a nightmare to build accurately. The measurements are off in the manual. The best quality parts are actually the tuning machines which is not what I would have expected. With their reputation for quality, I would have expected a much easier build from Stew Mac. For the price of this kit, I would have expected nicely milled parts. I'll give it two stars only because the top, back and sides are solid mahogany. Having priced the raw materials $155 would be a fair cost if the individual components were not so poorly milled. The tenor uke is a great introduction to uke making but this particular kit really makes building it an unpleasant experience. After three bad kits I give up. I don't mind buying the proper tools either, but I shouldn't have to rework the parts that are supposed to be done for me.

Amazingly Simple and quality

Being retried and a hobbist woodworker I was doubtful before I ordered my Ukulele, that I could actually finish it. The kit was very complete, it had a very good instruction booklet. Start to finsh it took about two weeks, as I was working on other projects at the same time. I gave it away at a family reunion in Sept. as a fund raiser. Also, I had some CNC engraving done on the front, to commemorate the event. It sound great and the new owner is very happy. I will make another for next years reunion. very gratifying project.

I purchased my tenor kit along with the DVD in October. As I built the uke, I often referred to the DVD, which I considered a great help. The directions were very straightforward. I completed it in two weeks. I applied 10 coats of spray laquer and rubbed it out with pumice and rottenstone and gave it a final polish with paste wax. The finish turned out beautiful. The sound is as good or better than my $300.00 concert. I will definitely be building more in the future.