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Episode 11 ' Archtop Ukuleles '
"Kolaka" = "Raven" = "John R. Ravary"
Born in Northern Ohio, "Raven" John Ravary was born to be creative. Shortly after arriving in Maui in 2001, he built his first ukulele and hasn't slowed down since.
" Making instruments is so much more challenging than finish carpentry (my normal job) and furniture making (another hobby)... The details to attend to are endless, and the results are extremely gratifying and unique." Raven (Kolaka in Hawaiian) uses all the tools of the ages to complete his projects; the table saw gets used less than the scraper and the hand plane. But hand tools fit the curves and contours of the archtop better, and getting it all just right takes patience. Every part is hand made with great care and attention. The building process involves dozens of steps and numerous jigs, molds and methods.... Over perhaps a month-long period the raw materials are slowly transformed into his own unique version of the Tenor Ukulele, based upon a traditional 17 " scale length.
" I'd like to thank you for showing an interest in my artwork and I'd like to thank all the luthiers ( people who make stringed instruments) who willingly share thier secrets... it's a great community to grow in. Thanks, Craig Fuji, Maui Uke Guild, Hawaii Uke Guild, Guild of American Luthiers, Robert Bennedetto (great book), Michael Cohn (great suggestions), Steve Grimes, and my buddy Edmund Tavares. You've all been very kind, and mostly to my benefit so far; I salute you."
"My beautiful wife is patient enough to tolerate me... what more could a man ask for? Thank you Sarah, for all you do.
Lastly, I'd like to justify the naming of innanimate ukes. I work alone, and the intensive interaction puts me on a very personal level with each of my 'friends'... I'm training them to sing, and they whisper to me of how they'd like to be. We work together to make the best sound. Lately, a woman was telling me she named her children because of 'insights from the womb', a magical process she could not elaborate on, yet it was undeniable to her. I understood completely."
The Details Behind The Music
Kolaka Ukuleles have some unusual features...
Like a radiused,24 fret, 2 octave fretboard (for starters)
These ukes have some features not usually found on 'normal' ukes. What grabs your eyes first is the F-holes that are mainstream to the Violin family, as opposed to a round soundhole. Then the eye finds the extra long fretboard with 24 frets, a full two octave's worth, the last 9 or so floating above the sound board upon thier own neck extension. This technique keeps the sound board free to make better sound.... And the fact that it's radiused for much enhanced playability (especially with Barre chords) is a big bonus. The bridge is also very special in that it is a custom made, one piece bridge made of Corian, a strong and compact man-made composite that is widely used in lutherie for it's ability to transfer the vibrations from the strings faithfully. It is carved for perfect intonation, so that as you work your way down the fretboard the strings stay in tune to themselves.... A 'C' on the open string and a higher 'C' at the 12th fret doesn't happen naturally! It has to be planned, and the compromise of using a straight, non- attenuated bridge / saddle combo just isn't good enough for discriminating players; it's worth the extra effort. Also, the height of the strings above the frets affects playability tremendously, so the bridge has to be just right in many ways.
The neck / body union is one of the most important structural features of the uke, and I've reviewed quite a few ways that it's been done. I've decided that a dovetail union suits my sense of a solid fit. It takes a special made jig to hold each piece in turn to make the dovetail onto the neck and into the body, and the length of one, and depth of the other, need to be just so. When finished, the neck slides firmly into the body and locks in; after glue is applied they become one. This way, hopefully the neck angle will remain constant despite years of string forces trying to deform it.
Dovetail Neck Body Union
Bridges and Tailpieces
There are fundamental differences between having the strings tied to the bridge, where they pull up on the soundboard, and anchoring them to a tailpiece, where they push down on the soundboard. Archtops in general use a tailpiece for an anchor and mine have followed suit... This allows the sound board to work a bit more freely as the strings are struck, and the unfortunate event of the glued bridge being torn off cannot happen. Again, the techniques involve a couple more steps, but the extra effort is not wasted... The 'anchor' is the endpin, carved out of Ebony, applied through the tailblock inside the uke, or , in the case of electrics the anchor is the endpin jack. A small cable with knurled ends wraps around the endpin and up to the tailpiece, made of hardwood.
The tailpiece is a work of art in itself, with the cables coming in from the base, the strings from the other way; it balances just on the edge, resting on the top of the tailblock, leaving the top free to vibrate. I've gradually made the taipieces smaller and lighter, because every ounce counts... Even the angle that the strings come off of the bridge on the way to the tailpiece is important, and nothing is left to chance.
Hand Carved Tops, Backs, and Braces
Our tops and backs are handcarved from 3/4 to 1 inch thick pieces of carefully selected wood. They are not thin and supple pieces bent over braces with the radius carved onto the braces themselves, a fairly common practice.The carving process takes a lot more time and sawdust, but for me it's worth it. The results are quite distinctive.
Backs get carved both on the visible side, and then the inside, to exact specifications of thickness, (and also the tactile touch of experience). Tops go through the same process, yet get more attention because they are not uniform side to side and top to bottom. The graduations they recieve contribute much to the voice and response of the uke. Further, the tops are outfitted with tone bars, or X- braces, that are glued to the underside of the top. These are carved to balance the tone and give the top it's individual personality. They also will be the unseen foundation upon which the bridge feet will sit, bringing the entire soundboard surface into one unit, providing a gentle strength and continuity...
After assembly, the outside perimeter of the tops will be reduced a bit to free up the soundboard even more. This gives the uke it's distinctive 'recurve', a visual treat that is more important to the sound than just being 'pretty'. The recurve on the back's outer edges is even more important, it tends to be a little deeper, and is almost the last step in building. Stock is carefully removed while all the senses are used to feel how the sound travels through the back, when the top is excited... Very esoteric, this step takes time and patience to free up the back from unnessecary extra mass and to optimize the sound. Lastly, the puposefully small soundholes are carefully enlarged to maximize output and to finalize the tone.
Finally, the uke is disasembled for finishing, and re-built when it has been hand polished and buffed to a mirror shine. Lacquer is the finish of choice, and many coats are needed. The strategy, as has been handed down, is to apply three coats, sand off two... until perhaps thirty have been applied and less than ten remain. If you sand down to bare wood, starting over is about the only option. Sanding to 4000 grit is not unusual as a mirror shine does not come easily.
Does that sound like a lot of details to you, too?
Well, truth be told,there are many more...
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AR-1 "Archie", the prototype. 17" scale length Tenor uke
(enshrined in the Hall of our Home) Inspired by my first uke teacher, Craig Fujii. He suggested I might enjoy the challenge of making archtops, and he was right on... Haven't thought about much else, since. Archie came from Bennedetto's book "How to make an Archtop Guitar". I just needed a reference point to get started. As far as I knew, no one else had tried making archtop ukes, so downsizing his plans was the best I had. Little did I know... so many things!
AR-2 Vastly improved Series, with a host of improvements like a much refined neck, floating neck extention; lighter, thinner tops, backs and braces. Refined tailpiece, dovetail neck/ body union, smaller head and tail blocks, etc. Still, a large bodied uke that often holds a note or chord exceptionally well...
Ar-3 Series' most striking change - an alternate reduction strategy for stock removal... How you remove mass from the tops and from what part, is a very big deal. I chose to implement some advise I recieved and everyone liked the results, so I adopted it. Besides that, the sides were reduced, neck size again also, with the spread of the strings following suit, so the bridge and tailpiece too. By this time I'm taking much better notes and measurements, buying and making better instruments to help me quantify the changes; fine tuning with a microscope. Just kidding...
Ar-4 This series was born of neccessity. I acquired some very nice woods in narrow widths that weren't large enough to fit my other molds, so I made a fresh batch (of molds and jigs) and brought a few innovations along. Smaller tops need slightly smaller sides to be balanced, a re- refined neck taper improves playability, tuning the body improves, f-holes get moved a 1/4 inch to help lengthen the neck a bit, and center the bridge, etc.. Minor shifts in philosophy keep the ukes in a state of enhancement as knowledge increases (or so we hope).
Ar-5 Now we're getting somewhere... I'm getting good at making molds, etc. every other month and re-tooling is growing on me.I wanted some modern soundholes in a body large enough to easily insert some electronics, as some models had got a bit tight in thier sides... Also wanted a larger cutaway for getting to those high notes, and felt we could still put all the parts on a modest diet. The backs needed minor refinements, and lengthening the neck had worked well before... Again, small things, like decreasing the 'heel' size at the neck/ body union make all the difference in playability.
The Baritones BR Series
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