Ukology - update : get your own uke!

[jwnicholson]

Update - I decided to open an Etsy shop to see if I could sell a few ukes, and fund the next instrument design. Would you like your own custom, 3D printed uke? I'd be happy to give a discount to forum members, thanks to all the help and feedback that has been provided along the way in my musical journey

https://www.etsy.com/listing/1696540481 ... no-ukulele

This one has been quite the project. I got it into my head a while ago that it would be fun to write and record a song on an instrument that I made. Since my woodworking skills are non-existent, I turned to 3D design and printing. Since I was doing 3D printing, that meant the instrument was going to be a ukulele.

Designing and printing a ukulele that sounded halfway decent turned out to take a fair bit longer than I was planning. But I'm pretty happy with the result.

Ukology is the demo song, using the 3D printed ukes. Hope you enjoy.

https://youtu.be/z2ZSta9i5v4?si=CCro18j23Ibjxd3u

And if you have a 3D printer, and would like to print one, you can get the files here:

https://www.printables.com/model/806849 ... lated#tabs

Jeff

[folderol]

Love it!
Fascinating vid and good uke music to go with it

[enroe]

Wow, that's almost a real live performance in the living room.
And yes - despite the plastic look and 3D printing: the ukulele sounds really great!
But your performance, i.e. your ukulele playing, is really not bad either.

PS: Have you really made 7 ukuleles this way - as shown in the picture?

[jwnicholson]

Love it!
Fascinating vid and good uke music to go with it

Thanks!

[jwnicholson]

Wow, that's almost a real live performance in the living room.

And yes - despite the plastic look and 3D printing: the ukulele sounds really great!
But your performance, i.e. your ukulele playing, is really not bad either.

PS: Have you really made 7 ukuleles this way - as shown in the picture?

I've probably made 20 or more at this point. Many many mistakes were made along the way. The first ones didn't last very long. They broke apart due to the string tension, or the bridge pulled off because it wasn't glued properly, or the tuner pegs broke. Many of the early ones had terrible intonation. I finally fixed that then the headstock started separating from the neck so I had to add a screw to bolt the headstock to the neck since glue wasn't enough.

Once I fixed all the major problems, then I went down a rabbit hole of trying different brands of 3D filament and materials. If I had the time and the money, I could probably spend a year just printing ukes to see which materials are best

[eassae]

Cool. Sounds great. Video was cool as well.

[Tao Jones]

Uke sounds great! Hhaha this is awesome. Love the ukes and the video!

[jwnicholson]

Cool. Sounds great. Video was cool as well.

Thanks for the listen and comment!

[jwnicholson]

Uke sounds great! Hhaha this is awesome. Love the ukes and the video!

Thank you!

[Frantz]

Wow! Creating that is quite an accomplishment. It sounds nice too.

[redmaggott]

Love the tune. Sounds great.
I was mesmerized watching the video. Fascinating. Fantastic.

[4damind]

Very nice! The future of instrument making comes from the 3D printer I find the idea very interesting and the finished instrument sounds very good! How long did the printing take in total? Are we talking about days or is it faster?

And now the next challenge.... an accordion from the 3D printer

[jwnicholson]

Wow! Creating that is quite an accomplishment. It sounds nice too.

Thank you!

[jwnicholson]

Love the tune. Sounds great.
I was mesmerized watching the video. Fascinating. Fantastic.

Thanks! I really appreciate it.

[jwnicholson]

Very nice! The future of instrument making comes from the 3D printer I find the idea very interesting and the finished instrument sounds very good! How long did the printing take in total? Are we talking about days or is it faster?

Thanks! The body takes about a day to print. The rest of the parts together, another day or so.

And now the next challenge.... an accordion from the 3D printer

Hmm, I don't think I'll take that challenge. I could do it, but I don't want to play an accordion, 3D printed or otherwise