Stewart Golf ukulele kit, Assembly Instructions Manual

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Taped-off for staining
Taped-off for gluing
it between the neck and body . Hold the neck firmly down
onto the body, and pull the sandpaper out . Repeat this until
enough wood has been sanded away . Wear gloves to avoid
paper cuts from the edge of the sandpaper .
Watch our video, How To Build A Ukulele, Part 6: Sanding The
Body + Neck to see Dan Erlewine demonstrate strip-sanding .
Tape off the neck heel area
Frame the neck heel with masking tape, as you did for the
bridge and fretboard . Remove the sharp edge on the body
where the neck will fit by filing or beveling it with a sharp
knife . This will help the neck joint fit closely .
The next step depends on whether you’re going to stain your
ukulele or give it a clear natural finish . If you’re staining, tape
inside the neck heel and fretboard extension, then remove
the frame of tape . Like the bridge, the neck joint area is now
masked to keep it free of stain and finish, for gluing later .
If you’re not staining, the frame of tape around the neck joint
is ready for gluing the neck .
If you’re going to stain the wood, do it before attaching the
neck . When the neck is on, stain accumulates along the seam
where the neck meets the body . To avoid having to remove
stain from this crevice, stain the neck and body separately .
If you’re choosing an unstained natural finish, you can skip
this section on staining and attach the neck .
It’s not impossible to have difficulty with stain . Dark spots,
light spots or otherwise uneven coverage are possibilities .
If you want to follow the easiest, most foolproof path to a
finished uke, go with the clear natural finish .
Use ColorTone Liquid Stains to create rich dark browns or
vibrant colors . The color in the bottle may be exactly what
you want, but don’t hesitate to mix colors . On our Part 7
video, you’ll see a brown uke that we stained with a mix of
Tobacco Brown and Medium Brown .
Mix the stain with water
ColorTone Stains are concentrated, so mix them with water .
The amount of water and stain depends on the color you’re
after and the wood you’re staining . You can build a dark
color with thinned stain by wiping on more . To get a feel for
mixing, watch Dan Erlewine use stain on the video .
Wipe on with cloth-wrapped cotton
Wrap a ball of cotton in a scrap of t-shirt material to make a
pad for staining .
Watch the video:
PART 7
STAINING THE BODY+NECK
Apply the stain (optional)