Stewart Golf ukulele kit, Assembly Instructions Manual

Page: 17 / 24

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17
At last, it’s time to put the neck on the body!
The neck will be held in place during gluing with a rubber
binding band . A small clamp will hold the fretboard exten-
sion to the top . This might be the spring clamp used when
test-fitting the neck .
If more pressure is needed on the fretboard extension, a
C-clamp can be used . Use a piece of scrap wood as a caul to
protect the frets from the clamp .
Inside the body, the C-clamp foot will land on the top brace .
To protect the brace from damage, glue a caul from three
pieces of scrap wood . This U-shaped block straddles the
brace, giving the clamp a solid surface to bear against .
If you stained your uke, apply masking tape again around the
neck joint surfaces . Apply glue to the neck heel and fretboard
extension, and to the matching areas on the body . Put glue
on the dowels and the holes they fit into .
Clamp the neck in place, checking to make sure it’s aligned
and centered . Tie the rubber binding band to the neck .
Stretch it down over the tail of the uke and back up around
the heel of the neck, wrapping tightly .
Wet the endgrain with water
Down the length of the neck, the wood grain runs straight .
The carved heel and peghead have exposed endgrain,
indicated by dark areas in the illustration below . The end
of the peghead is endgrain also . These areas will absorb
more stain than the straight grain, making them darker .
Compensate for this by wetting these areas with a damp
paper towel before you begin staining . The damp endgrain
will suck up less stain than if it were dry, giving better balance
to your stain overall .
Wait until your color is mixed and you’re ready to begin
staining before you wet the endgrain, so it doesn’t have
time to dry out .
Wipe on the stain
Wear gloves! Work quickly with the cloth/cotton pad, build-
ing the color evenly all over the body and neck . You can go
back and apply more stain, and can even darken the edges
around the body using a semi-dry staining pad .
Watch the video:
PART 8
ATTACHING THE NECK
Attach the neck
Wet the endgrain
before staining