Big Island Ukulele Guild
Minutes from 12/08/2018
Aloha guild members. Seventeen members gathered for our December 8th meeting at Woodley White’s shop and home near South Point.
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President Dave Stokes oversaw his final guild meeting with the election of new officers. Mahalo nui loa for your efforts Dave! Carlos Newcomb was elected as our new president for 2019. Gary Cassel will be vice president and Tom Russell and Chris Stewart will remain our treasurer/webmaster and treasurer, respectively.
2019 Show Discussion
Following officer elections Bob Gleason brought us up to date on of our recent Wailoa Center exhibit. He reports that the show is popular with visitors, the kanikapila are well attended and the center is pleased with the show and turnout, but only 25 new instruments were made available for the exhibit – about half of what we need. He expressed concern about declining guild membership and enthusiasm for building show instruments. Also, very few instruments were for sale during the exhibit. Another problem is the search for a show coordinator. Bob did say that the show coordinating is fairly routine and well established, but it does require a commitment of time. Any volunteers?
New president Carlos Newcomb voiced concern about diminishing membership and enthusiasm, suggesting that incentives might help, including more builders’ workshops
More solutions were suggested: shorter, multiple shows around the island with less instruments in smaller venues, such as the day ‘Ukulele & Slack Key Festival at the Kahilu Theatre in Kamuela. Another thought was to for the exhibit to remain at the Wailoa Center, but in the smaller, downstairs show room, although the center’s requirement is still a month-long commitment.
Attendees weighed in on the matter, both for and against a big show, and the display of older instruments, but ultimately a vote was cast and a slim majority agreed to one more year at the Wailoa Center while we explore other options.
A number of members have also emailed their thoughts on the matter, so please get on line, read what they have to say and weigh on this.
Show & Tell
During show and tell, Woodley’s son Tristan displayed an electric guitar body made from a recycled koa cutting board.
Woodley built an ukulele with an off-center sound hole.
Dave Stokes used Bob Gleason’s clever inlay cutting trick (shown to us at a previous meeting) to easily add an abalone dolphin to his new ukulele headstock. Dave also gave us a view of his homemade cam clamp that might make for a nice workshop. And he showed us a fret end file called the FretGuru Ultimate Fret End File 2, available from Amazon.
Devon Johnson offered us a view of his work-in-progress ukulele with an unmatched soundboard pieces joined at an angle.
Sam Rosen showed us custom-made clocks with classic ukulele-themed faces made by a local artisan. For more information, you can reach him at his Holualoa Ukulele Gallery - (808) 324-1688.
Demo Time
Bob Gleason’s offered a quick demo of how he shapes headstocks and neck heels. Bob uses a 2” robo sander on his drill press to shape his headstocks. The robo sander follows a headstock template that he attaches using a couple screws where the tuners will eventually be fitted. He also showed us a simple and yet clever jig to position the neck heel for shaping on a router table using a roundover bit. Yet more workshop demo ideas?
Woodley’s demonstration was about his beautiful and intricate rosettes and binding – and difficult to describe in meeting notes. But maybe we can talk him into a builders’ workshop?
Here are a few tips: Woodley uses a vertical router jig to create consistent ninety degree binding channels. He uses wood glue and superglue, depending on his needs, but uses polyurethane glue – such as Gorilla glue - to adhere binding to instruments. The glue produces less swelling, creating more uniformity in binding and requires no sealing, which is necessary when using superglue to prevent it from wicking into soft tonewood.
Date and location of our next meeting is yet to be decided. Stay tuned.
Chris Stewart, BIUG Secretary