Fairbanks Syringe Uke (IW#41)



I wanted to try my hand at a fretted uke.  The only one I had made heretofore was when I retrofitted this uke with frets.  It plays pretty well, and that along with the tenor guitars I have made have demystified the fret-setting process.  So I set about making a uke with a box that I got at the flea market.  It had been a syringe box that someone had decoupaged a couple of magazine photos to.  I think they are covered with shellac, and a pretty heavy coat at that, so my sense is that the photos were applied quite a while ago.  The box held a "Fairbanks Syringe, and the label on the inside is so cool that I almost tried to remove it and put it on the outside.  In the end, though, I chose to just photodocument it.  Here is what it looks like:



The frets came out well (the neck is red oak salvaged from a pallet, juts like the slide guitar that is IW#40).  I made the choice to make a "0 fret," which makes the placement of the nut less critical.  It works pretty well, well enough that I am ready to move on to other ukes that I have boxes for. 

The lid of the box is plywood, so it is not a very bright sounding uke.  Here is what it sounds like:


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