About the Uookulele
An acoustic bass ukulele by the same designer as the Heart-shaped and Hex ukuleles. It's a from-scratch redesign inspired by an earlier bass ukulele on Printables. The goals were to fit a 210 × 210 mm printer and to print as much as possible, so the bridge and the geared tuning pegs are printed too. The front is split into three parts so it can be wider, the body is thicker with a 10 mm chamfer, and there's a curved fretboard with frets (a fretless fingerboard is also included). Holes for a metal bridge are there as well, though the designer prefers the printed one on an acoustic instrument.
Print it all in PLA (the designer used a 0.6 mm nozzle). Glue the neck, back and front parts with two-part epoxy, and use a slower epoxy than five-minute, which left him with an uneven gap. An M10 threaded rod goes through the neck for stiffness. Double-sided tape holds the bridge and fretboard so they can be adjusted later. Cable ties anchor the strings at the bridge, and the other ends go through the peg gears. The STLs are right-handed. For a left-handed version, mirror every part except the neck.
The video is a test play before gluing. The designer thinks thinner body walls might make it louder and quicker to respond.
What you'll need
Printed parts
- Neck parts, back parts and three front parts
- Curved fretboard (fretted or fretless)
- Printed bridge
- Printed tuning pegs with gears
Bought parts
- Bass ukulele strings
- M10 threaded rod (plus an M10 nut or bolt for clamping)
- Two-part epoxy (not 5-minute)
- Double-sided tape
- Cable ties
Tools
- Clamps
Build overview
Print settings
- Material: PLA
- Nozzle: 0.6 mm used
- Left-handed: Mirror everything except the neck
Video
Play video: Testing the bass ukulele before gluing (loads YouTube)
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Photos
All photos: Tomek, from the design page on Printables, licensed CC BY-SA. We resized them and converted them to WebP. These adapted versions are shared under the same licence.
29 more photos on Printables ↗