McMele Ukulele - A 3D printable Ukulele

Boost MeAloha!

 

If you just want to get going… skip to the build guide below!

 

Why did I make yet-another-3d-printed Ukulele?  I tried to put some classic ‘Aloha’ patterns on existing 3D Uke designs, but they were not set up for multi-color printing. Nobody wants to spend 4 days printing a multi-color Ukulele body while creating double filament usage in poop).  My design is a quick ~5 hours for a multi-color body! (ok.. and another 4 hours for the back.  But HEY! It’s still not 3 days and 1k of waste!!) .  I started this project a few years ago but finally got around to fixing and tweaking a few things that made me comfortable to share it with the world.

 

Once printed you’ll have a REAL-looking Soprano Uke that sounds good and will hold a tune long enough to get you through a rocking version of Riptide.  <— Again, set your expectations.. this is not a $100+ Ukulele :)

 

Items Required:

• Filament of your choice.
  • It prints fine as a single color, but (IMHO) it really shines when you print one of my included multi-color bodies.
• Ukulele Tuning Pegs
  • I have tested and used the following (here and here), but most standard Uke Tunners will work.
• Glue
  • CA or E6000 will work best
• Ukulele Strings
  • My favorites are D'Addario Soprano Ukulele Strings, but even the cheap ones will get the job done. 
• A Ukulele Tuning App on your phone.
  • I like the Kala Ukulele App but any Free tuner will work. 

The Build:

 

Due to the tension from the strings, the Uke parts need to be printed extra-beefy!

• 6 walls
• 6 top/bottom layers
• 45% infill

Only the Headstock part requires a small amount of support.  If you use my .3mf file it will have support configured/setup for that plate.

 

Assembly is simple…

 

Add glue to the neck and slide it into the body (don't go stingy on the glue!!).  Make sure the front of the neck is flush with the body. 

 

Glue two small pieces of 1.75 PLA filament into the holes on the back of the Bridge (shown here in green filament).  Add glue to the back of the Bridge and push the filament guides through the holes on the body. 

NOTE!! Make sure the holes on the saddle are facing the bottom of the guitar (don't ask me how many times i glued the saddle on upside down :) )

 

Flip the uke over and trim off the excess guide filament. 

 

Apply liberal amounts of glue to the edge of the Backplate. I like to run a small bead of CA glue all around the back.  Make sure to also add some CA glue to the area that holds the Neck, this will make sure there are not any unwanted vibrations from that area (see the 2nd photo below)
 

 

Push the Back onto the body and place a heavy object on it while it dries. If you used A LOT of glue (which you should) you can go around with a paper towel quickly removing any excess.  The tick is to move quick before the towel gets glued to the sides :)

Once the back is dry stand the Uke up and glue the Headstock to the neck (again.. glue is your friend here).

Give the headstock a few minutes to dry, then lay the Uke on its back and look for the little line on the headstock right where it starts to bend.  That little line is the marker/stop where you are going to align the fretboard on the neck. 

Put ample amounts of glue on the back of the fretboard then glue it to the neck (again, using the line on the headstock as a guild).  Use your fingers on the side of the fretboard & neck to get it centered and give it time to dry.

Once the neck is dry, flip the Uke over and attach the Tunning pegs.  

Flip the uke onto its back again and put the washers over the pegs and screw them on with the included nuts (they may have a name?)

The Saddle just drops into the bridge.. and the Uke is done!

 

There are probably a few million youtube video guides on how to string a Ukulele but this is a full-service guide… so here is a quick rundown.

 

The strings are either numbered or lettered, and the proper order goes like this:

 

To attach the string, first tie a knot to the bottom of the string, then slide it into the correct slot in the bridge.  Then slide the other end of the string into the tuner.  NOTE: The strings are then fed into the INSIDE of the tuners (see 3rd picture below)

 

Now its time to pull up your tuning app and start tuning your new Ukulele! One last word of caution… be gentile as you tighten the strings.  They need to stretch and get used to their new home.  Also, you are putting a lot of force onto a small pice of plastic (bridge) glued onto another large piece of plastic (body)..  It is possible to rip the bridge off, or worse :)

 

If you made it this far…. Mahalo.   I hope you have fun and enjoy your McMele Ukulele.