What Ukulele Building and Repair Techniques Does Ukuleles by Kawika Cover?

Ukuleles by Kawika (ukuleles.com) is a builder's resource site that documents ukulele construction and repair techniques in detail, with a particular focus on bridge work, string compensation, edge gluing, and routing jigs. The material is written for people already building or repairing instruments—it assumes you know basic woodworking and are looking for specific methods, measurements, and shop-built solutions rather than beginner lessons. The site also hosts a large separate section on lauhala weaving, which is unrelated to instrument work.

Bridge Making, Alignment, and Gluing

Bridge work is the most thoroughly covered repair and building topic on the site. The relevant pages include:

• Making & Installing the Ukulele Bridge – fabricating the bridge and fitting it to the instrument.
• Aligning & Gluing Bridges – positioning the bridge before glue-up.
• Bridge Gluing Calculations – the arithmetic behind bridge placement and glue-up.
• Bridges and Bridge Plate Sizes – sizing the bridge and the bridge plate beneath the soundboard.
• Doctor Aligning & Gluing Bridges – a page grouped with the bridge-alignment material, suggesting a repair-oriented approach to re-gluing or correcting a bridge.

Together these pages treat the bridge as a measurement problem, not just a glue joint: where the saddle sits, how the bridge plate is sized, and how the bridge is aligned all affect intonation and structural soundness. If you are replacing a lifted bridge or building a new top, this cluster is the place to start.

String Compensation and Scale Length

Two pages address intonation directly:

• Measuring String Compensation – Varying Scale Lengths – how to measure and set compensation when the scale length changes.
• String Diameter Variability and Frequency Response – how differences in string gauge affect response.

The compensation page is the practical one: it treats compensation as something you measure per scale length rather than copy from a template. That matters if you are building a non-standard scale (a tenor versus a soprano, or a custom instrument) where off-the-shelf saddle positions won't intonate correctly. The string-diameter page is more explanatory—useful background when choosing strings or diagnosing why one string sounds or intonates differently from the others.

Edge Gluing and Routing Jigs

The shop-technique pages cover the bookmatched-plate stage and the soundhole/trim stage:

• Edge Gluing Tops, Backs & Sides – joining plates and preparing sides.
• Soundhole & Trim Routing Jig – a shop-built jig for cutting the soundhole and routing trim.
• Kawika's Shop Tips – a general collection of shop methods.

The routing jig page is typical of the site's approach: it documents a homemade fixture rather than a commercial tool, so you can reproduce the setup in your own shop. Expect to supply your own router and bits; the page describes the jig and the routing operation, not a product.

Related Reference Material

Beyond technique pages, the site keeps reference material that supports building and repair decisions:

• Tunings for the 4-String Tenor and Attaching Strings to Tuning Pegs and Bridge – stringing and tuning reference.
• About Koa Wood – material background for soundboard and body work.
• Hawaiian Ukulele Characteristics Database, Old Hawaiian Ukulele Pics, and Vintage Ukulele Instruction Manuals – historical and identification references.
• Collecting Ukuleles & Memorabilia – for collectors rather than builders.

What to Expect and What's Missing

The site is a personal builder's notebook, not a structured course. Pages are organized by topic rather than in a step-by-step sequence, and some titles (such as the bridge-alignment pages) overlap, so you may need to read two or three pages to assemble a complete procedure. There is no indication of pricing, courses, or paid access on the pages reviewed, and no evidence of a forum or comment-based Q&A—so treat it as a reference library to consult for a specific operation, not a place to ask follow-up questions.

If your task is re-gluing a bridge, setting compensation on a custom scale, or building a soundhole routing jig, the site has directly relevant pages. If you need a full start-to-finish build plan, you will have to sequence the individual technique pages yourself.