Ukulele out of LEGO bricks?
Ukulele in LEGO bricks
You betcha!
Realising I’ve never owned a uke, I decided I’d try to make one. But instead of using wood, like any normal person, I decided to use LEGO bricks. Of course, there were some challenges.
- The shape. In case you didn’t realise, LEGO bricks are kinda blocky, full of right angles. Great for buildings, not so great for ukuleles. I tried several techniques to get a rounded shape, also keeping in mind it had to be strong, and the one I finally decided on was a fairly simple SNOT version, using lots of these and these. I was pretty pleased how it turned out.
- Strength. This model has to be able to withstand the tension of 4 fairly tight strings without exploding. I ended up using a pre-stressed Technic rod up the middle of the neck, which allowed the head to be securely attached to the body, and it works really well. The body (briefly described above) ended up being very strong, but I had to use a saddle attached to the lower end to get enough strength – the saddle I originally designed was attached to the front, and was only able to tune the top string to about B. The final design allowed me to tune it to D (still way short of a real uke, but good enough for me).
- Tuning. I had to come up with a way of tuning the strings, that was able to take the tension without slipping, and didn’t look too yucky. I tried a couple of ways, but this one worked best, probably because it’s the simplest! Those of you with eagle eyes will notice the LEGO worm gears are wound the wrong way, so the keys have to be turned the opposite way to normal. I did try putting them on the other side of the main gear, which fixed the turning anomoly, but they ended up way too close to the top of the neck, and I kept knocking them while playing, so I decided this way was best.
The head of the ukulele
- Intonation. This was always gonna be a problem, because LEGO doesn’t do logarithmic intervals easily. I decided early on that near enough would be fine, as long as it sounds OK when played. I simply mapped out the actual logarithmic scale on paper, and picked the distances to match as closely as possible. I was quite pleased with the result.
So, after all that, I ended up with what I like to call an alto ukulele – it is tuned to C-F-A-D (normal ukes are generally tuned to G-C-E-A). I also thought it needed a stand so I can display it on the mantle piece, you can see it poking out the bottom. And I think it really sounds OK, but you can judge for yourself: Puff the Magic Dragon
May 22nd, 2011 at 10:21 am
I’d love to build one of these. Any chance you’ll post some building instructions or more detail photos of the build?
May 22nd, 2011 at 12:49 pm
What a clever brother I have….wel done bro!!
May 27th, 2011 at 1:32 am
So cool! Can you add an instruction set?!
May 27th, 2011 at 2:29 am
[…] Crawford’s brick ukulele can be played and its four strings are tuned to C, F, A and […]
May 27th, 2011 at 3:52 am
1) I, too would love instructions, and possibly lessons on uke playing!
2) I think I love you.
May 27th, 2011 at 4:01 am
[…] our fellow Lego-loving pal, John, over on MAKE: Ross Crawford's brick ukulele can be played and its four strings are tuned to C, F, A and […]
May 27th, 2011 at 8:14 am
[…] LEGO UKULELE May.26, 2011 in Uncategorized Ross Crawford’s brick ukulele can be played as great as the 4 strings have been tuned to C, F, A as great as D. This indication […]
May 27th, 2011 at 12:31 pm
[…] Link via Make […]
May 27th, 2011 at 12:48 pm
[…] Link via Make | Photo: Ross Crawford […]
May 28th, 2011 at 6:43 pm
Thanks for all the comments! I see quite a few want instructions, I will try to put together an LDraw of it, but it might take a while, I’ll post it here when I can.
Oh and Mary, feel free to contact me 😉 http://www.br-eng.info/who-we-are-mainmenu-20/3-management/2-rosco-head
May 28th, 2011 at 10:32 pm
[…] Crawford has taken a few boxes of LEGO bricks and used them to build his own ukulele. The instrument is playable and can even be tuned. Crawford says that there were a bunch of […]
May 29th, 2011 at 2:49 am
[…] potete suonarlo QUI la traccia.In approfondimento altre foto:Mostra Approfondimento ▼Fonte: Qui Arte, Idee Share Tweet Buzz Effettuare il login per lasciare un commento 0Commenta X […]
May 30th, 2011 at 7:07 pm
Nice job.
Any ideas how many bricks went into building this?
May 30th, 2011 at 7:17 pm
[…] LEGO.This looks very nicely done, with working tuning pegs, and from the MP3 he uploaded onto his blog, actually looks […]
June 1st, 2011 at 4:12 am
[…] Find out how Crawford made it work over at the Brickley’s Words blog. […]
June 20th, 2011 at 9:18 pm
[…] LEGO bricks and used them to build his own ukulele. the instrument is playable and can […]
June 27th, 2011 at 8:31 pm
[…] make a dual-rotor helicopter. It'd even be within the bounds of human belief that you could make a Lego ukelele, which is both easier to build and better-sounding (MP3) than the Lego […]
July 24th, 2011 at 8:37 pm
[…] pouvez en lire davantage sur ce lien . Vous pouvez même en entendre un extrait audio de l’instrument ici […]
May 23rd, 2012 at 1:42 pm
[…] ross crawford has built a ukulele out of LEGO bricks and the sound quality of the instrument isn’t bad either! because of the popular building block’s block-like forms, it was difficult to emulate the rounded shape of the hawaiian guitar-like instrument. […]
June 28th, 2012 at 4:47 am
[…] A playable Lego Ukulele made by Ross Crawford […]
August 4th, 2012 at 11:08 am
[…] Ukulele out of LEGO bricks? […]
September 15th, 2012 at 6:48 pm
[…] te doen op deze doordeweekse zaterdag? Haal uw dozen Lego van zolder, bouw uzelf een ukelele uit Lego-blokskes en speel een triest deuntje. Fijne dag […]
July 24th, 2016 at 3:56 pm
Great idea! I just finished one, and you can see it and hear it played on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_5ulz-srT8g
August 9th, 2019 at 9:15 pm
That is really great Ben! Glad you found some inspiration here!
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