Paint Before Cutting Plywood Technique: Ukulele Stand

This method can be used to add a little pizzaz to anything you want to make from plywood. I designed this ukulele stand a while back and have made them from various solid woods to use and to sell on Etsy. I made this one in plywood for the Plywood Challenge. I wanted a strong contrast between the faces of the plywood and the edges. To achieve this I painted the faces of the plywood black before cutting out the parts. I really like the effect I get from doing it this way.

You could also use a colorful or dark wood stain if you prefer. I’m using some decent birch plywood with eleven plys and some water-based flat black paint. It needs to dry well before cutting out the pieces otherwise the soft new paint will pick up bits of sawdust and chips that are hard to clean off.

I've included a SketchUp model below.

cut a 1” strip long enough to make the neck (1” x 16“) and cross piece (1” x 7“) on the table saw.

cut a 4” strip to make the feet piece (3.5” x 6.5”) and the top piece (4” x 4.5”) on the table saw.

mark and cut the feet apart on the bandsaw and sand the cuts flat. I taped the feet together and sanded them on the belt sander so they would be just alike.

Use a 2" hole saw ½" from the front edge of the top piece.

I used a dado stack on the table saw to cut the slots. Set the cut depth to the thickness of the plywood. Plywood is thinner than its nominal size, so test the fit before cutting all the slots. A half inch dado was way too loose for my half inch plywood. So I subtracted 1/16” from the stack and added some masking tape shims until the fit was right. I used a backer board as well to prevent the dado blade from blowing out the face ply on the back.

I used the bandsaw for the straight cuts. Then sanded the edges on the belt sander.

I used the belt sander at first and then a sanding block to ease the edges and corners.

If the fit is good, you can leave it as a knock-down piece, or as I prefer glue with wood glue or super glue. I used thin super glue because it soaks into the joints and darkens the wood similarly to the shellac so it looks better after the next step.

The edges are where you need to let it soak in to make the plys look nice and contrasty. A few coats with a light sanding in between will make it nice and smooth.

And leaving your instrument on display means you will see it and play it more often, and improve faster. Have fun!