Diddley Uke

I couldnt resist giving the One String Diddley Bow just one more go, and when my friend Sally was 'throwing out' a Ukulele body - I was inspired.

Sally had just bought a Ukulele kit for donor parts (the neck and bridge) for her Cigarbox ukulele, so she didnt need the body, and I managed to convince her that I could put it to good use..... and so I shall, but without a neck, what was I to do?




The great thing about a one string diddley bow is that you don't necessarily have to grasp the neck of the instrument like you would on a guitar or ukulele, so in theory I could make the neck out of pretty well anything i liked as long as it was rigid enough to take the strain of the string tension. The nearest free thing to hand in my garage was a stair banister spindle - perfect in every way!












So with a bit of shaping on one end of the spindle and blocking and shaping at the other, and combining it with Sallys donor Ukulele body, it looks like i might have the makings of a rather ornate "One String Diddley Uke"