New guy here with repair questions

[Tad]

Greetings all!

I'm new on this forum but have been playing ukulele for a little over a year now and am going to try my hand at some repair to get familiar with construction and perhaps eventually try building.

I recently acquired a 50's era Kamaka Pineapple made of koa I want to bring back to life and learn some things about repair. Overall I think it's a good project to get my feet wet with. Thankfully the neck, head, frets and sides are in solid/straight condition.

The top has a few tight cracks and the brace just south of the sound hole is cracked on one side. The original bridge has come off but I still have it. The back has an longish open crack and the back brace is now detached and about one third of the overall brace is broken off and missing. The finish is certainly "used" and will probably need some help as well to improve its looks. Communication with Kamaka in Hawai'i said that it was most likely a lacquer finish.

I've been pouring over FRETS.com the past few of weeks to learn appropriate techniques and the tools/materials to uses. I now have a pretty good idea of what's ahead except for the broken and partially missing back brace and the order in which I should attack it all.

The Kamaka Pineapple had an arched back as my Kamaka standard soprano does. The broken back brace was easily removed and confirmed a radius. The linings are not kerfed and not damaged. Can a new brace be fabricated and installed without the major task of removing the whole back or can it be done through the sound hole?

As for the order of attack on this project does this make sense?
1. back crack (probably fill?)
2. back brace (fabricate and install)
3. top cracks (glue and reinforce)
4. top brace (repair/glue)
5. refinish/touch-up (will have to learn much more about this task)
6. bridge (re-glue)

As far as adhesives to use, I would think Titebond® due to the age of the damage? I've read that it bonds better to dirty cracks and oxidized wood. The bridge should probably get hide glue yeah?

Any opinions regarding any of this would be greatly appreciated.


Many thanks in advance!
Tad

[Jim Bancroft]

Pretty hard to do any major work on a uke without removing the back.
Without seeing the uke, my gut feeling is the back needs to come off to do the repairs properly. If it's unbound, it's not a big deal to take it off, a little more difficult with binding.

As for glue, I'd use hot hide glue. If it's an older uke, that was probably what they used. Titebond is fine too, but I prefer hot hide glue.

Jim

[Greg Mirken]

Like Jim, I prefer hot hide glue. But you are not a professional repairman, and if you do the work yourself you'll have a much greater chance of success using Titebond. Also, don't take the back off; that's a kettle of worms you don't want to open. Make sure the instrument is hydrated to about 50%RH. The cracks should close up fine.

Ukulele cracks are generally the result of drying out or abuse. Work glue into the cracks and lightly clamp to assure the edges are aligned. Don't try to cleat them; if you don't have experience you'll make a mess in there. Glue and clamp the top brace. Don't worry about the back brace; it's fine without it. Don't try to do anything about the finish.

Your goal should be to make the instrument playable without degrading the sound of it or making more work for someone in the future. If you want to do more, buy some flea-market ukes first and learn on them.

Sorry if I sound overly harsh; it's because I have seen so many nice old instruments screwed up by bad repairs. Please don't take offense.

Greg

[Tad]

Thanks for the responses guys.

To Greg's point, I'm not prepared to take off the back already imagining what a can of worms I'd open getting it back on :)

Good point about learning on some cheap ones first.

No offense taken Greg but I had an experience with a "professional" doing a task that I think I could have done better without much experience. And the ukulele sustained a couple of noticeable dings while in the shop which I was not happy about. It's no Martin but a nice vintage keeper.

Anyway, thanks again for the input. I hope to hang out enough here to learn a few things to practice on some cheap instruments before I try some more involved repair.

Hipa hipa!