Martin Uke + Dog = uh oh!!

[Mark Pollock]

Oh boy, have I got a project here.

 

I bought this Uke with full knowledge that it was thrashed. What I didn't realize was that a dog had chewed on it while it was in the case. Sadly, many ofthe pieces are missing, including the missing portion of of the rosette.

 

It's a 50's to 60's era uke, AFAIK, common as anything, not significantly valuable. It is mine, and I intend to play it, but not until it is stable. I have tossed a couple strings on it, and it does sound quite nice, so I'm willing to move ahead and do the work.

 

Issues I see -

 

Two tuners are shrunken, and will need to be stabilized, or replaced. I doubt anything like these knob shapes are available now, any thoughts? I figured on just wicking in some CA glue to stabilize the cracks and fill in the voids.

 

There are punctures on each side of the uke, from dog chewing. The wood is all there, nice and fragmented. I'm guessing I should make a nice caul and clamp it back in place?

 

The back has a couple of boring easy to fix cracks. No biggie.

 

Fretboard has a nice toothmark on it - should steam out a bit, and it REALLY doesn't matter - this is a uke, after all.

 

And the top - as you can see, there is a lot of wood missing, and that dang rosette. I raounded up a few chips that were still in the case, but most of it is AWOL. Now what do I do?

 

I would, of course, LOVE to restore this to pristine condition, but that is probably unrealistic. I suppose I could just clean and smooth the edges of the top break and leave it there, kinda like Trigger, but I think I could really do better. I'm just not sure how I would ever make a good looking patch and fill it properly. Perhaps this is a good location for a mini pickguard? Or, if I want to fill this in with correct looking mahogany, where would I get that?

 

No rush here, I won't have much time to do anything until I'm on vacation again. I'm not sure what I've left out, but I can post plenty more pics!

 

Thanks!

 

Mark

[Mark Pollock]

More pics

[nathan clark]

I can't speak to the tuner repair/replacement. Sounds like you have a good game plan for the punctures and back crack. Regarding the top, here's how I dealt with a similar repair a while back:

http://fingerlakesguitarrepair.com/pages/repair-descriptions/body/b...

[Mark Pollock]

Thanks for the link, that is exactly the kind of advice I need. Now to start my mahogany hunt...

It just occured to me that I should really inspect the SNOT out of the inside with a mirror as well. I've done a bit of looking, but not enough.