UPDATE Newbie Restoration of an Alvin Keech Model A Banjulele

[Rico]

Sorry for the long delay in updating this, but I've only just finished and it was stop and go. After completing this, I have newfound respect for all of you. I just don't know where you find the time. Things take so long to complete what with measuring watching videos measuring again ordering tools, making tools. I found that for most tasks I needed to have a solid block of at least 6 hours, which was hard to find.

But anyway, here we are. I'll step you through what I did, with photos.

First, here's a sound sample of the restored Uke strung up with actual Gut Strings from Clifford Essex (N.B. I'm not a great player): Alvin Keech Sound Sample

And here's the original list of tasks I started with:

1. Humidify the thing. 

So, I did this for about a month before I actually started restoring. Absolutely 0 effect on either the fingerboard or the crack in the headstock. I think this old wood must just not grab moisture, which is cool because now I don't feel I have to keep it in a humidifier and I can have it around to grab when I'm feeling my George Formby come on.

2. Disassemble.

I took this tenderly, but everything went fine. No additional injuries from my incompetence.

3. Fix the crack in the head.
I used the method from this youtube video here: Fixing headstock crack

Essential it involved opening the crack, using a homemade plunger to squeeze Titebond into the crack and then clamping. I had no issues and the plunger idea was just fantastic. It was easy to build, but needed to be fairly precise to plunge correctly, just required patience.

Photo: This is a test run. I made an identical crack in some balsa wood to test my methodology. It worked so I repeated on the uke itself. Was very scared while separating the crack, but it worked just fine. The plastic plunger on the right I built from a plastic spatula purchased at the 99cent store.

Photo: Detail of the glue plunger

Photo: The crack after repair. It is still visible which was disappointing, but it's sturdy as a rock, nothing is splitting this open again.

3.5 Replace the missing veneer on the head.

I was thinking of buying an ebony headplate and cutting it to fit the missing section. However, after having a look at the cleaned maple underneath, I decided to leave it as it is. My reasoning is that 1) The maple is quite beautiful, and 2) The injury was part of this uke's history, so why try to hide it. The veneer serves no structural or preservational purpose.

Photo: The cleaned/restored headstock. I think the maple looks great. And the ebony after cleaning and oiling with Orange oil is gorgeous.

4. Sand down all wood parts.

I did not do this. I decided to leave the finish as is. The only exception I made was to gently polish some exposed areas that were rough or chipped. I used 3m Polishing paper and it did a wonderful job.

5. Refinish wood parts with stain/polish.

Again, didn't do this, thanks to advice received on this board. I now believe in leaving the scars the way they are, it makes the uke much more beautiful and preserves the history. I did however use orange oil on the veneer and fretboard.

6. Sand and revitalize all the metal parts including the brass emblem.

Again, no. What I did was soak all the rusty metal parts in vinegar overnight. It removed the rust, but left the tarnish. 

7. Reassemble.

Made one mistake here. Some of the screw clamps holding down the tension ring were bent. I overzealously tried to straighten one of them and it snapped. Fortunately, there was enough length left on it for it to still function, but it was a bonehead move on my part. That old metal is strong but no longer pliant.

8. New friction tuners.

Nope. Decided to keep the Violin tuners, bought a couple extra vintage ones off ebay and they work great.

9. Cut a new nut.

The old nut actually is working fine. I reshaped the grooves a little bit with my needle file and the action is quite nice.

10. Fret dress/level.

Ha. What a job this was. After watching about a billion videos on how to do this, I decided that the tool I wanted to use was a diamond sharpening stone. I bought a Dia-Sharp Fine stone for about $25 bucks. Worked so well. It's nearly the length of a soprano fretboard, and the width is perfect.

But first, the frets on this thing were a mess. They were basically curved and I had to bang them back in and then superglue and clamp each one of them. Even with that, they never fully seated, but there is enough glue in there that they ain't going nowhere, and there was enough fret to sand them down nice and level with plenty to spare. (Really hefty frets on this thing, which surprised me, because my understanding was that narrow tiny frets were used on these old ukes.)

Photo: Clamping a fret after gluing. I built the clamp from a clamp I bought at Harbor Freight ($6). Cut a block of hardwood to cradle the neck, and cut a hardwood T with a brass bar across it to press on the fret. Worked really well. I attached the blocks to the clamp using masking tape and superglue. The best part about this method was that I could easily detach the block to adjust the angle as I went up the fretboard.

Photo: Fretboard taped and ready for sanding

Photo: Sanding progress. You can see how much material is coming off. With the fine Dia-Sharp it took about an hour. But I was gentle and went slow.

Photo: Done. After sanding, I crowned the frets using a triangular file that I had ground the corners off of. This went quickly. Then I polished the frets using the 3m Polishing papers again. A huge advantage of using the fine Dia-Sharp for leveling was that there were very few scratches on the frets when I was done. Considering this was my first ever fret level, I'm really pleased. The fingerboard feels great and plays very well. (Note: the fingerboard is not yet cleaned or oiled in this series of photos.

Photo: Here's the fretboard after cleaning and oiling

Photo: And the full uke

Like I said, it was difficult for me, even though this was I'm sure a simple restoration, but it was my first time with everything. I think the next one will go quicker. And I've picked a doozy for a next one. I got a little excited on Ebay and bought a pretty well damaged Martin Uke. Which I'll be begging for help with soon.

If you have any questions, feel free to ask and I'll try to answer. And thank again to everyone who offered their help on this project, and also to every single person whose ever posted in Frets.net. I could not have done it without this board.

RC

END UPDATE

[Mark McLean]

Hey Rico. 

Nice job!  I think you made the right decisions here. The old saying, "You can't make a silk purse from a sow's ear" - I don't know exactly what that means; but I think you have shown us roughly what it means.  You left this as a fairly rustic instrument with rough charm, and its own history visible as part of its character.  But if it is now a functional and playable instrument you have got a good result. 

I look forward to hearing about the next one. 

Mark

[Ned Knepp]

Looks good! I too like the fact that you did't try to return it to "new" condition. 

I have a Martin ukulele in my waiting for attention collection. Actually, until I read you post, I'd completely forgotten about it. It's one of my early ebay purchases and I probably paid too much for it even if it wasn't much. It turned out to be missing almost all of the back and most of one side. 

I was very surprised to see  just how thin the body parts are on this instrument. It may have the thinnest plates/sides of any instrument I've ever seen.  The ebay seller told me that he was going to include all the missing part he had... which boiled down to a few fragments of wood. I was pretty bummed to find that the back with it's, all important, Martin brand was not included even if it was all in pieces but decided to keep it rather than shipping it back to him as misrepresented.  I learned a good lesson that's more than made up for it since then.

[onewent]

Nice! Glad to see the instrument playing again with minimal changes to originality. tom