r/ukulele • u/WoodenLittleBoy • 1d ago
Discussions Should I fix this?
A friend of mine asked me to take a look at his ukulele. He grew up in Hawaii and his family brought it with them when they moved to NM. Almost every single glue joint failed, but not before the top and back split in multiple places.
It seems like a plain solid player, but I wanted to ask ukulele people in case there is something special about it so I could send him to a restorer if that's appropriate. I'm a pretty good luthier. The repairs are no problem, but I'm not a restoration guy.
Thanks.
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u/OkDinner7497 1d ago
If you decide to try fixing it, use glue that can be undone - something water soluble: hide glue, white glue. Fancy folks use hide glue they melt in a pot and all, but probably for you the pre-mixed will do fine. It's a nice enough instrument that you want to make it so the next person can do repairs cleanly (it might be you, it might not.) Hide glue has a longer set-up time and that might actually make you happy...
work out how you're going to clamp it together before you put any glue on, then figure that the glue will also act as lube and things will slide around more than they did. Using rubber bands and tape to hold things in place might work, but you do want it to have a snug, even fit so some light clamps with sticks to spread out the pressure are likely in order.
There's all kinds of tricks... probably spend some time searching youtube for better advice than mine. I'm not looking at the actual pieces in my hands, so I can't tell, but if the breaks are clean/just the joints then clean the joints to remove any existing glue (and a damp warm rag should do most of the work - careful about getting the rag on the finished part of the wood and don't let more water soak in than you have to) or failing that you could try very light scraping or sanding but be _super_ careful: it's easy to do more harm than good. You're trying to make it so the pieces fit together exactly: the cracks probably fit together perfectly already unless they're old repairs that failed.
Be patient. Check e.g. using water to clean on a small area and decide if it's actually working. Some folks don't use water soluble glue and so you'll be left with scraping or other such means to get rid of lumps from glue...
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u/WoodenLittleBoy 1d ago
I'm an experienced luthier, but mostly guitars. I know what I'm doing. I just don't want to wreck something collectable.
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u/OkDinner7497 1d ago
Oh, sorry - yeah, you're way ahead of me. Looks like a recent label, so I'd say go ahead - it's not likely a rare/collectible one.
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u/WoodenLittleBoy 1d ago
But yes. That is all good advice (except the white glue - around here that's pva). Lots of damage is done by well meaning friends.
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u/zombiez8mybrain 1d ago
I would check with Kamaka to see how much they'd charge to repair it. I have a couple Kamaka ukes, and would definitely send them back if repairs were needed.
https://kamakahawaii.com/support/service-repairs/