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  #1  
Old 04-04-2011, 04:07 PM
murrayatuptown murrayatuptown is offline
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Default 'sacrificial' instrument to repair family ukulele

Hi:

I'm back with another weird question. A friend at work has a 1920's soprano ukulele (J.R. Stewart Le Domino) that has been passed along through his family.

He was in the military (US) and it was vandalized when some other items were stolen from a storage space where he had it.

He sent me photos today but I haven't unzipped them yet. He described it as having the top smashed, but didn't seem to feel it was otherwise seriously damaged.

He has gotten one quote so far to repair/rebuild, and it was in excess of its market value so he's ruminating about it.

I suggested a sacrificial instrument for parts, and worry about the finish, design decals etc., later...a step at a time.

Elderly Instruments had one in the past, and their best approximate analysis is that it had a (probably solid) spruce top and birch back/sides.

OK, I guess this is really two questions, par for me...

I have a tracing of the top and back for dimensions, and wondered how standard soprano uke dimensions are, and whether such an instrument was built with 'tuning' of the top. I kind of doubt it, but just asking...

Excuse the attempt at proper terminology...the back is 9" long overall, the upper bout is 5-1/8" wide, the lower bout is 6-5/8" wide and the 'waist' is 4-1/8" wide.

It had a black finish and domino decals on the body and neck. My gut feeling from that description is that's it was painted and not magnificent tonewood...but people made things differently decades ago...his memory of it's tone is probably biased, but it is what it is, and I think something can be attempted...rather than lament a splintered instrument for a couple more decades...

Thanks

Murray
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Old 04-04-2011, 05:16 PM
gitnoob gitnoob is offline
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Replacing a top is a significant repair -- probably about as difficult as they get.

At a minimum, you'd have to first remove the neck, which is non-trivial.

Taking a top off another uke would pretty much double the complexity. You'd be better off making a new top from scratch.

Sounds like a worthy project, but not an easy one.
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Old 04-05-2011, 04:32 AM
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Kitchen Guitars Kitchen Guitars is offline
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Cool thing is you can score a Uke top for next to nothing.
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Old 04-05-2011, 03:48 PM
murrayatuptown murrayatuptown is offline
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When I looked at the photos, I thought it wasn't as bad as I anticipated. I asked if all the pieces of the top were present. He thinks so but says it won't resonate the same. I said 'true, but how does it resonate now'?

He thought that was a sarcastic joke, but what I really meant was there's no harm in putting the top together if it's complete, then worry about options.

It could be cosmetically intact and sound like whatever it ends up like.

Duplicating the dominoes is probably a big pain in the neck. I know there are weird giclee printing methods now to put photos, art, etc. on coffee mugs, so maybe there are other decal techniques. The printing method is oriented toward single or small quantities, and the original dominoes are intact for photographic purposes.

As far as the integrity of the top goes...I suppose there's a remote possibility the pattern of the glue lines could be assessed and alternate bracing orientation applied to be as agreeable as it could be with the repairs...but the symmetry wouldn't be right.

I know instrument repairs are sometimes repaired rather than replaced, so I'm contemplating whether certain glues are more friendly toward retaining resonances...like maybe a polyurethane glue might have less 'damping' effect on resonance than a normal white/yellow carpentry glue.

I don't know how he will assess his memory of what it sounded like, but I suppose sounding good regardless should be a happy result.

Thank you

Murray
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Old 04-05-2011, 03:55 PM
gitnoob gitnoob is offline
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Couldn't hurt to try to glue it back together.

Tim McKnight is the glue go-to guy.

http://www.mcknightguitars.com/glue-vib.html

http://www.mcknightguitars.com/glue-hardness.html
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Old 04-05-2011, 08:06 PM
murrayatuptown murrayatuptown is offline
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Thanks.

Here are some images of the 'patient'.

http://truefire.com/forum/album.php?albumid=29
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Old 04-05-2011, 08:09 PM
murrayatuptown murrayatuptown is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by gitnoob View Post
Couldn't hurt to try to glue it back together.

Tim McKnight is the glue go-to guy.

http://www.mcknightguitars.com/glue-vib.html

http://www.mcknightguitars.com/glue-hardness.html

Yeah, this is incredible! I'm more tech than woodworker :O(
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Old 04-05-2011, 08:27 PM
gitnoob gitnoob is offline
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The fretboard extension appears to be painted on. That should simplify things a bit.

Try to glue it back together, and when he's not looking, hand him this:
http://cgi.ebay.com/Vintage-J-R-Stew...ht_2426wt_1139
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