Official Luthiers Forum!

Well I've been itchin' to try my hand at instrument repair and this little beaut fell into my lap. Don't know what happend but as you can see from the pic's a brace has become unglued (that's a mirrored view of a top brace) and there are two big cracks on the soundboard. Also, there is a bit of a 'lip' at the heel of the uke just at the inlay which runs halfway from the top crack (which runs all the way to the inlay) and the bottom cack (which stops about a half-inch from the inlay). This instrument is a Sept. 2005 Bushman 'Rosie' Uke.

I have watched a few U-tube vids. One used Crazy glue and an activator for an almost instant glue drying. Another used regular wood glue and a small "patch' with glue drizzled down between the crack edges.

There is a lot of inward pressure from the soundboard pushing the brace away. Not sure why that's happening and am wondering if that may be a contributing factor in the top's collapse.

What are your thoughts on what is going on and the above solutions.

I have zero dollars invested in the Uke so I have nothing to loose in tring to repair it except my time and a little cash.

Irvin.

In my less than professional opinion , I would retop it . i
It would probably take less work to retop it than fix that one . AND you will be much happier with the end result.

_________________
The Shallower the depth of the stream , The Louder the Babble !
The Taking Of Offense Is the Life Course Of The Stupid One !
Wanna Leave a Better Planet for our Kids? How about Working on BETTER KIDS for our Planet !
Forgiveness is the ability to accept an apology that you will probably NEVER GET
The truth will set you free , But FIRST, it will probably Piss you Off !
Creativity is allowing yourself to make Mistakes, Art is knowing which ones to Keep !
The Saddest thing anyone can do , is push a Loyal Person to the point that they Dont Care Anymore
Never met a STRONG person who had an EASY past !
http://wiksnwudwerks.blogspot.com/
http://www.facebook.com/groups/GatewayA ... rAssembly/

Ditto what the Wud-man said.


Posted using something.

_________________
http://www.CostaGuitars.com
PMoMC

I hate to agree with Tony, but he IS_THE_EXPERT on retopping ukes!

_________________
A man hears what he wants to hear, and disreguards the rest. Paul Simon

My friends Wud and Tony may well be correct in the end, but I would propose fixing it first. If repair interests you, try your hand at it on this one to gain experience. If you really foul it up, hey, you planned to re-top it anyway. If it comes out nice, you can brag on your repair. Either way, you get some repair experience.

I won't offer advice on dong the repair, as I don't have experience there. . .

BTW, Good one Rodger.

_________________
Bryan Bear PMoMC

Take care of your feet, and your feet will take care of you.

Hey now! Well...you do have a point.


Posted using something.

_________________
http://www.CostaGuitars.com
PMoMC

And look e here, he's a humble one too!

That reminds me of an interview with Steve Martin about The Jerk. He said that in the beach scene when he played the uke and then jumped up exclaiming, "I have a special purpose!", he accidently stomped the uke which was a lovely vintage Martin. It's in the movie and you can hear the crunch.

_________________
Good judgement comes from experience. Experience comes from poor judgement.