Members Freeman Keller Posted January 4, 2014 Members Share Posted January 4, 2014 This is for Neal and the few others who noodle around on ukuleles. I recently received a very old (proabably 1920-30) uke that had been handed down thru the owners family. He wanted it restored and made playable if possible, but wanted to keep it as original as possible. Here is the way it arrived in my shop That head has a century of mojo - names, drawing, dirt... I took it off and the owner will preserve it under glass. Took the pot a part, cleaned up the hardware as best I could Got a new goat skin vellum, soaked it in water (thats my beer making kettle) and stretched in onto the rim. And stretched it onto the rim Trimmed the excess off and put the tensioner j-hooks back on. Reassemble all the other pieces (it has a neck stick like a banjo) Cleaned up the fretboard and frets, made a new nut, and strung it up (thats my little Martin uke for comparison) Kind of a cute little guy - I wonder what stories it could tell. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Grant Harding Posted January 4, 2014 Members Share Posted January 4, 2014 Cool! I had the pleasure of doing a neck reset on one of those a couple of years ago for a friend. Thankfully the head was still intact, but the neck join had let go. I took it apart, cleaned it up, then used LMI glue to reset it. Also polished up the frets, put new strings on, put the bridge saddle in the right place (was off by a mile, forever according to the tan line) and lowered the action. It sounded and played great once I was done. She was over the moon, since she's had it since she was a kid and hadn't been able to play it for years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Graeca Posted January 5, 2014 Members Share Posted January 5, 2014 I have two banjo-ukes, one a surprising "bleh" Gibson UB-1, the other this plastic one. All plastic injection-molded construction, excellent fretting/intonation, and a really sweet tone. My brother got it for Xmas about 45 years ago, and I traded him a small quantity of Hawaiian "produce" about 10 yrears ago. I've heard from a few folks, but have never verified, that it was made by Maccaferri's plasic company, who made quite a few plastic ukes and guitars, which were also quite playable and sweet sounding Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.