Binding replacement on the Nunes

This is another picky repair. Replacing the missing binding is not hard, just time consuming and fussy.

This is the problem. 1.25 inches of missing binding. Eight chunks are missing.

I cut apart some maple and - whatever this dark wood is. It was a close match for color, and that was all I cared about.

Truing up the maple thickness.

Looks good.

Getting ready for gluing. I decided to use the bridge I made the other day as a mold to place the pieces against.

Not bad. Super glue, and accelerant.

Did I say I needed eight pieces? Yes, but there is NO WAY that I am going to be so accurate that I will get this perfectly right. The extra dark piece will go against a dark piece in the original binding, and will allow me to fuss and get it to fit perfectly without having to worry about the compounding errors of individual piece thickness.

Now I had to get a curve to fit the space. I'm sure that the original installation was much easier, thinner, possibly even wet.

That's just about right. I fussed around back and forth, thinned it out a bit, tried to get it really close, and tried not to worry about it too much. None of the original binding is completely perfect, so I don't have to be either. And, again, if you want perfect binding, DON'T LOSE PART OF IT!!

Slathered up with glue and ready to put in. I used boring old wood glue, because it will clean up well and give time for me to wiggle the piece into place.

I didn't get a picture of the clamp up, because some stupid squirrel started eating the tiny fruits out of the tree above me, and dumping chunks of stuff all over the table. I rushed everything into the garage, and headed inside.

I don't like squirrels.


Update - a few hours later

Okay, I finished up the binding work.

Trimming the repair down VERY carefully, using paring cuts, slicing diagonally, easy does it.

*%!(!*%(*!!!!!!! Almost done, and a piece pops out.

Super Glue (thick stuff) and a knife to help me hold the miscreant in place.

It will work.

Using a file to refine the curve and level the patch.

Not bad - not bad at all!

I wiped on some shellac, and it looked quiet a bit better. The patch is less obvious, but the binding still sticks out. Also, it's not red enough, so I need to make up a batch of darker shellac.

Phew! I was ready to jump out a window when that piece fell out, but it worked out okay.

More uke stuff

A bit of trimming this morning.

Here's that patch, all glued in. It doesn't really look that great, but it is solid. I think function over form might be important here - the side is so thin and weak, I really don't want to fool with it too much.

It is rather proud of the surrounding wood, though.

Sandpaper won't do the job here (I almost wrote "sandpaper won't cut it", and thought better of myself), so I have to use a chisel to just nibble at the patch until it is flat. There is a great chance that I will poke right through the surrounding wood, so I had to take my time.

Not bad. It really is obvious, but when it's finished it won't be too bad. Hey, if you don't want an ugly patch on your instrument, don't break it!!

I looked over my table and had an idea...

A little coffee would darken that patch up, right?

It's worth a shot. And it helped a bit.

Turning to the other uke, it was time to remove the clamp and cauls. The magnets were there to help me place the caul inside.

Nice!!!

Love the decorations on the neck.

Cool decal on the headstock. I strung the uke up and - meh. It's really purty, but quiet and muffled sounding. Ah well, they can't all be winners.

That patch is much less bright now.

I figure that the surrounding koa has oxidized while sitting unfinished for the last couple of years. I'll hit it with some fine steel wool before I start with the shellac. It should turn out well. I need to get to that binding, though. That will be an interesting job!

All ukes, all the time

Today I managed to get an hour in of work on some little problems.

I'm not sure what the best way is to fix this mess. Cracks, super thin wood - it's not good.

A chisel evened it out a bit, but it's still pretty nasty. The wood is paper thin, and attempting to clean that left side was futile.

I've got a patch ready, but there is a problem - flat patches don't look great on round surfaces!

I dropped the patch in some hot water, and all kinds of tan stuff started pouring off. Wierd.

I clamped the wet piece onto the curved caul I used before.

For a different uke, I'm replacing a torn-up bridge. My replacement is not great looking either, but it will do the job. I cut some slots in it, and then hit it with some lacquer.

Back to the Nunes uke. I needed to make a bridge for it. I measured the scale, and decided that I should just use the front of the bridge as the saddle.

I set up my milling vise and a Saf-T-Planer to make the cut.

I proceeded to go the wrong way with the planer, and made a torn-up mess. Nice job. I fed the next one through in the other direction, and it turned out beautifully.

See? Feed direction is important.

I still needed a caul to clamp the patch on the outside of the Nunes, so I mounted some cork to a block of wood.

I covered the side of the uke with sandpaper.

And I rubbed the caul back and forth to shape the caul.

Later I glued in the patch, and glued on the bridge for the Nunes. It was very fast work, since it is rather cold outside, and hide glue just doesn't work well with cold. I didn't bother taking pictures, since I would probably not have a successful glue job if I did.

Solving the sharp intonation on the 6th string

One of the things that has troubled my friend Ray has been the fact that his Martin plays rather sharp on the 6th string. He generally plays in a dropped D tuning, with light strings and high action. He spent a fair chunk of time in the past trying to correct the problem with compensation at the nut. He was able to make his B string (2nd string) intonate perfectly, but the 6th string always played sharp.

My original thought was to drill a hole through the pin sideways, and then run the pin backwards in the hole and over an additional piece of bone glued behind the saddle, acting as a new saddle. But when we measured the amount of out of tune-ness and calculated the additional length needed, we ended up on the edge of the pin itself.


We solved this problem on Tuesday by making a new saddle and a really interesting pin. There was a lot of discussion, back and forth of ideas, and lots of using files and sandpaper, as well as some rather nice needle files. This is what we ended up with.

Cool, huh? We added almost a quarter of an inch to the string length, and now it intonates almost perfectly. Before, it was about 10 cents sharp at the 12th fret compared to the harmonic, and now it is about a half cent flat. We could use a hair less length, but it is perfectly functional at this point. Even better, Ray was able to capo at the 9th fret and it was still perfectly in tune. AND WE DIDN'T HAVE TO ALTER THE BRIDGE! This is a big deal - I would hate to take the time to remove the bridge, plug the holes, carve a new bridge, place new saddles, etc etc.

Unfortunately, I took very few pictures of the process, so I did it again today with my Guild D25M, a nice guitar from 1977. It had roughly the same problem.

The is the harmonic at the 12th fret. I'm 12 cents flat.

And when fretted lightly (no stretching or cheating allowed), it is 7 cents sharp. That's 19 cents total playing sharp!

I start off by chucking a piece of bone on the lathe. The blue tape is there so that I feel the tape spinning by before I rip my knuckles off with the sharp edges of the chuck. I have a pin to compare my progress to.

I turned using a rasp to rough the blank, then a skew chisel and a couple of files to refine the pin. I'm getting close.

A flat mill file really keeps things from getting out of control.

Almost there.

Oh yeah, looking good. I think I might leave it like this. It looks like my guitar is flipping the bird.

Okay, fine, we cut off the extra material. This vice is from OSH, I think it's a Craftsman vice, I want to replace the jaws someday, but it is really great for making nuts and saddles.

I rough in the slot with a hack saw. I had a slightly flat spot on the pin, which made this a LOT easier.

It doesn't have to be perfect, the files will clean this up later.

I have to accommodate the thickness of the windings near the ball of the string. Lots of filing to get that notch big enough.

I'm getting close. I've made a ramp to the edge of the pin, with enough curve that the string won't kink. It's a good fit, not too tight.

Penciling what part of the bridge to remove.

That is scary looking.

Strung up, here's the 12th string harmonic.

And here's the 12th string fretted. Just a hair flat, which is okay, that string usually goes a tad sharp when fretted anyways.

Here's the 19th fret harmonic.

And the 19th fret fretted - wow! These things are NEVER in tune at that point!

Looking good.

Looking weird.

Hah! It's a pretty weird looking fix, but it really works!

So, are there any downsides to this? Well, no. There is no additional stress on the bridge, slightly less weight, no difference in tone (which is a bit shocking to me), and the whole thing is completely reversible. Hearing the guitar actually play in tune is a treat, but it also might spoil me - we compensate in our heads for that natural tendency to be out of tune, and now that I don't have to, I'm not sure how I will feel about other guitars.

YEEHAW!!!