Getting closer on the Nunes...

Got some good work today, and I felt good that I simplified my approach to some nagging problems.

First, I started in with a bit of work on the Cuatro.

Removing tuners was fairly easy. I'm not sure how I failed to notice that one screw had been replaced with a tack.

Little cracks on one side.

And a pretty nasty crack on the other side, which had been reglued once. I decided to just wick in CA glue and clamp.

Well, that was pretty simple.

I also scrounged through my can of tuner parts and found a replacement screw for one that was missing on the gear of a tuner. All set to go!

Onwards to the Nunes. I started off by mixing a small batch of garnet shellac.

I then when to work with the table saw. The plug immediately burned up, so I had to give up on that for a bit. It was off to the hardware store, and then some wiring work.

A couple hours later, I was ready to roll. I had been thinking of all kinds of ways to make a saddle slot in a ukulele bridge, and realized that I was REALLY over-thinking things. I clamped a 2x4 to my miter gauge, and chopped the end off square. I then screwed on a chunk of plywood as a hold down.

Pefect!

And now I had perfect saddle slows. The bridge on the left is for the Nunes, the one on the right is for a Duke Kahanamoku uke that I've been slowly working on.

The shellac was ready for doing touchup.

Nice! It really darkened that binding.

Wow - nice match!

I also worked on the side. I added shellac, and then thought I would take a razor knife and add some grain-like cuts.

Much better. That patch is still pretty ugly, but I can't do much more without risk of collapsing the whole side.

A bunch of finish later, and it is getting really close to ready.

I added my maple saddle to the bridge as well.

I shot boring old spray-can lacquer on the bridge, and it looks fine.

I've also spent some time filing around the bridge, trying to give it a bit of a worn look to match the uke. This whole project is getting really close to done - I need to glue down the bridge, polish the new finish just a bit, install tuners, and string it up. So close!!

Recreating a Nunes ukulele bridge

Just a little work to report today.

I was lucky enough to find images of a Nunes uke on the internet a few months ago, including a shot that showed how the bridge was carved. I worked from the pictures and the uke at hand to measure out what the bridge should be like.

I sat down at the computer and resized the pictures until they seemed right, and measured them out with a ruler.

It's hard to see, but I sketched out what the curves should look like for where the string knots rest.

Ready for the cutting.

I clamped my bridge blank between two pieces of scrap wood so that I wouldn't blow out the grain, and so I would have something for the forstner bit to grab into.

I just worked my way around, eyeballing everything.

It is rough, but I intend to chisel it out.

After some chiseling, it is taking shape. I then took it to the belt sander to bring it to size.

Apparently, when I said "bring it to size", I meant "screw it up". Some days a guy just can't catch a break. I took way too much wood off.

 So, I went to the wood pile, selected a much nicer piece of koa wood, and redid the whole process. The result was much better, the grain on the koa is much nicer, and I think the whole process was worth it.

This time, I made some lines to sand to. That would have been a good idea the first time.

Eureka! It fits, it looks right, and it's ready for a saddle slot and string slots to be cut.

 I finished up my time puzzling over how to make the saddle slot. I figure that all these bridges just had the slot made on a table saw, so I ended up working to stabilize a sliding table for my table saw, since I'm going to need it anyways. I was pretty tired today, since I'm fighting a cold, so I decided not to actually mess with power tools. I can save that for another day.

Evaluation Day

I took some time to evaluate a few future projects today. One is really exciting, one will be a good project, and the others...

Let's start with the exciting project. A late 50's-early 60's Kamaka Pineapple uke.

That's a pretty nice looking uke from this distance.

I have another Kamaka from 1961 with the same styling and neck joint, so I feel very comfortable with my estimated date.

Hmm - there is a pretty thick overspray on the finish. The original obviously was chipping pretty badly. NICE curly figure on that bridge.

It's actually a pretty lousy overspray. Lots of swirls, bubbles, and fisheyes. And it is REALLY thick. The original finish on these ukes was nice and thin, this is thick like the counter at a bar.

Hard to show the bubbles, but there are some of them.

That fretboard looks pretty icky. Those dot markers are really looking dirty.

WHAT THE &#@?!&@ IS THAT? Who in their right friggin' mind takes a huge chisel to the neck of a uke, makes a giant divot, and fills it in with a hunk of plastic, a bit of epoxy, some matchstick, and who knows what else? I know - LET'S TAKE OUT PART OF THE FRETBOARD WHILE WE ARE AT IT!! Oh no, now the nut is too close to the first fret. WAIT, I CAN SOLVE THAT TOO - TAKE OUT THE FIRST FRET!!!

Oh, this is horrible.

I mean, there is nothing good about this at all.

*Sob* The slots aren't even capable of holding a string, and they also gouged out the fretboard while making them.

Oh hey, while we're at it, let's ditch the old tuners and buy some of the cheapest plastic import tuners available, and install them nice and crooked.

AAAANNNNDDD - Let's scrape off the decal, and drill a hole in the peghead.

The wood is so beautiful - this should be an incredible uke.

And hey, while overspraying the finish, don't bother to protect the soundhole or label, just let the finish flow in and destroy the fragile label. Good work.

Fisheyes in the finish. Oh man.

Once more - I really want to make a joke about British dentistry, but I shall refrain.

And thanks to the seller for taking a decent condition case and putting packing tape all over it so that the cardboard gets all ripped up while I open it.

Okay, deep breaths now - I've put a string on this uke, and given it a pluck. It sounds GREAT. Really, really good. It will be wonderful. But it needs a lot of work.

The plan is simple-

• Strip off all the finish
• Plug the hole in the headstock
• Remove that giant bucktooth of a nut, and probably remove wood all the way to the first fret, since there is already a big chip there. Replace with new wood, and the cut slots for the new nut and first fret
• Possibly pull all the frets, clean the fretboard, and refret
• Remove the bridge and figure out what is going on with it. It may have been removed in the past, and I want to position it correctly
• Refinish, and make a new decal for the headstock
• Make a new label for the inside
• Decide on tuners that are reasonably correct for this uke
• Always carry an album of these pictures with the uke, so that when someone says "Hey, nice uke." I can say "Check out what it USED to look like."

 Yeah, it's a simple plan. The uke is worth it, and will be wonderful, but oh man, what a disaster area.

These old Kamakas are my favorites - they sound just amazing. Wonderful to play.

Next up - a Venezuelan Cuatro!

Ray brought this over a couple months ago, a project for a friend of his.

Pretty cool!

Love the marquetry. Absolutely beautiful.

Huh - that's an interesting joint, and the crack is kind of ugly on those tuners.

That is one long soundport - oh wait, that is a massive break in the paper-thin pine sides of this instrument. It is incredibly delicate, and that is one nasty break.

The piece is missing, so I think we'll just replace the whole piece, it's really too thin to work with any other way.

Simple project, should turn out fine. I'll rummage through my pine boards and find something that will work.

Next - two baritone ukes! Twins!

Two Crest baritone ukuleles, made in Japan in the 60's, I guess.

Some loose binding.

Really low action on the first. Actually, no action at all. Severe backbow.

Here's the label.

Super high action on the second uke.

The tuners are the same as on the old Roy Smeck ukes from Harmony. Pretty cool.

One bridge has a screw in it. I don't know why.

Here's a spot where they sanded through the top layer of the plywood top.

Having taken a nice look at these ukes, I have made a decision - they aren't worth the effort. They might turn out okay, but it would be a lot of work for very little reward. I already have an old Favilla Bariton Uke that I'm working on, so I really don't need more. I'm not sure what I will do with these - probably Ebay.

And lastly, a tenor banjo.

Pretty cool - I'm guessing it's from the 20's, a short scale tenor with nice inlay work. The fretboard is dyed maple or something of that nature. All the hardware is there, which is always a shock to me.

A bit of dirt on the head - nothing bad.

I REALLY like those inlays.

The peghead looks a bit dinged up, and there is some cracking around a couple tuners. This is a problem.

More cracking, and possibly an old reglue job.

Yeah, I'm pretty sure this was reglued at some point.

And here is the cause - these tuners are putting pressure DIRECTLY on the wood, without any reinforcement or anything. This tuner has sunken into the overlay, and is exerting pressure outwards when tightened enough for tuning.

It's really just a wedge forcing things apart.

Wedges on both sides - brilliant.

It's pretty dirty, but nothing awful. Certainly nothing like the Stewart a few months back.

The neck joint is really iffy. It seems to wobble and wander out of tune way too easily. I'll have to take a look at the joint and the dowel stick and make sure everything is alright.

I just love the way these things look.

Here's one more look at that peghead.

So, the plan is to do a bit of drill work on the peghead and insert a phenolic rod in there to take the stress of the tuner. I might pursue better tuners as well - why not?

Deciding not to do the baritones is a bit depressing, but I only have time for so many projects, and these just don't seem to make the grade. The Kamaka will be a nifty challenge, the Cuatro will be interesting, and the banjo will be very rewarding. If it would only warm up enough to get to work on some projects.