Crawls Backward (When Alarmed)

The Kawika Hula Girl Shaker Break-In Tool for Ukulele and Guitar

2012-01-30T11:06:00.002-05:00

While I'm waiting for my shipment of bridge blanks to arrive, I need to find some other trouble to get into. I had been reading David Hurd's ukulele pages and was intrigued by the "Hula Girl" shaker. I decided to make one, since I happen to have a new ukulele that could use some break-in.

There has been a lot of experimentation into and discussion of "breaking in," or "dedamping" acoustic instruments. The first time I became aware of it was in Tom Wheeler's "The Guitar Book," where he briefly mentions it, and says that "violins kept in museums must be periodically played to keep up their tone." Roger Siminoff, well-known author and luthier, even offers a dedamping service.

Making the Kawika Hula Girl Shaker is pretty straightforward. You need one garden-variety small speaker.

I have three 4 inch speakers on hand. I need one for my GE radio restoration, but I can sacrifice one for this project.

Cut out the speaker cone, except the part where the coil wires are glued on. It felt very strange doing this!

Then cut the speaker frame off, except the arms where the terminals are mounted.

Drill a groove and a hole in a closepin (see the Kawika page for more detail), and glue a dowel to the speaker and to the clothes pin.

Wire up the speaker to a headphone connector (I used a 1/8 inch connector) and to the speaker terminals.

Put the groove over your strings, and use the pin (I cut a brad) through the hole in the clothespin.

Here's my Hula shaker on my new Lanikai O-8 uku being driven by one of my Hacker radios. I tuned it to a local classical station - I thought the wide frequency range of classical music would be a good thing.

The ukulele actually becomes a speaker! The vibrations from the speaker coil are transmitted to the clothespin and then the ukulele body. You can hear the radio via the uku. And you can feel the vibrations.

I'll leave it on for about a week and see what tonal changes there are.

Saddle Relocation and New Bridge on Gretsch Soprano Ukulele, Phase Three

2012-01-27T10:45:00.003-05:00

Armed with my trusty clothes iron and some foil, I am prepared to remove the bridge from the little ukulele. This has been a great learning experience, but I am a little weary of looking at this thing.

I used the setting a notch or so below the hottest heat level. This is the basic technique. Although, I did tape around the bridge after this picture was taken. The heat from the iron tends to make the finish 'blush' a bit. I forgot about that until right after I started.

I heated the bridge for about 30 seconds at a time, then tried a separating knife (paint palette knife) on the seams.

After a few rounds of heating, I can get the knife under the bridge. It's coming off very cleanly and easily.

There you have it! Came off perfectly. The bare wood on the top will help when I go to align the new bridge.

The old bridge does appear to be mahogany. Originally the plan was to carve a new on from a hunk of mahogany bracewood I have, but I had second thoughts. I just ordered a handful of bridge blanks from LMI, and I think I'll be using one of them instead.

You want a hardwood for the bridge, and mahogany is not as hard as, say, rosewood or ebony. I figure I may as well do an 'upgrade' while I have this thing apart. So I'll wait until the shipment arrives and go from there.

Installing Peghed Tuners on a Silvertone Baritone Ukulele

2012-01-25T13:42:00.005-05:00

I just turned around this quick project before I dive back into (onto?) the Gretsch ukulele bridge fix.

I've been trying to play my Silvertone baritone uku, but the thing just will not stay in tune. Part of it is the bad strings I have on it, but the core problem is the tuning heads. So I am going to change them out.

I've read great things about Pegheds, so I bought a set. They look like a classic tapered friction tuning peg, but they have a planetary gear mechanism in them that has a 4:1 tuning ratio.

No matter how I adjust the patent heads on the Silvertone, they just slip. Ironically, the ones on my Martin are pretty good - they've needed little adjustment.

In any event, the old tuners need to go.

It's easy to take the old patent tuners off. One screw holds the whole assembly together.

The three pieces that make up a patent tuner. I suppose I could get better ones, but I want a geared tuner.

They sure look nice, but they don't work at all.

These are the kind of tuners you'd find on all sorts of old banjos, ukuleles, and even some guitars.

Aren't they beautiful? Too bad they're going to one of my parts bins.

Installing the Pegheds is easy. First, ream out the holes in the headstock a bit.

A couple notes: ream some, then test the fit, then ream again, etc. I actually drilled a little into one of my holes based on the fact that the instructions said "thicker headstocks may need a small hole for clearance." This was a mistake in my case. I now have one hole that's a bit too large - but it's not too noticeable, and the tuner works fine.

Also, be careful to keep the reamer straight. One of my tuners is a bit crooked because the hole isn't perfectly square. Again, not a disaster, but I would be more cautious next time.

Step 2 is to thread the Pegheds into the headstock.

The Pegheds are self-threading. The are two with right-hand threads and two with left-hand threads for each side of the headstock. The instructions are very clear as to which to use where.

I threaded some, then backed the tuner out and cleaned out the swarf (well, actually sawdust). Then threaded again, etc.

After they were all threaded, I put a drop of medium CA on the threads, and screwed them in. Very straightforward. Compared to maple, this mahogany is a lot easier to work with.

Here they are from the back. Not as cool looking as the old tuners, but they look nice.

And from the front.

I left the same strings (Martin Baritone) on the ukulele that I put on it a few weeks ago. What a difference! Tuning is so much easier. Wow. Highly recommended.

I really don't care for these strings at all - I have a set of Aquilas (and some Worths...) that I'll be trying soon.

The Pegheds folks make these for violin, cello, ukulele and guitar. If you have any of these instruments with friction or patent tuners, I recommend you switch to Pegheds. They make an amazing difference.

Saddle Relocation on Gretsch Soprano Ukulele, Phase Two

2012-01-24T10:13:00.003-05:00

I believe I mentioned some new tools I had procured for the work on the Gretsch ukulele bridge. Here's Tool Number Two. It's a Dremel router base from Stew-Mac. Dremel themselves make a router base, but the reviews I read were not good.

So I went with this one. It costs a bit more (BIT more, get it?), but I think it's worth it.

For one thing, it's made of all aluminum, where the Dremel is plastic. Second, there is a nice setup for depth adjustment. Should be perfect for making a saddle slot.

I had previously done a test using a piece of bone behind the original saddle to get a general idea of where I'd need to relocate the saddle to. I knew I'd need to move it back, but now I need to measure and determine the exact scale length.

So I measured from the nut to the center of the 12th fret (the fret slot, more accurately) and guess what? It's 6 13/16ths inches! I was assuming the scale was 13.5 inches and it's not. It's 13 5/8, or converted to decimal, 13.625 inches. Hmmm.

I got some helpful advice from Sven at Argapa, and also read Kawika Hurd's compensation article. I knew I'd need to add a few millimeters to the scale length to get it to intonate. I also decided to convert my measurements to millimeters, since I find metric measurements a whole lot easier to work with on this sort of thing.

Using the very handy Stew-Mac converters and calculator, I find that for my scale length of 346.07mm, my bridge placement should be 348.11mm. I want to add a couple of millimeters to that so I have some saddle width to work with to file some compensation as needed.

Bottom line is that if I place a new saddle so it overlaps that 348mm mark by a couple mm, I have run out of bridge width.

Here's a hunk of bone blank in about the location I want. If I put a saddle there, the back angle down to the existing string slots will be way too great. There will be a tendency to break strings, for one thing, and I think the downward pressure will wear the saddle quickly.

The obvious answer is that the whole bridge needs to be relocated.

I'm thinking that if I take the bridge off, the part of the top that's underneath is probably not going to look too pretty. I'll see when I take it off, but that's my guess.

Looking around the dungeon, I see a nice long piece of mahogany bracewood I just ordered from LMI for another upcoming project. Light bulbs go off in my head. Hmmm, I ponder.

I am thinking I will make/fabricate a new bridge! Just like the original, but a bit wider so it covers the old joint and gives me the length I need.

Good idea, but can I pull it off? I am not the world's most skilled woodworker. On the other hand, how hard can it be? Most of the surfaces are square - not a lot of fancy curves.

The LMI label on the wood. I suppose if I actually use this for an actual instrument part, I am doing actual lutherie. Whoo hoo!

Saddle Relocation on Gretsch Soprano Ukulele, Phase One

2012-01-23T11:04:00.002-05:00

I just picked up some new tools from Stew-Mac to work on the saddle relocation on the Gretsch ukulele. They should come in handy for other projects too.

First is this flush-cut saw. I probably could make this cut with a razor saw, but this one is so inexpensive it seemed like a no-brainer. And for me, no brain pretty much describes it.

This saw has big teeth and is thin and very flexible. Should be perfect to cut off the fixed saddle on the bridge.

Getting ready to make the cut. I have learned that covering everything in the vicinity with tape is a good thing.

And, yes, I did move that C string out of the way before I cut!

There you have it. Just about a perfect cut. There is a tiny ridge I'll sand out, but otherwise this was a 5 minute job.

Intonation Compensation With a New Bone Saddle For the Gretsch Ukulele

2012-01-20T10:08:00.002-05:00

The intonation on the Gretsch ukulele is off - it's sharp. I had no idea if it was even correct in the first place, and I'm not surprised it's off. Combined with the fact that I did a neck reset - well, I was figuring that some sort of compensation might be needed. So it is.

Here's the plan. You can see that the original bridge actually is one piece, with the saddle carved out of it. This was an obvious move to save cost, since a separate saddle would involve more work. The whole time I've owned this ukulele, I have pondered whether or not a separate saddle would be a good thing.

Ponder no longer. It's necessary if this thing is to be playable - well, at least playable in tune.

So I took a Fender-style nut I had experimented with at some point, and used it behind the existing "saddle" to get an idea of how much compensation I'd need to have proper intonation. Since notes at the 12th fret are sharp (and frankly most everywhere else they're sharp too), we need to add some string length. And it looks like we need a lot, relatively speaking. About 3mm, or an eighth of an inch.

What I'm planning is to cut the "saddle" flush with the top of the bridge, then rout a new saddle slot behind it and stick a bone saddle there. In one move I can correct the intonation, add a bit of string height to raise the action (it's buzzing in places), and hopefully improve the tone with a proper saddle. Good luck to me.

Gretsch Ukulele - After Rebuild

2012-01-18T15:56:00.003-05:00

The little Gretsch soprano ukulele is together enough that I can take it outside and get some decent photos of it.

It came out very well I think, considering it was in pieces when I got it. I treated the body with Kramer's Blemish Clarifier and also Antique Improver and it looks nice. The grain is very nice.

There were three body cracks I fixed, plus several top and back-to-side joints that I reglued. They are not noticeable now unless you're right on top of them.

As I mentioned in the last post, I still have a couple of setup issues to fix, but they should be straightforward.

It's a good looking little instrument. There were thousands of these made in the 1950s, and quite a few have survived.

I strung it with regular Aquila strings, and it sounds pretty good. It's surprisingly loud for its size, and has a nice clear tone.

I now have three mahogany bodied, ukuleles, and I can hear a 'signature' mahogany-bodied tone. Fairly deep, woody, round, resonant, and throaty. Very nice tone on this one, especially since it was an inexpensive instrument in its day (and still is today).

This is the only soprano I own, and I think it's a keeper.

One crazy thing I noticed about the headstock when I was stringing it - the tuning pegs are not squarely aligned! See how they were mounted sort of haphazardly? I'm surprised the factory didn't have a jig to line them up, but there you have it.

This picture with my Kala Marcy Marxer model tenor gives an idea of the size difference between a soprano and a tenor. The tenor's not that big to start with, but a soprano is quite small!

Gretsch Ukulele Fret Level and Crown

2012-01-18T15:44:00.000-05:00

Ok, new frets in place, check. Now I'm going to level and crown all of the frets.

First I mark the fret tops with a marker.

Then with my granite fret leveling sanding block, I go over the frets. No pressure on the block - its weight does the job. Just a back and forth and sort of circular motion does it.

The idea here is to sand until the marks on all the frets are gone - then they're all level. Usually doesn't take long.

Then we crown them with a fret file. This file is curved so that the frets will get a rounded "crown" shape on the tops.

Note the second fret with the arrow. I didn't get all of the marker off, but I figured it might be ok. These frets are small, and I was wary of taking off too much material. Hold that thought.

After the crowning, we polish them with #0000 steel wool.

Now my latest Stew-Mac catalog lists these abrasive "erasers" in different grades for this job. I had to try them, so they're on order. There are a few nicks in these frets that I should be able to take out later with them.

Now I string it up and take it for a test drive.

Remember that second fret? It's too low. When I fret a note there on the A or E strings, the string actually frets on the third fret. Since the second is too low, the string doesn't hit it.

I'll go back when I get the fret erasers and fix the problem. Also, the action is actually a tad too low (!) and I have some buzzes. I have a solution to fix that at the bridge.

Given all the work I put in with the reset, I'm not too surprised I have a couple of setup issues. Could be a lot worse.

Installing Frets on the Gretsch Ukulele

2012-01-17T13:53:00.003-05:00

I think we're close to the end. I need to install a couple of frets and string the ukulele up. Then I can see how well (or if...) it plays.

I had pulled the next-to-last fret off when I was working on the neck, and the last fret has been missing since I've had the ukulele. So there are 2 new frets to go on.

First we cut them to length with fret cutters. This is the smallest fret wire Stew-Mac stocks. It isn't a perfect match, but after they're installed and levelled, it will be hard to tell the new ones from the old.

The first one is easy. It goes in the slot nicely and I can hammer it in.

I held my hand under the neck for support when I was hammering, but I really want to get a bag of buckshot to use as a support in the future. Works like a big pillow to support the neck.

The last fret is a little different. Since I just guesstimated the fret slot width when I reglued the fretboard extension, I wasn't too precise. I figured the slot was a little small, and it is.

So I open it up some with a razor saw, but even then, the fret ends want to pop up. So I used some medium superglue in the slot.

I quickly put the fret in the slot, then hammered it home. Stays in perfectly.

The superglue (CA) may cause a problem for a refret in the future, but, seriously, who's gonna refret this thing?

Nip the overhanging end of the fret close to the fingerboard.

Crazy picture. The file and the frets look huge!

Here I'm filing a bevel on the ends of the new frets. I just used the old ones' bevel as a guide as to the angle.

Then I used a small file to dress the ends of the frets. Some of the old ones were a little sharp, so I did all of them. Now they're nice and smooth.

Next we level, crown and polish.

Restoring the Headstock Decal on the Gretsch Ukulele (Attempting to)

2012-01-15T09:13:00.002-05:00

The headstock decal on the little ukulele has some bubbles in it where it has lifted up over time. It's not bad, but I want to take a shot at getting them down if possible.

On the decals I put on my effects pedals. I use a decal solution called Microsol. It softens the decals to conform to a surface better. It's good for fixing bubbles under a decal.

First you poke a hole in the bubble with a needle. I found out that my decal is so old and brittle that some small pieces just broke off. Ouch.

Then you just apply the Microsol - I use a paintbrush - and let it dry.

The bottom line is that some of the bubbles went down some, but the decal is so old, and the adhesive on it is so far gone, that there wasn't much of a change.

So I thought I'd also try putting some Microset on the decal. This is designed to improve the decal's adhesion. I figured it was worth a shot.

Again, after it was dry, little change. It was worth a try.

Both of these products are made by Microscale Industries. They have all kinds of other glues and products that are useful.

Steaming Out Fingerboard and Neck Dents

2012-01-13T15:59:00.003-05:00

When the epoxy is dry, I scrape it off with a razor blade. I taped over all of the blade except a small portion so as to scrape only a small spot at once.

This worked well for the bigger fills, but the epoxy I used to fill the circular divots just popped out.

I had been doing some reading on the great Frank Ford's Frets.com site about fixing dents. He suggests using a soldering iron in a damp towel over the dent.

EDIT: I just saw the comment Sven of Argapa Ukuleles made on the last post. He suggested the steam dent method too! Thank you Sven!

So I tried it. And it worked great! The divots in the fingerboard are gone!

I used my soldering iron on a low heat - about 350 degrees F. This is much lower than you'd solder with, but I wanted to have control over the heat. It took about 10 seconds on each dent to bring it up.

Amazing.

I also used the same technique on the dents on the back of the neck. This actually was my first attempt (before the fingerboard) and the heat was too high. It took off some of the finish - but I can touch it up easily I think. And the dents, again, are gone!

This actually isn't as bad as it appears in the picture.

Here's the repaired fingerboard extension. The cracks are still visible from close up, but I didn't want to sand the fingerboard too much.

I think when I oil the board, the cracks will be even less noticeable. From more than a foot away, they're not visible anyway.

All was moving forward, until I discovered yet another seam split. This one is right below the neck heel. It probably happened with all of the other clamping and handling. Sigh.

So it's glue and clamp one more time. After this, I can work on the neck touchup, and put the two missing frets on.

Soon, I will hear this little ukulele sing. Patience, grasshopper.

Filling Fingerboard Cracks and Divots

2012-01-12T10:33:00.000-05:00

Getting close to the end of the saga on the little Gretsch soprano ukulele. The gluing-down of the fingerboard extension went very well.

The joins are only visible from about a foot away. And the width of the fret slot looks good.

I have this slow-setting black epoxy I'm going to use to fill the joints in the fingerboard. From what I read, this works pretty well. We shall see.

In addition to the joints that need to be filled, I'm also going to fill these dings in the fretboard as well.

These were caused by some doofus not being careful when clamping the neck into a vise. I wonder who that could have been?

I was sick when I saw these. And guess what? There's a matching set on the back of the neck! Oh joy.

The joints and divots are now filled. After the epoxy dries, I'll scrape off the excess and hopefully level the fill(s). Note that I wrote "hopefully."

And I need to figure out what to do with the divots on the back of the neck as well.

Repairing Fingerboard Extension on Gretsch Ukulele

2012-01-11T10:15:00.001-05:00

The glue's dry on the back cleat. I think it turned out pretty well. I pressed on the back some, and it's definitely stronger, but still has a bit of flexibility.

Originally I thought I'd just leave it bare - after all, braces inside instruments are bare spruce or cedar or maple or whatever. But in a fit of inspiration (or stupidity), I decide to hit it with some stain so it won't stand out so much.

Had lots of fun trying to mask it off. Not.

Now it's time to reglue the fingerboard extension.

When I first got the ukulele, one hunk was still on, and one piece was off, but intact. In the process of taking the one piece off, it split into two. And then the one piece that was already off split into three. So I have five pieces.

Fortunately, they all line up. I'm fairly confident (call it 70%) I can fill the cracks once it's back on.

My game plan is to assemble the pieces upside down on a piece of masking tape, then flip it over and glue it to the ukulele.

This tape is fairly low-tack to start with, and I handled the tacky side for a bit to take even more stickiness off. I don't want the pieces to pull back up when I try to remove the tape.

I need to get an idea of the fret slot width in order to space the extension properly. The highest fret will go between the end of the fingerboard and this extension piece.

My string action gauge is just about the right thickness. I'd rather have the gap be too small rather than too large. I can cut a smaller gap for a fret to fit, but I can't close up a gap that's too big.

After some trial runs, I glue the extension down.

Now we have an ukulele with wings!

Regluing Fretboard Ends

2012-01-10T13:56:00.000-05:00

While the cleated/reglued back is drying, I can move on to some other repair work. First up is regluing some bits of the fingerboard.

When I steamed the neck joint apart, a couple of pieces from the next-to-last fret came unglued and fell off. I just need to glue them back to the fingerboard.

One thing that strikes me about this fingerboard is how thin it is. I should measure it. It's really thin. Very thin, in fact. The person(s) who put these ukus together must have had to be careful not to break the fingerboards.

The pieces came off recently, and I have handled them very little, so they fit perfectly back into place. I just use some rubber bands to hold them on while the glue dries.

There will be some gaps in the fingerboard to fill - I have a special concoction to try on those. Stay tuned.

Making a Spruce Cleat for the Back Crack

2012-01-10T12:21:00.005-05:00

I think we've seen this movie before.

With all the handling and clamping to put the neck back on the body, one of the cracks I previously repaired opened back up. The good news is the crack right beside it is still closed, and this one is still closed at the ends.

There's a lot of flex in this area of the back, which contributed to the original cracks and the repair opening back up. So this time I'm going to put a cleat behind the crack on the inside.

I have some spruce to use as a cleat. Just for the heck of it, I measured its thickness. It's .135 inches, or just a shade less than 3.5mm. I'm going to take some thickness out, and I was curious to see the original thickness.

(I really just wanted to play with my dial calipers).

So it's over to the ROSS. I used a piece of masking tape to hold the spruce against the belt. I'm still getting the hang of using the sander - mainly learning how to keep the workpiece square against the belt.

Now, I have played (and own) many guitars with spruce tops, so I know of its great reputation as a tonewood. I also know it's soft. But I hadn't worked with it until now. I learned a few things:

- It's light. If you don't hang onto it when using a belt sander, it may fly off into never never land behind the furnace.
- It's strong across the grain, but will crack relatively easily along the length of its grain.

I learned these things on piece #1 of spruce. I had better success with piece #2 after my education.

After thickness sanding, the cleat is .0935 inches, or a shade under 2.8mm. I didn't want it too thick - it seemed overly thick at first.

Ideally, I'd use mahogany for this cleat, but spruce is what I have, so there it is.

I cut the cleat to follow the curve of the side. You can also see where it will run across the cracks. The grain of the spruce is also perpendicular to the grain of the back. This is the bottom side of the cleat which will go against the inside back of the uku.

I figured cutting the curve would help align it inside the body of the ukulele. It will be mostly hidden, but I want to do a tidy job regardless.

Here's the top side, almost finished.

I did an edge bevel like a perfesshunal luthier would do. Golly.

Now the real fun starts.

I've been pondering how to get the cleat clamped down. I don't have any clamps that will reach that far into the body. Then I saw these rare earth magnets in the Stew Mac catalog. Just the thing for holding a crack or cleat or brace in place while gluing.

They're super strong. And they have a little handle you can put on one of the mating magnets to help move it. You will need it. It's hard to get these things apart when they're together. Super strong.

So again we open the crack and spread glue on it, then work it in, and close the crack.

Spread glue on the bottom of the cleat and put it into place. I used a bit of masking tape on the cleat and tweezers to lower it in. I had a few dry runs with the cleat and this seemed to work best.

That soundhole is small and it's hard to work in there. Another reason to play a tenor ukulele instead of a soprano, I suppose.

Cleat in place, and one of the magnets on top of it.

I tried to get as much excess glue off as I could, but it's such a small space, I'm sure there will be some to get at later. I don't want to disturb the repair too much at this point.

The other magnet with the handle goes on the outside. The cleat is held down into place by the magnets' attraction. Crazy, huh?

I also used masking tape to close up the rest of the crack.

We shall see how strong this repair is after it dries.

Checking the Net Set on the Gretsch Ukulele - Post No. 300!

2012-01-10T11:51:00.001-05:00

So, this is post number 300 of this blog. Seems like just yesterday I was at 200!

This is a good subject for this post, I think. The neck set on the ukulele looks good. Here's a picture looking down the runway...er...the neck.

And the real proof in the pudding is the actual neck angle. This is my straightedge laying in one of the nut slots and on top of the bridge. See the clearance. Just about perfect.

This uku is going to have low action for sure.

Resetting the Neck on the Gretsch Ukulele

2012-01-09T12:43:00.007-05:00

Aside from the neck alignment issue, I found that I actually over-set the neck joint. An overset is where the neck angle is such that a straightedge placed on the frets (in the same direction as the strings) goes over the bridge instead of laying exactly on top of it.

My goof was setting the neck to the top of the saddle, rather than the bridge. So I need to recalculate the difference and shave some material off the neck joint to get a proper set.

You can find the formula online. (By the way, that dial gauge on the link above is nice, but you can make the same difference measurements with a ruler. You may not be quite as accurate, but that's the way luthiers and repair people have done it for hundreds of years).

I calculate that I need to take about .050 of an inch off the top of the joint, tapering to zero at the bottom. So I make some marks for that distance at the top of the neck...

...and use some masking tape to give me a line to work against.

What this will do is align the joint so that the neck angle will be less severe. As it was set, if it were strung, the strings would literally lie right on the tops of the frets and the ukulele would be totally unplayable. Not what I'm aiming for.

Now, because I am a bit daring, and because I have this new tool toy, I decide to take a bit of the material off with an oscillating belt sander.

I actually just take a tiny bit off with the sander, mainly because it's too hard to keep the neck square against the belt. You're better off using a chisel so you have better control. After a quick whoosh on the sander, I use chisels for the rest of the job.

Here's my spindle sander next to my drill press.

There are lots of threads on the TDPRI about the "ROSS" (Ridgid Oscillating Spindle Sander). It will definitely make my life easier. It can run as a belt or a spindle sander. What a machine.

Now the process is: hold the neck in place, measure the neck set, and adjust accordingly. "Adjust" means shaving small amounts off the neck's butt end (hee hee I wrote 'butt') until the angle is perfect.

This picture gives an idea of the process. It's close at this point.

When the angle is correct, I take some sandpaper (I used 150 grit) and put between the neck and body. Holding the joint with one hand, I pull a strip of sandpaper down through the joint.

This helps the neck take the curve of the body and hopefully makes a tighter fit.

Another shot of the test-fitting process. I use masking tape to try and not hose the finish too badly.

I had cut a dowel to replace the old one I cut out. You can see it here glued into the body.

Then I put glue on the neck joint - including the mating hole for the dowel.

Then I put the neck and body together.

Here's how I clamped the neck and body together. Unlike a dovetail, where you'd put vertical pressure on the joint to clamp it, I needed to put on horizonal pressure. I decided to go with a band clamp around the whole instrument lengthwise

I was a able to get a fair amount of pressure on the joint - glue was squeezing out, which was a good sign that the joint was tight.

I double, triple, and quadruple checked the alignment from every angle. I think I'm in good shape this time.

I gently picked the ukulele up while it was clamped so I could clean up the excess glue squeeze-out with a damp rag.

Here's the clamp from another angle. Again, I checked and rechecked everything and the set should be good.

Steaming Apart the Neck Joint on the Gretsch Ukulele

2012-01-09T11:56:00.007-05:00

Now it's back to the ukulele rebuild. I've done so much work on this little Gretsch that I think it can be officially called a rebuild, rather than just a repair.

When we last left our patient I was muttering about the goof I made in regluing the neck to the body. I was so concerned about the tightness of the neck-to-body joint that I was careless with aligning the neck laterally. See the blue arrow in this picture; it's clear that the treble side of the neck is higher than the body. The neck is twisted instead of being level.

So I need to take it apart and reglue it.

That's where my new-used Krups Bravo espresso maker comes in!

The best way to get a glued neck joint apart is to use steam. All over the interweb and in guitar repair books, you'll see slightly different variations on this theme. Get a source of steam under pressure, and inject it into the neck joint. The steam will soften the glue and the joint can be pulled apart.

So I procured a used Krups espresso maker from Craigslist, also got a length of hose and a needle (from Stew-Mac), and I'm about to go to it. You see the business end of this contraption in the picture.

You could use any small diameter automotive heater hose and probably a needle used to inflate footballs, but I was lazy and bought the Stew-Mac package deal.

We need to drill a small hole into the neck joint for the needle to go into. This is an easy job with a 7/64 drill bit.

This would usually be after removing a fret, but since the end of my fretboard is missing for the time being, I can drill right into the neck/body joint.

This ~~espresso maker~~ neck joint steamer has a plug attachment you can put over the coffee outlet to make steam only. Perfect!

I fill it up with water, turn it on, and in about 3 minutes, WE HAVE STEAM!

Using my noodle for once, I realize there may be water in the outlet at first. I point the needle into a small bucket, and sure enough, hot water comes shooting out!

After a few seconds, it's all steam. And it's under pressure! How exciting is this?

Then I put the needle into the hole, and steam away.

There is some condensation that comes out along with the steam. I find it's better to turn the uku on its side, and then upside down to help the water stay away from the body as much as possible. I also have some clean rags to clean up the condensation.

After two minutes of the steam bath treatment, the neck joint easily comes apart. Since the joint is so simple, it just swivels apart.

On a guitar, with a dovetail, you'd need to use a jig to lever the joint apart. I have a guitar that needs a neck reset, and this has been a good practice run with the steam.

As it turns out, there is very little actual moisture on the mating parts. The whole process took just a few minutes.

Hallicrafters S-40A Power Transformer Removal

2012-01-05T14:44:00.001-05:00

We now take a break in the Gretsch ukulele action to do some radio destruction.

Long story short, there's a fellow on the ARF who is attempting to rebuild a Hallicrafters S-20. His (well, the radio's...) power transformer is dead. I happen to have the remains of a Hallicrafters S-40A chassis, and the transformers are pretty much interchangeable. So I'm going to test mine to make sure it works, then take it out and ship it to him.

First picture is the business end of the transformer. I previously scavenged some tube sockets - one of them was the rectifier tube. So I already have some loose leads.

The AC cord is long gone from the chassis. So I'm going to use my AC test cord - with bare wire ends to connect it up to the transformer.

I just use two test leads connected to the cord on one end...

...and connected to the AC primary side of the transformer. This is safe as long as you don't touch the bare connections!

A nice piece of kit to have when repairing old electronic junk is a variac. A variac is essentially a big wirewound potentiometer that lets you vary AC voltage. This is handy for slowly bringing up voltage on old radios which may not have been used in decades.

Here's mine - it's a GE. Dig the cool knob.

I have it wired up with a voltmeter and an ammeter so I can monitor voltage and current. If there's a lot of current draw, there is a problem - usually a short. Better to have some control over the voltage rather than zapping full wall voltage on a piece of old gear.

Before I bring the voltage up on the variac, I connect my DMM test leads to the secondary leads I'm testing. In this case, it's the high voltage B+ output.

With 120 volts AC on the input, I see about 700 volts on the secondary. About what I'd expect. This is without a load on the transformer - the voltage in a circuit will be a bit lower.

This tells us that that winding on the transformer is good.

Then I test the other secondary outputs - the 5 volt rectifier and 6.3 volt filament windings. These too are good.

Here I've labelled the various wiring so we can tell what is what.

Now I can physically remove the transformer from the chassis. There are 4 11/32 inch bolts that hold it on.

The transformer drops out easily.

This puppy is heavy - about 7 pounds (3.4 kg). Part of why these old communications receivers are called "boatanchors." That iron is heavy!

BTW, see the Red Pepper waiting to be finished (blue arrow).

Top of the chassis. It was pretty bare when I got it - and I really just wanted the tube sockets. I'm going to take them off soon and throw the rest out. There's nothing else of value there.

Other that the tube sockets, the other parts I'll save are the coils - the assemblies on the right side. I think I can remove them as whole pieces. Somebody might be able to use them.

Vintage 1940s-1950s Martin Tenor Ukulele

2012-01-03T16:28:00.009-05:00

After I did a minor set-up on my 'new' Martin, I took it to the garden for some beauty shots. I'm fortunate to have snagged this one. It's in super clean condition. There are no cracks at all, and only a couple of minor dings. The finish is in great shape - only some light wear on the treble side below the soundhole.

This is a Style 1-T. "T" for Tenor, and the "1" is the Style, or trim that is on the instrument. Mine has (faux) tortoiseshell binding, and a thin white purfling. The body is solid mahogany, and the neck is mahogany as well. The fingerboard, is ebony, as is the nut. The saddle is ivory, and the bridge is rosewood. It has a nitrocelluose lacquer finish.

Older Martins have a "12-fret" neck, meaning there are 12 frets clear of the body. At some point not recorded, the factory changed to 14-fret necks. Martin guitars officially changed to 14-fret necks in 1938, but it's not known when the ukuleles changed.

Here's a good page with some Martin ukulele history worth perusing.

And the back.

The tone is wonderful. Very clear, articulate, full and "round" sounding. I've been playing a Kala Marcy Marxer Model a lot, and this ukulele puts it to shame. There is no comparison.

Front view. The finish is in remarkable shape for an instrument that's around 60 years old.

Wonderful grain on the headstock.

The headstocks on models older than this one don't have the pronounced curves and arch that "later" models have. This is one giveaway that mine was made after the late-1930s. It's also known that Martin had some big production runs after WWII.

Here's another interesting Martin ukulele page. This page states: "In 1950, Martin’s uke sales were greater than any other year excepting 1926, and almost 12,000 were sold."

Given the its features, and what is known about Martin history, I'd place this one as late 40s - early 50s.

Here's a shot of the "patent" tuning pegs. Martin changed to these from friction pegs in 1927. The current production models use conventional Grover tuners.

I have this type of tuner on my Silvertone baritone ukulele, and they are a hassle. (So much so that I'm going to put a set of Pegheds on it). But on this Martin, they stay in tune very well, no problems at all. The difference in quality is noticeable.

The quality is evident in small details such as the neck joint.

Minor Set-up - Vintage Martin Tenor Ukulele

2012-01-03T16:08:00.005-05:00

I probably don't need to give much introduction about Martin guitars. They are legendary for quality and tone. But you may or may not be aware that Martin has made ukuleles pretty consistently since about 1915. And, yes, they are as renowned as their guitars. I've been window shopping them for a few years, and I recently took the plunge and am overjoyed to be a Martin ukulele owner.

I'll do a post with some 'beauty' pictures soon. But first I found I needed to do a minor setup to get it playing perfectly. Yes, despite as scary a thought it was for me to be taking a file to this fine instrument, it had to be done.

This one is a late-1940s to early 1950s model. Martin didn't put serial numbers on its ukuleles until recently, so we have to rely on the features to give an approximate date.

The action is a tad high, so I'm going to shave a little off the saddle and also lower the action at the nut.

I want to take extra care not to hack that beautiful finish accidentally, so I use low-tack masking tape around the bridge.

One wonderful feature about this ukulele is the bridge saddle - it's ivory! Martin used ivory up until 1965. I like bone for saddles and nuts; but ivory is even harder and is preferred. Of course, it's illegal now, which makes me feel even more fortunate to have this instrument. (Not that it's now illegal. The fact that it has ivory on it).

It's no different working with ivory than bone. Just a few swipes to take a couple 64ths of an inch off the saddle. You see I got some towels to protect the top even more.

Here's an idea I've pondering for a while. Then I read where Frank Ford uses this technique, and I realized it was a good idea.

All I'm doing is using a fret crowning file to round the top of the saddle. For some reason, I had a heck of a time rounding the saddle on my baritone ukulele, and this file works perfectly. I still touched up the edges with a fine saddle file to make sure there were no 'square' edges to catch a string.

Then some finish sanding with 600 grit paper and we're done.

The string height at the nut is a little high, so I make a few passes with my nut files to deepen the slots.

A side note: the nut is made out of ebony. Another mark of the quality materials and great build quality this ukulele has.

This is also a good excuse to use this abrasive cord I just got from Stew-Mac. It's like a string that's sandpaper! (Or is it a sandpaper string?) It works well - but I should get some in a larger diameter too - this is a little thin.

Then I string it up and we're ready to go.

Prep for Reattaching the Neck - Gretsch Ukulele

2012-01-03T15:49:00.000-05:00

Before I go any further, I'm going to admit this right up front. I did reglue the neck on the ukulele, and it was not a perfect job. So I'm going to take it apart and do it again. But what you see here is part of the preparation for reattaching. I'm just not going to show my goof!

The old dowel has to come out of the neck. There's no way to get it out other than to cut it. So I did.

I'm going to put a new dowel in, so I drill out the old one. I used a 1/4" drill bit as a guide, then I moved up to 3/8" to get all of the old dowel out. The dowel is a 3/8" so that works out perfectly.

Here's the new dowel in place. It's a bit long - I cut about 1/2" (maybe 13mm) off the length.

This dowel attachment is not the ideal way to attach a neck. I found this out when I reglued the neck. What I goofed on was the lateral alignment. I was so focused on making a tight neck joint, that I overlooked the horizontal alignment. I wound up with the neck tilted side-to-side (as I say, lateral) a couple of millimeters. So I have to steam the neck apart, clean it up and try again. My neck set is also off a bit, so I need to correct that a tad too.

I'm not too worried - I'm pretty sure I can fix it. As Dan Erlewine says "practice on junkers." This isn't exactly a junker, but it has been a good learning project.

This alignment issue, by the way, is why better quality instruments use a dovetail or other joint to attach the neck - there is much more accuracy than relying on a dowel. The neck can rotate too easily on a dowel. When I re-reglue this one, I need to clamp the neck down in 2 directions. Lesson learned.

Not to mention that one of the back cracks came unglued while I was handling the body. I didn't put any patch there, but now I know I need to.

Removing Fingerboard Extension - Gretsch Ukulele

2012-01-02T14:21:00.001-05:00

Hokay. The top cracks are all fixed. Now I start to work on the Big Enchilada - reattaching the neck.

First thing I need to do is take off the fingerboard extension. I'm going to reattach it after the neck is back on the body.

There's a split between the top and the side here that has to be reglued also.

I've read a lot about removing glued-on bits of instruments (bridges and fingerboards), but I have yet to try it. Until now.

I got some great advice on the TDPRI about doing this. You can buy a fancy $50 hunk of steel from Stew-Mac, and heat it up, or you can use some foil and an iron. I chose the latter.

Just a few seconds on a moderate heat setting...

...and I can separate the extension from the top! Golly! It works!

You may recall that there's a lot of old glue on the neck joint, both on the neck and the body. I need to get that off.

I drape a clean, damp rag over the neck, and use the iron the same way. The glue softens and gets stuck on the rag. Perfect.

Glue is all gone.

I use the same method to get the glue off the body as well.

I also got the old glue off the fingerboard extension pieces. The plan (right now, anyway) is to glue them on the end of the neck after the neck is reunited with the body.

Top Crack Repair on the Soprano Ukulele

2011-12-31T19:08:00.003-05:00

Looks like this may be my last blog post of 2012. My New Year's Eve is so exciting - I'm working on my old Gretsch ukulele!

So, now it's on to the worst of the cracks. Ironically, this one is probably the cleanest in terms of breaks.

There actually are three breaks - the first is the big on on the right. But it is also part of a separation of the top from the sides. This is a little strange, and I wonder if the ukulele was dropped and that's what caused the breaks.

I wonder about it being dropped because of the second crack. This one is a split in the top, and it also has a dent - it's hard to see but it's where the top joins the side. It's right near the knife in this picture.

At any rate, these repairs are like the others. Open the seams, get glue into them, and then clamp them together.

The glue sort of looks like icing!

I wiped most of it off before I put the clamps on.

All clamped up. The lexan caul is helping the top to lay flat. I'm hoping that will straighten out the one dent somewhat and be less noticeable. The wood is cracked around the dent, but it's not the whole way through the top.

I've done a fair amount of repair to the body, but none of the splits should affect the tone. The two in the back are tight (and now glued) and these two top cracks are near the side, which is a fairly dead area in terms of vibration.

Repairing Back Cracks on Gretsch Ukulele

2011-12-30T10:08:00.002-05:00

The top seam is dry and looks good. Now I can keep going onto the next crack.

This one is actually two - one large one I can open up easily, and one smaller one to its left. I can't open the second one much at all - but hopefully I can get some glue into it.

Both cracks seal up pretty tightly - a good thing. I just pushed gently from the inside of the uku to make the big one open as you see here. And, if you look closely, you'll see that this is indeed a solid piece of wood. I read somewhere on the interweb recently that these little Gretsches only have solid tops. Not so. The tops, back and sides are definitely solid mahogany. This picture proves it - the edge is solid, not a laminate.

This repair technique is straight out of Dan Erlewine's guitar repair book. Open the cracks, then spread glue into them. I don't think I'm going to put any reinforcing patch on the inside since the cracks are tight when they're closed up. But we shall see. I'll make that decision after this dries.

Then close the cracks and clean up the remaining glue with a damp rag. You can see the glue line in the bigger crack. This is a good thing.

I also wiped the glue coming out of the crack on the inside of the ukulele as well. This should turn out to be a nice clean repair.

Then we have good quality masking tape that has some stretch to put over the cracks. What I did was put it on one side, then stretch over the crack, not pressing it down on the crack itself, and then attaching the other side. The bit of stretch in the tape helps hold the crack closed.

Then let it dry.