Restoration Project Step 3: Cleaning

Various parts of the Uke required cleaning:

1. The nut which had been painted black, I decided I wanted to clean back to it’s white colour, I used a solvent to remove the paint.

Cleaning nut - in progress

2. The chrome was corroded in some spots and a good clean was needed, I used a mixture of solvents and a fine wire wool. I may decide later to use a chrome polish to get these really shiny, although I think I prefer the somewhat aged look – but not quite the corroded uncared for look! Who really wants an instrument that is almost 100 years old to look like it was made yesterday… defeats the point of it being an antique surely?!

Before - note the heavy/dark corrosion is what I want to remove

After - the heavy stuff has gone (and I forgot to put the bar and screw in the photo.. oops.)

3. The wood lacquer was lost in some spots and cleaning it allowed a good surface for sanding too. This required several cleans over. Sanding will actually clean the surface down to the wood which will give the best surface for applying new lacquer. [sorry no decent pictures of this - not really much to see on a camera!]

Restoration Project Step 2: Disassembly

First thing is to take the ukulele apart and to investigate the condition.

Get those old strings off..

Disassembly in Process

It’s at this point you realise you’ve taken it apart and you can’t strum on it anymore until you finish fixing it up…. so better get to it.

Important note: When taking something apart it’s a good idea to know how to put it back together again! One way of remembering how to do this is to make notes about which parts go where and how they fit together, remember it could be some time between disassembling the uke and putting it all together again.

Restoration Project Step 1: Acquisition.

Much thanks to an Ebay seller, I got a little present in the post, a vintage ukulele to play around with fixing up, after several attempts to buy other banjo ukuleles I managed to get this one at a fraction of the bids I’d made on others. So it’s a little bit beaten up compared to others, this isn’t really a concern… its still essentially the same and with a little love and affection I am sure we can nurse it back to being fighting fit.

What's in the box?

This uke is a Slingerland Maybell Banjo Ukulele, from around the 1920′s, it’s in an OK condition, there’s some modern replacement parts – notably one tuning peg and the new bridge. The tuning peg however is very sympathetic to the original ones and is not immediately apparent – which I like, so I don’t think it’ll be necessary to replace the pegs to make them all identical.

It was great to get the ukulele at a very good price, and to have a ukulele that even in it’s current condition is not a bad player, and would be much better indeed simply with a lower bridge. I am hopeful that when fully fixed up it will be a great little player, and a lovely looking vintage ukulele.

It's a.....

The major issues to be worked on are:

1. The fingerboard is coming loose in some areas and needs reattaching. It’s also a little cracked, but, I’d rather live with that than replace the fingerboard, it doesn’t appear to make it difficult to play. So I think it’s really just an aesthetic issue.
2. The Uke is loosing some of its varnish or lacquer and paint work, so will probably want to sand it all down and reapply a lacquer and possibly paint also.
4. A new bridge will need to be added. The current one is a nice grover bridge but it is at the wrong height and needs to be cut down, these bridges are built for the height of modern banjo ukulele’s which is somewhat different.
4. The metal work has some light corrosion in some areas, so will need to be cleaned as much as possible.

Things I don’t want to damage in the restoration project.

1. The ‘Maybell’ name and ‘stars’ pattern in the headstock. At first sight it looked like these were very deeply impressed into the wood, but, on second closer inspection I am not so sure. Which may mean I cannot remove the paint surface. This is still under consideration, and will be investigated further once the ukulele is taken apart.
2. The words ‘slingerland’ and ‘maybell’ on the dowel stick. There doesn’t actually appear to be any need to do anything to the dowel stick, it’s in excellent condition.
3. The original skin – which is in good condition, with just one small tiny patch made in the past under the tailpiece. I’ve seen others re-whiten their skins but I appreciate the aged look.
4. The general feel of the instrument, I want to keep the ukulele looking slightly aged or slightly beaten up, and well used. That’s my personal aesthetic, there’s something very steampunk about the modern ukulele movement and the internet, that I think my aesthetic somewhat comes from.

But, I’ll know a little bit more about the condition, and what choices I will make once the ukulele is taken apart.

....ukulele

So, it’s off to the shops to stock up on a few supplies that’ll be needed for this project, and I’ve ordered some Aquila Nylgut Strings, to spur me on.