According to its owner, this KAK Concert Ukulele was hanging on the wall when the bridge "suddenly popped off," taking some of the top veneer with it. So, the task before me was to re-glue both the bridge and veneer, and make the repair look presentable. I discovered that the bridge had popped off because there had only been a few squiggles of glue attaching the bridge to the veneer. The glue joint would have been much more secure if the bridge had been glued to the bare wood of the top, methinks.
After separating the slivers of veneer still attached to the bottom of the bridge, I carefully re-glued them to the top with Titebond III and lightly clamped them overnight. Once the glue was dry, I scraped off the excess glue and filled any gaps with super glue. The affected areas were then sanded, stained and sealed with a couple layers of Tru-Oil. If you look closely at the pics, you can make out the repaired areas.
As for the bridge, it's location was accurately marked on the top. Then, the boundaries were lightly scored with a sharp hobby knife and veneer carefully scraped off from the area within. The result was a neat rectangle that exposed the bare wood of the top. This would provide a good gluing surface for the bridge.
The bottom surface of the bridge itself was also prepped by sanding, with the intention of removing any old glue still sticking to it; and also provide a flat surface for maximum contact with the top. Once again, Titebond III was used to re-glue the bridge to the top.
The clamps were taken off after a week, and dried glue squeeze-out cleaned off. After light sanding and leveling, the whole top was sealed with Tru-Oil. The ukulele was then restrung, tuned to pitch, and delivered to its owner, who did declare that it "sounded better than before." Oh, happy day :)
After separating the slivers of veneer still attached to the bottom of the bridge, I carefully re-glued them to the top with Titebond III and lightly clamped them overnight. Once the glue was dry, I scraped off the excess glue and filled any gaps with super glue. The affected areas were then sanded, stained and sealed with a couple layers of Tru-Oil. If you look closely at the pics, you can make out the repaired areas.
As for the bridge, it's location was accurately marked on the top. Then, the boundaries were lightly scored with a sharp hobby knife and veneer carefully scraped off from the area within. The result was a neat rectangle that exposed the bare wood of the top. This would provide a good gluing surface for the bridge.
The bottom surface of the bridge itself was also prepped by sanding, with the intention of removing any old glue still sticking to it; and also provide a flat surface for maximum contact with the top. Once again, Titebond III was used to re-glue the bridge to the top.
The clamps were taken off after a week, and dried glue squeeze-out cleaned off. After light sanding and leveling, the whole top was sealed with Tru-Oil. The ukulele was then restrung, tuned to pitch, and delivered to its owner, who did declare that it "sounded better than before." Oh, happy day :)
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