Is it worth repairing?

It seems you found a good person to do the repair, and you might want to contact Mim for a case, she's on the lower east coast so the shipping would be cheaper and quicker. I'm surprised Kamaka did not respond with more information.

http://mimsukes.com

Hi poppi, welcome to UU. Glad you joined us. I have a 1968 Kamaka Tiki that was my mom's. After 40 years of Minnesota winters it developed 4 cracks. I ended up sending it back to Kamaka for repair. Tekla is a joy to work with but you are on island time. If you don't mind it taking ~ 4 to 6 months you will get back a glorious instrument.

In my case, I had a very sentimental tie to it so it was worth the wait. The folks that made it know how to repair it.

It's hard to see from that pic how bad the crack is. Possibly a good luthier and some hot hide glue might fix it properly.

Good luck and let us know how it ends up. You have a beautiful instrument there.

vanflynn said:

Hi poppi, welcome to UU. Glad you joined us. I have a 1968 Kamaka Tiki that was my mom's. After 40 years of Minnesota winters it developed 4 cracks. I ended up sending it back to Kamaka for repair. Tekla is a joy to work with but you are on island time. If you don't mind it taking ~ 4 to 6 mionths you will get back a glorious instrument.

In my case, I had a very sentimental tie to it so it was worth the wait. The folks that made it know how to repair it.

It's hard to see from that pic how bad the crack is. Possibly a good luthier and some hot hide glue might fix it properly.

Good luck and let us know how it ends up. You have a beautiful instrument there.

Click to expand...

Thanks , was it insanely expensive for kamaka to fix it ? Did you just send it out there and then wait for the estimate and hope it wasn't a crazy amount ?

I don't mind waiting but I have a limited budget .

Tekla is passing along my request for additional info about my tenor to Chris kamaka , so again that's pretty cool.

In my case I it was around $250 plus shipping and that included a light new finish coat on it. A lot depends on how big the cracks are, if all the bracing is in place, etc. Their pricing seemed very fair, it just takes a while.

Some good pictures of it to Chris might help

vanflynn said:

In my case I it was around $250 plus shipping and that included a light new finish coat on it. A lot depends on how big the cracks are, if all the bracing is in place, etc. Their pricing seemed very fair, it just takes a while.

Some good pictures of it to Chris might help

Click to expand...

That's actually not too bad , I'll shoot an email to them and see what they say
Thanks !

No prob. In the meantime, grab a mai tai, tune it up and have fun!

UPDATE

I just met with the repair person .he does beuatiful work, but it seems there were two other cracks
I didn't see . So the total for repairs , smooth the frets , clean polish the uke in whole and condition the finger board and bridge ,
And do the setup with new strings for $350 .

Not sure if that's good or bad price but it definitely hurt a little when I heard it .

Welcome to the site Poppi! I grew up just a hop, skip & jump away in Crystal Lake.

It sounds like the repairman has suggested the right things. I am not a luthier and do not know the extend of all the damage, so I cannot comment on the pricing. But is sounds like he is knowledgeable and does beautiful work. If I couldn't afford to get it done now I would ask him if there is any risk to leaving it as it is until you have the money. I would also wait to hear from Kamaka and see if they can give you a repair estimate. On a side note, you would be hard pressed to find another uke near this quality for $350. Factor in the rarity and to me it makes a lot of sense to get it done right.

WCBarnes said:

Welcome to the site Poppi! I grew up just a hop, skip & jump away in Crystal Lake.

It sounds like the repairman has suggested the right things. I am not a luthier and do not know the extend of all the damage, so I cannot comment on the pricing. But is sounds like he is knowledgeable and does beautiful work. If I couldn't afford to get it done now I would ask him if there is any risk to leaving it as it is until you have the money. I would also wait to hear from Kamaka and see if they can give you a repair estimate. On a side note, you would be hard pressed to find another uke near this quality for $350. Factor in the rarity and to me it makes a lot of sense to get it done right.

Click to expand...

Hey yeah crystal lake is about 15 min from me !

The repair guy is just down in hampshire www.babinguitars.com . I'm looking into trying to get the cash together sooner than later . He said he would need the uke for 4-6 weeks .

He also noticed mine has a koa finger board vs a rosewood one that he was seeing in his books . Not sure how unique that feature is .


Side note my mom just found another uke that no one knew about and I might get that one too .

My mom keeps bringing up new stories I'd never heard . It seems my dad lived in Japan for
Quite a few years and would visit Hawaii fairly often . The things you learn after they are gone.

If that other uke has "M Nunes" on the headstock, grab it!!!

Is that a Hawaiian maker ? She thinks another kamaka , but sending pics with her phone
Is a slow process for her haha

Edit :

I googled it and those are mighty old and nice ukes !


My dad never bought anything that wasn't of very high quality or that he didn't think wails increase in value
So I suppose anything is possible .

Hi Poppi,

Welcome to UU. I had my gold label Kamaka pineapple restored by Kamaka a couple years ago. Tekla & Alice at Kamaka were awesome to deal with & I'd have no reservations with having them restore another if I needed it. I also bought a Kamaka hard case from them while it was there (MM Stan ended up with the gig bag I had it in). I think if you search the threads here you may find before/after photos or I could send you some. I think it took about 5 months, but it was worth the wait.

Matt

Do you recall the cost ?

Hi Poppi,

I sent you a private message with the costs for the work done by Kamaka plus the details of what was done. Best way to contact me is via PM, since I don't hang around here nearly as often as I used to. I'd be happy to help if I can.

Have a great day,
Matt

Just as an FYI to all you very helpful folks . Right now kamaka has a minimum repair fee, for a tenor its $350 plus the ride . Time for estimate is 2-3 business days . Time to completion is 12 months currently .

I'm not sure if it's the person that I spoke with that answered the phone but she said that the only estimates they give are with the instrument in hand , no pictures first for a ball park . So that means I have to pay for the ride out and cross my fingers on the cost . The lady did say that some people pay a little at a time because they have an extended time to completion. So ukulele repair layaway I guess .

Either way I would think I'd need to get a hard case for the trip out and back.


Just a heads up for anyone looking into getting kamaka to do some repairs .

I'm hoping if I hear back from Chris I'll get a better option than the ship it in and hope option .

You might want to send some pics and an email to Jake Wildwood for a second opinion:
https://antebelluminstruments.blogspot.com/p/faqs.html

poppi_m said:

Hi all ,

I'm new to ukuleles as in a few weeks new .

My dad died but left me a ukulele he bought in the early 70s.
I couldn't find out much about it based on demensions , number of frets ,etc. What I could find out it that it's a kanaka "white label " ukulele.

I emailed kamaka with pics and demensions and all they sent back
was that it was a long neck tenor .

It has a slight crack in it that I'd like to get repaired
and maybe learn to play , but I'm concerned about
putting more than the instrument is worth .

I can't find much of anything about vintage kamaka
Long neck tenors good , bad or indifferent . I can't even find a hard case that will fit it .

So any insight would be great . Thank you all in advance .

Click to expand...

Get it fixed......... well worth it... even if it wasnt a decent instrument... which it is.. Id say fix it cause it was your Dads'.... Every time you pick it up... its something that he picked up... every time you strum it.. Its something he strummed... Just for that reason Id do it.....I have a couple of my Father-in-Laws Ukes... ones he made... I think about him every time I pick em up... every time I look a them...Its one of the ways I remember him and pay tribute to him.. In reading the rest of the replies I agree with everyone's encouragement.. you cant go wrong..

There are a lot of factors here...I think nearly every member of UU would spend the money to have it fixed, and many of us would be willing to send it to Kamaka for repairs.

I don't own a Kamaka--but I probably will someday. I'm not sure if you are aware of this, but Kamaka celebrated 100 years last year with a special model--and nearly all of those should be out and for sale (I think Mim posted some today). I'll probably wait a few years (there is a Mainland, Opio, and KoAloha with my name on them first) and try to buy a centennial model at a slight discount (used) in the future.

Keep in mind that a new Kamaka tenor is $1400, and a new Kamaka baritone is $1600. And I'll be bold enough to say that a repaired "vintage" ukulele (we're talking 60s, right?) in good repair should retain a good amount of the value of a new one, and theoretically should have appreciated in value.

A good rule of thumb with ukuleles is to not buy as an investment (which is not the same as collecting), and for "players" to buy used, as the second hand generally takes 30%-40% the price of new off of an instrument.

Incidentally, Jake Shimabukuro, the ukulele virtuoso, plays Kamaka, and on his Nashville Sessions tour repaired 100 Kamaka Ukuleles in his travels.

If the repair is $350 plus shipping for the repair of an instrument potentially worth over $1000, and priceless as a family heirloom--get it repaired.

If you are looking to simply have someone else deal with it, name a price and there are members of UU who will step up--AND they will also let you know if your price is too high.

I'd personally repair it, keep it in a good case, keep it humidified in dry weather, play it a lot, and pass it down to my kids when I depart this earth.

I was wondering while looking at my own 1968 Comcert Kamaka if you got it repaired and if you got around to playing it? Also, if you got the other one from your Mother and what kind and model was it?