Interesting Find!!

BigD

Well-known member
Joined
Mar 30, 2013
Messages
341
Reaction score
0
Location
Waterman Illinios
So earlier in the year i purchased an old 1950's baritone ukulele from member dhoneisch. Lived near enough, met him at the gas station in my home town as he was nice enough to come all the way to me! Loved the uke immediately, had all non-wound aquila reds, sounded great! I vaguely remember hearing like a slight shift in the uke, scrapping, maybe a brace moving slightly, had no idea really and wasnt concerned. I never heard it again, nothing sounded off or different so i just passed it off as either my mind or it rubbing against my shirt or something. Well i was swinging it around the other day (not in an unsafe manner, more of a, im singing marvin gaye and gettin down kinda way) and i heard a scrap then small thunk. I kinda poked around inside then finally got a small light inside and noticed a piece of paper/maybe cardboard? Loosened the strings a got a small pair of pliers in there and pulled out a piece of paper!! It was very damaged and falling apart but it said in bold letters across the top " How To Tune Your Arthur Godfrey Ukulele" had some different chord charts and small progressions for easy songs, was pretty neat! Im sure its just some kind of old box insert or something but it was pretty interesting! I know Dan did some work on it and who knows how many other people have had it in their hands and never had any idea it was inside there! I imagine it was put in there by the original owner, would make sense. Has anyone seen something like this before? Im half asleep so pictures wont be here till tomorrow!
 
Is that "fluff" you have there in your picture?
 
Is that "fluff" you have there in your picture?

lol

I put rosemary in my uke, took me a month to get it all out. That stinky Koa or whatever scent from the previous owner was not to my liking. Fixed it right up! I still sometimes get a rogue but of rosemary though!
 
Not a ukulele story, but I used to collect locally made Paden City Artware pitchers. They were often sold as souvenirs and had a unique drip pattern on the outside. They sold for very little second-hand and it was a fun and inexpensive hobby to get them at yard sales, flea markets etc.

I got the one pictured on the right, went to clean it, and only then realized that there was something in it. It took a bit to coax it out with a pair of tweezers, but it was an old report card full of "D", and "F"s. I always wondered if the kid ever 'fessed up about hiding it.

Sadly, it did not survive a later cleaning as it got wet and disintegrated.

This also reminds me that my hobbies used to cost about a dollar.
 

Attachments

  • Paden City Pottery.jpg
    Paden City Pottery.jpg
    33.4 KB · Views: 29
Last edited:
LOL actadh, reminds me there's a house in So. San Francisco that's got a couple of reports cards in it! My closet had a hole in the wall. I was terrible at math! Turns out I've got Dyscalculia, no really, just found out about it and I'm gonna be 50 this year. Also on the original subject, oddest thing I've found in a uke (actually a small guitar turned Baritone Uke) was all kinds of wood slivers. Apparently a few mice had been calling it home :)
 
Not a uke, but an old spanish classical guitar I bought at a flea market. Something was rattling around inside it. I turned it over and shook it, and out of the sound hole a cardboard picture button of Sgt. Pepper from the album cutout sheet popped out. It must to have been adhered over the soundhole label by a prior owner.
 
Last edited:
I've opened a few cases to find a smoker's uke. It goes away.

I bought an old Roy Smeck about a year ago that sounds really good...but smells really bad. I didn't smell it, at first. My wife was kind enough to point it out. I think I could make a uke smell this way by dropping a fish in the soundhole and then leaving it in a High School Gym Locker for about 20 years. It hasn't gone away...and I've tried everything but fire. :)
 
If I had a uke that smells like a gym locker, I'd give it to somoene who works in a gym. He'd never notice. Failing that, find somone who works in a fish canning factory.
 
I've opened a few cases to find a smoker's uke. It goes away.

I bought an old Roy Smeck about a year ago that sounds really good...but smells really bad. I didn't smell it, at first. My wife was kind enough to point it out. I think I could make a uke smell this way by dropping a fish in the soundhole and then leaving it in a High School Gym Locker for about 20 years. It hasn't gone away...and I've tried everything but fire. :)

Whew, that sounds stout, and then some. I'd probably call ServPro or some similar company and ask about the chance of them being able to deodorize the instrument.
 
There's a thread here somewhere about smelly Ukes. All kinds of suggestions about how to desmell them. I don't have time to look for it now.

Find that thread! :eek:ld:
 
I put a dollar bill in a uke I had with me in Hawaii. I was playing (to myself) when a tourist kid came up and gave me
the dollar saying they enjoyed the music! :)

I also put one or 2 of my business cards in my ukes. Not in all of my ukes, but I wouldn't be opposed to that.

I have a no-name uke in which I've placed a Duck Tape(R) roll sticker when I got a roll of Seattle Seahawks Duck Tape(R) from a friend.

I like to make my own stickers from candy wrappers, even doughnut box covers. If I like the design or the sentiment, i just use clear packing tape for an instant (one-of-a-kind) sticker. I'm 'cheap' that way. My Kala Travel Soprano (the one with the dollar bill inside) has a MicroSoft Windows sticker and an Intel sticker near the Bridge :) Cheap 'bling'.

keep uke'in',
 
Top Bottom