Trying to bring new life to a well used/abused ukulele

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Steve in Kent

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I bought this Lanikai LU-8E for £60 including case.

As you can see it's had a hard life, but sounds a lot better than it looks.

It's evidently had the sound board replaced.

UU1.jpg

After trying to remove the stuck on scratch guard it removed some of the brown stain stuff and the wood didn't look too bad.

So I decided to remove all of the stain.

UU2.jpg

I have now almost finished sanding it nice and smooth, will go to 180 sandpaper next.

I was thinking about using some light oak coloured gloss varnish, the rest of the ukulele is gloss.

So asking for a bit of advice.

I was going to paint one coat, rub down, then another, rub down etc. until I get a nice finish.

Is there anything fundamentally wrong with this approach as long as I do not put too many coats on?

Thanks,

Steve
 
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Hey, looks good! Much better than when I sold it to you ;) x

I have no answer to your question though.....
 
Lots of tutorials on Steward MacDonald website and on youtube. A lot of folks looking for an "easy" finish use True Oil gunstock finish. 180 is awfully rough.
 
It was I... at MOK ukes. I moved to not so sunny Wales last year. It was sold to me as having had a spruce top replacement after the bridge had come off.

Steve in Kent said:
Was it you who sold it to me?

Being as I live in Kent.

Don't suppose you know what happened to it, and what the wood is do you?
Click to expand...
 
JesterBlod said:
It was I... at MOK ukes. I moved to not so sunny Wales last year. It was sold to me as having had a spruce top replacement after the bridge had come off.
Click to expand...

Wow, well I'm glad I bought it :D it really does sound a lot better than it looks/looked.

I hoped it was spruce as it certainly looks like it, with a nice tight grain, and I think there is even some bear claw showing.

Hopefully I will do it justice.

Now sanded to 320, and wetted to raise the grain, (as per the link instructions given by PhilUSAFRet above).

It will be strung with Living Water strings to the standard Lanikai tuning.

(I thought it may have been you because of the Cigar Box Ukulele, and we almost made the move to Saundersfoot a few years ago).

Thanks,

Steve
 
Well,

Stained varnish ended up to patchy and too yellow, looked like nicotine stained ceilings ;)

So it's now back to natural wood and I have ordered some aerosol clear gloss lacquer and 400, 600, 800, 1200, 1500 2000 paper

Hopefully it will be OK
 
Even clear may give you a patchy result, because spruce tends to absorb finish unevenly. I'd wipe on some clear shellac first (I use a paper towel and just give a single wipe over the spruce, leave to dry, then sand lightly because the grain will have been raised). This should be enough to seal the surface and, because you've applied the minimum possible finish, leave you with a fairly even colour.

You might be OK spraying the lightest possible coat, letting dry, sand and repeat, but I don't spray so have no experience.
 
ProfChris said:
Even clear may give you a patchy result, because spruce tends to absorb finish unevenly. I'd wipe on some clear shellac first (I use a paper towel and just give a single wipe over the spruce, leave to dry, then sand lightly because the grain will have been raised). This should be enough to seal the surface and, because you've applied the minimum possible finish, leave you with a fairly even colour.

You might be OK spraying the lightest possible coat, letting dry, sand and repeat, but I don't spray so have no experience.
Click to expand...

Thank you for the advice, I'll look into the shellac.
 
What I think is happening here is that you didn't get the original finish completely off therefore there is a mix of raw wood with wood that has finish still on it. Thus when you come along with finish, the finish is not absorbed uniformly and thus the patchiness.

ProfChris's suggestion is a good one with a shellac base coat. However, if the wood is not completely sanded out "white" and down through the original finish to raw wood, there still may be patches. My suggestion: Sand down to bare wood again, do a wash coat with shellac. Let dry. If patches still appear: repeat sand and wash coat until you get a uniform look. Repeat as needed. When uniform, proceed with your lacquer as per usual.

Remember: Shellac is your friend.
 
sequoia said:
What I think is happening here is that you didn't get the original finish completely off therefore there is a mix of raw wood with wood that has finish still on it. Thus when you come along with finish, the finish is not absorbed uniformly and thus the patchiness.

ProfChris's suggestion is a good one with a shellac base coat. However, if the wood is not completely sanded out "white" and down through the original finish to raw wood, there still may be patches. My suggestion: Sand down to bare wood again, do a wash coat with shellac. Let dry. If patches still appear: repeat sand and wash coat until you get a uniform look. Repeat as needed. When uniform, proceed with your lacquer as per usual.

Remember: Shellac is your friend.
Click to expand...

I am 99.999% sure I am down to raw wood, can't sand it again as some areas are getting a wee bit thin, the sound board being warped enough not to be able to use a sanding block.

I will definitely try the shellac as long as it doesn't actually change the colour of the wood.

I have seen some that is described as clear/white which is a bit confusing to say the least.

What's the difference between using shellac and cellulose sanding sealer?
 
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Any finish will change the colour. Wipe on some White Spirit (mineral spirit in the US) to see the likely effect.

Your sanding sealer might be OK if you can wipe on a thin coat. Or it might yellow the wood quite a bit. You don't have any scrap top to try it out on, but a test on any spruce or pine you can find would let you make a guess.

The important thing is to get one or two ultra thin coats on, damping the wood rather than wetting it. Each should be let dry and sanded. If you then have an even colour, you can spray on top with some confidence.

Clear French Polish (Liberon is the only ready made brand I can find) is known to give the minimum possible colour change. The white stuff is slightly opaque - I wouldn't use it. Your sanding sealer - maybe. Sand up some similar scrap, apply White Spirit to see the effect, let evaporate then try your sealer. If it's close enough you might risk it.

As you daren't sand any more this is a one shot process for you - good luck! If it all goes wrong you could go for a solid colour top to hide blotches (but black is really hard, don't go there unless you must).
 
Steve in Kent said:
, the sound board being warped enough not to be able to use a sanding block.
Click to expand...

Ah ha! That quote reveals all and why you got splotchy. Also this means you have a slight problem. Sanding a warped top flat with a sanding block would definitely be problematic and not a good idea. I'm sure everyone can appreciate the problem. Gonna have to go by hand and touch... The point of my reply was to use the shellac as an indicator. Put it on sand it off until you get uniform. When all is good: Go with your sealer and finish out. By the way, that sealer stuff would work but is expensive and harder to sand than shellac so why go there? ... Yes any of these things will darken the top. Go clear/clear for least amount of tint. I've used cellulose sanding over shellac with no problems. But I ask you this question: why not just finish it out with shellac? A lot easier and cheaper and looks better if you ask me.
 
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