snakehips81
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- Oct 17, 2016
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Hi there !
I have recently bought an old steel-bodied National ukulele, made in 1932.
It looks great (although a bit worn !) and sounds fairly good BUT seemed a bit chocked.
I opened up the uke and found some serious "dust bunnies" inside, on top of the cone, and a large golf-ball sized one inside the Soprano sized body !
(NB. Only do this to a vintage resonator guitar or ukulele IF you really know what you are doing !!! Try not chew up the coverplate screws with an ill-fitting screw-driver, or lose any of them, and certainly don't squash out of shape, even a little, the delicate resonator cone inside !!!)
Yeah, filthy inside !!!
Gave the cone a clean, VERY GENTLY, with warm, soapy water with a soft paper towel, then used a baby wipe to get it nice and clean and shiny !
Minty cone !!
I have put on a new set of La Bella soprano uke strings - and await the strings fully stretching and settling.
The original tuners slip a little so I may need to replace them.
They seem almost the same as the modern new Waverly uke friction tuners - and they have a spring inside, just like the Waverlys. I took each one apart to clean, in case that improved them, but alas it hasn't made much difference.
Hope you like the story so far !
I have recently bought an old steel-bodied National ukulele, made in 1932.
It looks great (although a bit worn !) and sounds fairly good BUT seemed a bit chocked.
I opened up the uke and found some serious "dust bunnies" inside, on top of the cone, and a large golf-ball sized one inside the Soprano sized body !
(NB. Only do this to a vintage resonator guitar or ukulele IF you really know what you are doing !!! Try not chew up the coverplate screws with an ill-fitting screw-driver, or lose any of them, and certainly don't squash out of shape, even a little, the delicate resonator cone inside !!!)
Yeah, filthy inside !!!
Gave the cone a clean, VERY GENTLY, with warm, soapy water with a soft paper towel, then used a baby wipe to get it nice and clean and shiny !
Minty cone !!
I have put on a new set of La Bella soprano uke strings - and await the strings fully stretching and settling.
The original tuners slip a little so I may need to replace them.
They seem almost the same as the modern new Waverly uke friction tuners - and they have a spring inside, just like the Waverlys. I took each one apart to clean, in case that improved them, but alas it hasn't made much difference.
Hope you like the story so far !
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