Couple of questions about the soundboard replacement

I am just about to replace the damaged soundboard on one of my ukuleles, and have a couple of questions.

Does the soundboard need a sound hole, or can I have this solid, with just a hole in the top of the upper bout?

And does the fretboard need to be glued to the soundboard?

Thanks,

Steve

Steve in Kent said:

I am just about to replace the damaged soundboard on one of my ukuleles, and have a couple of questions.

Does the soundboard need a sound hole, or can I have this solid, with just a hole in the top of the upper bout?

And does the fretboard need to be glued to the soundboard?

Thanks,

Steve

Click to expand...

Side soundhole alone will work, especially if you are the only one listening. It'll be in your face, but possibly not very loud to other listeners.

You could float the fingerboard, but it may buzz if it touches the top. Otherwise, glue it; but if lacking hide glue, try using Elmer's white glue for the slim chance that you need to disassemble it. It's water soluble, and provides a nice seal and fairly clear fillet. Wipe the fillet with water if you don't want the fillet.

You could have 1 or 2 off centre soundhole(s) in the upper bout with or without a side port instead of one conventional centre hole. You could also use 2 f holes either outboard of the bridge or in the upper bout. The bracing would need to be designed appropriately. Ukes with floating fretboards do exist but are designed to be so: generally the fretboard needs to be glued to the soundboard.

You didn't mention whether the neck is still attached to the box. If it is, you need to ensure that the box retains its shape during the soundboard replacement process and that the vertical alignment of the neck isn't altered.

Hi,

Thank you for the replies.

I thought I would be able to try the sound port, and add the sound hole later if required.

Seems the bracing requirement stops this.

The neck is still attached, can you give me a link to see what I have to do to maintain alignment please?

Oh, and it's not either of my Pono or KoAloha.

Thanks again,

Steve

Steve in Kent said:

The neck is still attached, can you give me a link to see what I have to do to maintain alignment please?

Steve

Click to expand...

Well first of all you have to get the neck off before you can think about putting it back on. Supposing that getting the neck off does not result in total disaster, keep in mind that neck alignment is absolutely critical and probably way beyond the scope of this thread. In a nutshell: Line everything up from the tip of the peghead to the tail end of the body. Do this by drawing a straight line on a long piece of flat wood and get the register marks perfectly in line head to tail. Then just attach the thing in line. But your margin for error is very small and error of course increases with distance. Another way is to use a straight edge and line up your marks. Kinda crude and things move. You get the idea. Margin of acceptable error? About +/- 1/16 of an inch out of alignment. Ideally it will be spot on and then just glue/butt/screw attach whatever the thing in line. The operative word here is "in-line". Good luck!

Ah, I thought that taking the soundboard off with the neck attached would somehow alter the alignment.

What I was proposing to do was to cut the old board around the fretboard, then gluing on a flat piece of wood under the fretboard 1/4" bigger all round.

Then cutting out the shape of the fretboard in the new soundboard, and gluing it to the ledge.

My other solution was to remove the old soundboard totally and slide the new under the fretboard.

I have to remove the binding anyway and replace that, so assumed I would be able to do this.