haole
Well-known member
Seems like today was New Uke Day for quite a few people. And it was for me too, in a way.
My old Harmony soprano had some serious issues for a while. The original tuners had messed up the wood on the back of the headstock pretty bad, and the bridge slots were so worn out that the G and A strings simply couldn't anchor in it without shooting out. It sat on my couch with no strings for about a month and a half while I thought about what to do with it.
So I got a set of cheap friction tuners for $1.99 and a pretty decent new bridge on eBay and made it playable again! Tuners were easy to install once I drilled them out. (Pretty sure Uki has the old ones now!) Bridge came off when I heated up the glue with a hairdryer and pried it off with a spackle knife. The new one is about 1/4" farther down on the body, because the original one wasn't placed well for proper intonation. The action is a little higher now, but the weird buzzes are gone and it plays a lot more in tune than it used to.
Might have to use this in a video again soon!
New bridge (pretty funky-looking but does the job right!)
And the classy new tuners.
My old Harmony soprano had some serious issues for a while. The original tuners had messed up the wood on the back of the headstock pretty bad, and the bridge slots were so worn out that the G and A strings simply couldn't anchor in it without shooting out. It sat on my couch with no strings for about a month and a half while I thought about what to do with it.
So I got a set of cheap friction tuners for $1.99 and a pretty decent new bridge on eBay and made it playable again! Tuners were easy to install once I drilled them out. (Pretty sure Uki has the old ones now!) Bridge came off when I heated up the glue with a hairdryer and pried it off with a spackle knife. The new one is about 1/4" farther down on the body, because the original one wasn't placed well for proper intonation. The action is a little higher now, but the weird buzzes are gone and it plays a lot more in tune than it used to.
Might have to use this in a video again soon!
New bridge (pretty funky-looking but does the job right!)
And the classy new tuners.