The Bridge On My Uke Came Off!

vcowman

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:eek::eek:DUDE! Perhaps its because I tuned it too high, or that its a $15 tourist trap uke, but the BRIDGE came right off! I tried to screw it down again but it came off again. I am going to super glue it on now.

I thought its cause i tuned it too high, but in that case i would expect a string to break. Anyone have this happen before? Any suggestions for a newb on proper care and feeding is appreciated :eek: or you could say buy a nice high quality solid wood uke and dont worry about it :)
 
The entire uke was probably built with zero love or care. I say spend a wee bit more on something that might suck just as much but at least maybe it won't fall apart? I dunno just maguyver that bad boy.
 
You spent as much for the Ukulele as a good meal would have cost. That the quality was very low, was to be expected. Why don't you save up and spend more, for a better quality instrument. I mean the instrument can be fun for years. If it isn't you can still resell it. I guess you can't get the 15 dollars from the bridgeless Ukulele back.
 
First of all, don't feel bad.

If it helps you feel any better, my first Ukulele cost $12 on ebay ( not counting shipping ). It was for lack of a better word a toy, but I learned alot on it.

Ok, now down to business.
The bridge can be glued on.
I would suggest that you use Original Titebond wood glue.
That is what I use when I am building my Ukulele.
It is strong, drys in 30 min, and can be sanded easily.
You can pick some up at home depot or lowes for less than $4.

Finally, you want to get the scale distance correct.

Make sure that the distance between the nut, and saddle are the same on both sides ( left and right )

here are the distances for the different sizes.

Soprano: 13"
Concert: 15 1/2"
Tenor: 17"
Baritone: 20 1/2"

Hope this helps, good luck.

Aloha
Acabooe:cool:

P.s. I would suggest that you save up for a better Ukulele.
It is more fun to play when your Ukulele stays in tune for more than 3 min under playing.
You might look at Kala and Lanikai brands.
I have a Kala Tenor that my wife got me for my b day last year, and it is great.

Take care.
:cool:
 
I agree with acabooe, any tightbond glue (I use II) would be the way to go. I use it on all my wood projects its a great product. DONT USE SUPER GLUE!!!
 
I will try to glue it on with gorilla glue that I have at the haus. I was playing a kala solid mahagony tenor which sounded really good to me!
 
just take this as a new lesson and learn from this, $15 tourist trap ukuleles = big no no.

next time when you have your new ukulele in hand and you see a tourist trap uke, just laugh and smile. you know that the person that is buying that ukulele will enjoy the broken parts of it haha.
 
before you glue that bad boy, check to see if the brace under the bridge is still good. if theres no brace then im sorry, but youll just have to buy a new uke.
 
Unless your uke has pins on the bridge like a guitar, the bridge is glued on. What happened....I'm guessing you left the uke in the car....that will definately do it. Anyway, acabooe gave you some good instructions. Make sure before you glue that both the uke body and the bridge are sanded good. get the old glue off. I bought my 6-string baritone with the bridge off. I had my friend Tangi do it for me......don't trust myself to do it. haha
 
yeah i totally left it in the car, did the heat do it!!!!!!??? doh! i will send it down next time when it falls off, i just regluded with carpenters wood glue.
 
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Well it's made of wood and temperature and humidity effect wood. I'm new to uke but not really new to this music thing, and generally speaking, the better an instrument is made, the better it will sound and the better it will feel when playing it. I think this is the reason most people picking up an instrument for the first time tend to abandon it. They make that mistake of getting the cheapest thing out there, and it turns out being the worst thing to play, and they think this is what the instrument is about.

There's always a compromise to be found with price to performance, and that's with just about everything in life, not just musical instruments. At a given price point, there are always going to be standouts. These forums and youtube are a good way to find those standouts. :)

I'd take your 15 dollar uke breaking as a blessing. Save up a few dollars a week and spend that time hunting in whatever price bracket you want to stay in, and you won't do yourself wrong. :D
 
yeah the bummer is that it keeps getting out of tune even right after i tune it! too bad, i think i was breaking it in and it sounded pretty good. I will get a solid wood uke when I am in HI in a couple weeks.
 
your uke going out of tune sounds like the strings are getting adjusted again. happens even when you remove strings or in your case have them slack big time from the bridge coming off. Don't fret over your bridge coming off....whether its a $15 uke or a $4000 uke, leave it in the car and bridge will pop off....again, its only glued on.
 
yeah the bummer is that it keeps getting out of tune even right after i tune it! too bad, i think i was breaking it in and it sounded pretty good. I will get a solid wood uke when I am in HI in a couple weeks.

Oh man, lucky! I'm so far from HI that it's just impossible. I only make the journey back home every few years, and that's not even halfway. Have fun! :D
 
:eek::eek:DUDE! Perhaps its because I tuned it too high, or that its a $15 tourist trap uke, but the BRIDGE came right off! I tried to screw it down again but it came off again. I am going to super glue it on now.

I thought its cause i tuned it too high, but in that case i would expect a string to break. Anyone have this happen before? Any suggestions for a newb on proper care and feeding is appreciated :eek: or you could say buy a nice high quality solid wood uke and dont worry about it :)

a better uke would help haha

my advice: buy a nice high quality solid uke and dont worry about it
 
Hey Phatzo,

I have never used Titebond II Glue, how does it compare to original?


Vcowman
I would heavily advise against using Gorilla glue on your Ukulele.
Because of the chemicals that it is made of, it is very sesepitable to water and humidity. If you live in a place to gets very humid, I guarentee sooner or later the bridge will fall off again ( probably while playing on a hot humid day ).

If you live in a place that is very dry, then you could try it, but I would still suggest Titebond.
It is what all of the professional luthiers that I know use.


Anyway, Aloha everybody,

Acabo'oe:cool:
 
Well of course if you put on new strings, they have to stretch and the Uke will get out of tune for some days. However, cheap ukuleles will almost certainly have very cheap tuning pegs, which will never be able to hold the tuning.
 
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