how to fix a seam crack between sides and back

scaramanga

scaramanga

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hi there,

my kanilea has a seam crack between the side and bottom part.
it looks as though the glue did not work there (or the tension of the changing wood with moisture/temperature was too much to handle....)

i would like to fix it myself, if i can.
is it enough to apply some wood - glue in the seam with a needle for example and then give it the clamps?
or do i have to use a different procedure?

thanks
 

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The old adhesive needs to be cleaned out first in order to get a good bond. If the crack is open, you can probably slip a bit of sand paper in and clean the joint up. The put in some Titebond or similar and clamp it. Clean up the squeeze out before it sets and you should have a good joint.
 
How old of a uke is this? Even with temperature/humidity shifts, I wouldn't expect a uke as fine as a kanile'a to fall apart at the seams. If it isn't an old uke, I'd contact Kanile'a and see what they say about it.
 
I think humidity and temperature found the weakest link in a less than perfect glue joint. You would need to do your repair in a climate controlled environment or run the risk of making matters worse. I’d contact Kanile’a and see what they say or bring it to a good guitar repair shop.

~Stephen
 
What kind of wood are we talking about? An old trick is to sand a piece of similar wood and mix the shavings with super glue. That way the color of the glue matches the wood. Insert glue with a pipette. Gently clamp and use a razor blade to gently remove any squeeze out. Be careful not to scratch the surrounding finish or you may have to do a spot repair of the finish. Of course, you may have to do that anyway if you want to sand and seal the repaired joint. This is a lot of careful work. I would call Kanilea to see if they will repair it through their warranty first! If not, see a local luthier or repair it yourself using the above stated techniques. Good luck!
 
Flyfish57 said:
I think humidity and temperature found the weakest link in a less than perfect glue joint. You would need to do your repair in a climate controlled environment or run the risk of making matters worse. I’d contact Kanile’a and see what they say or bring it to a good guitar repair shop.

~Stephen
Click to expand...
"I think humidity and temperature found the weakest link in a less than perfect glue joint."
You stated that well Stephen.
Local repairs are often the best ones because local environmental conditions are taken into consideration.
 
It never fails to amaze me how the ukulele community almost universally ignores warranty or is prepared to exact repairs with very little knowledge or understanding the process.

Repair work is normally 'expert' country - I rarely take on repairs unless they are to my own instruments (currently a tenor dropped from a great height... and I am still trying to get into the zone to figure out how I am going to repair the the 4 types of fracture that present themselves in the most inaccesible point on this instrument) deeming repairwork almost a separate trade.

I'm sorry to say that the above 'superglue' advice is unhelpful - controlling superglue is akin to herding cats! Any glue repair requires cleaning out the old glue and renewing the joint with a glue similar to that with which is was glued together.
 
Nobody said anything about ignoring warranty or abusing the ukulele in question. If it's not old, and was not abused, then there was a problem with its construction, which puts Kanile'a on the hook. If it's not old, but falls outside their warranty period, then they're still on the hook in terms of reputation. I'm not going to spend $900 on a uke, only to have it come apart at the seams, are you?
 
wow, i did not want to create such a storm :)

lets clear things up:
the uke is a little over a year old and was shipped to europe from hawai'i.
it developed the crack in the beginning of this year (in the winter heating period).
anyhow kanile'a offered a repair on warranty but sending the instrument back and forth across the planet is a little expensive.

i did not have time to get it repaired until now, especially since i did not trust the two local luthiers here who looked at it like ("you want me to repair a toy?")

so now i just wanted to see if i can have a chance to fix it myself.
( i am a drummer originally and have some successful vintage drum-shell repairs under my belt)

so:
in case i would like to do it by myself:
1. carefully sand the crack to get rid of the old glue
2. carefully apply titebond (or ponal) or any good wood glue
3. clamp the parts together
4. wipe off excess glue
5. wait
6. remove clamps
7. play "your mine"

is there any other potential problem?
 
Pete,

I'm sorry you feel my advice was "unhelpful" but this is a common repair technique for guitars and ukes alike IF you know what you're doing. As I'm sure you are aware, when you add shavings from the sanding to the glue it thickens the compound thus reducing the odds of having to "herd cats". Along with using an accelerator to rapidy dry the glue. I know you have a reputation of having spirited debate on this forum and I respect the work that you have shown on this forum, but I was just putting my 2 cents in. All luthiers have different ways of handling repair issues. This is my method that works just fine for me.

I agree that warranty is always the 1st option, followed by visiting a qualified luthier. I was just outlining A (not the only) technique used for such a repair if he is forced to tackle it himself. Obviously, if he doesn't care if the joint repair can be seen he could always just squeeze some Titebond and clamp and wipe away the squeezeout with a damp cloth as was also posted in a previous post. That is that gentleman's method, which also would work just fine! And yes, the joint should be sanded to remove any of the old adhesive.

Pete: I didn't see your method posted!!!! :p
 
scaramanga said:
wow, i did not want to create such a storm :)
Click to expand...

Don't worry about it, I'm just wound a little tight! And I'm not the only one! ;) Besides, it's not really a storm. A little squall, perhaps. Keeps things interesting. Who wants to visit a group of people who are constantly in agreement?

About that uke of yours. Since you reported it to Kanile'a w/in warranty, I'm sure they'd still cover it under warranty. It would not be cheap to send it to them and back, but, you never know what they will find when they do the work--perhaps greater structural problems that may require more attention, or a complete replacement of the original uke. Further, if Kanile'a does the repair, the uke's value will not be decreased. That's not the case if you do the repair, even if it looks just as good. How expensive would it be, anyway? I once considered sending my Ko'Aloha concert to have it refinished--it would have been $37 from Michigan, and another $37 back again. I decided against it, but I bought mine second hand, and tacking on $80 right then seemed like a lot. Also, mine is a factory second, and even though the only problem with it is a sag in the finish on the neck (not to mention lots of dings and scratches by its original owner), it'll always be a factory second--so says the black mark on the label.
 
ok,
well it sounds like a good idea to have it sent to kanile'a, but:
the shipping cost from her in germany would be 101$... and thats one way.
i guess with usps shipping back there would be another fee of around 50$...
so i wonder if it is really worth it.
you have me wondering with the
perhaps greater structural problems that may require more attention
Click to expand...
bit though...
is it really so uncommon that this happenes?
and is the repair really so problematic?
thanks
 
scaramanga said:
ok,
well it sounds like a good idea to have it sent to kanile'a, but:
the shipping cost from her in germany would be 101$... and thats one way.
i guess with usps shipping back there would be another fee of around 50$...
so i wonder if it is really worth it.
you have me wondering with the bit though...
is it really so uncommon that this happenes?
and is the repair really so problematic?
thanks
Click to expand...

Yeah, take what I say with a grain of salt--I'm new to most of this. I've simply not heard of a new uke coming apart at a seam, and certainly not one of the big K brands, and a google search for various seam splitting phrases, along with "guitar" only mentions center seam splits, and not a lot of those. I just wanted you to think about it before you operate on one of the Big K brands. Now I've probably just made you nervous. Sorry about that.
 
So far what I like best is the advice to clean out as much glue as possible with a strip of sand paper. Then use some LMI white glue or (and I hardly ever say this...) some Titebond. The problem is that these modern glues do not stick well to themselves, so you want to clean out the old glue as well as possible before injecting in new glue.

Superglue repairs really are for experts...it's just too easy to screw up. It might be easier if this is a poly finished Kanilea; you'd have to know when Joe switched over to polyester.

This brings up the whole issue of repairs vs. building, and has just been intimated here, repairing ukes and guitars well is MUCH more difficult an endeavour than building them. I speak several times a year to groups of learning luthiers, and I tell them to spend three to five years working as an in-store guitar repair tech before getting serious about building full time. There's no substitute for working on a few thousand instruments and dealing with their owners.

In one year alone, I worked on 275 Martins...I learned a lot about what goes wrong...and what not to do building my own instruments.
 
Rick Turner said:
This brings up the whole issue of repairs vs. building, and has just been intimated here, repairing ukes and guitars well is MUCH more difficult an endeavour than building them. I speak several times a year to groups of learning luthiers, and I tell them to spend three to five years working as an in-store guitar repair tech before getting serious about building full time. There's no substitute for working on a few thousand instruments and dealing with their owners.

In one year alone, I worked on 275 Martins...I learned a lot about what goes wrong...and what not to do building my own instruments.
Click to expand...

I think I'm missing something? Who/what was intimated here?
 
As someone who has done a lot of repairs I don't know if I would say that repair is more difficult than building new but it does present a wider array of problems. This problem is relatively simple. Clean out the old glue, use a wood glue such as titebond, clamp carefully, clean up the squeezeout with a damp cloth. The beauty of this method is the answer to the first question you should ask yourself before you attempt any repair - is it reversable? The answer is yes, this repair does not unalterably change the instrument. If you have enough experience to do this without marring the finish with the clamps or distorting the uke by using too much pressure go for it. If you are concerned that there is an issue with the finish send it for warranty repair. Finish repair work is not something to learn on a good instrument
 
I will chime in and say that the best way to repair the separation is to clean and re-glue. The CA and wood dust trick will fill the gap, but technically not repair the damage. I use glue and dust to fill in minor gaps when joints don't meet up perfectly, but I don't use it to fill structural gaps. One thing to keep in mind if you do end up using the CA and wood dust trick. If your dust is very fine, the resulting fill will be darker than the color tone of the wood. CA tends to react with the oils in wood, often turning black. Especially true with koa.
 
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