Recently, I have gotten into restoration, and repair of my own Uke (non professional) . I think it is not only fun, but satisfying improving your own instrument, and hearing the different tones you have caused it to take on.
I have recently restored my 1930s Banjo Uke. It has gone from a troublesome, hard to play and toy sounding to a pleasure to play. I have now found myself playing it more than my Mahogany Uke. I shaved down, and installed a new bone nut, and maple/ebony/bone bridge. Lowered the action to make it easier to play. Along with Jasper Happy's (From England) strings, it greatly improved the sound, as well as playability. Polishing the frets made them much smoother on my fingers as well. I also removed the vintage friction tuners that were suffering, and retired them, and replaced them with a decent set of geared tuners. I now made a resonator from 5/8" thick Sapele. That was a HUGE improvement on the sustain, and tone of my Banjo Uke. It is a great pleasure to play the old gal now... The most delicate part I think was carefully, and slowly sanding down the nut and bridge being sure to keep them level. Taking them down enough to bring the action to a more playable level, but not too much to loose your sound quality.
Anyway.. It is fun, and like said, VERY satisfying to hear it and play it now, knowing it was because of my own hands...
I have recently restored my 1930s Banjo Uke. It has gone from a troublesome, hard to play and toy sounding to a pleasure to play. I have now found myself playing it more than my Mahogany Uke. I shaved down, and installed a new bone nut, and maple/ebony/bone bridge. Lowered the action to make it easier to play. Along with Jasper Happy's (From England) strings, it greatly improved the sound, as well as playability. Polishing the frets made them much smoother on my fingers as well. I also removed the vintage friction tuners that were suffering, and retired them, and replaced them with a decent set of geared tuners. I now made a resonator from 5/8" thick Sapele. That was a HUGE improvement on the sustain, and tone of my Banjo Uke. It is a great pleasure to play the old gal now... The most delicate part I think was carefully, and slowly sanding down the nut and bridge being sure to keep them level. Taking them down enough to bring the action to a more playable level, but not too much to loose your sound quality.
Anyway.. It is fun, and like said, VERY satisfying to hear it and play it now, knowing it was because of my own hands...