Antique ukulele identification and restoration help???

dbhorner3 · Jan 30, 2011

Hi, I recently aquired this antique ukulele from my grandparents (they are antique dealers and didnt know what do to with it) and I can not find any markings or symbols on it. My grandpa guessed it was probably made in the 1920s or 1940s and it looks an awfull lot like a Martin Style 0 (except for the peculiar botttom of the neck design that i cant find anywhere online). In comparrison to my mahalo u30 it looks like a soprano. Can anyone help me to know what uke this is? Also, any restoration tips? the neck is starting to break off and their are multiple scratches on it. Here are some pics...

Gmoney · Jan 30, 2011

Ask Chuck “Frets” Fayne by sending along the photos you posted here:

http://www.fleamarketmusic.com/uke-yak/default.asp

dbhorner3 · Jan 30, 2011

Gmoney said:
Ask Chuck “Frets” Fayne by sending along the photos you posted here:

http://www.fleamarketmusic.com/uke-yak/default.asp

thanks for the tip i sent him the photos and I hope to hear back from him soon

dbhorner3 · Jan 30, 2011

ok i did some more research and i found a compnay that uses the matching pecualiar bottom of neck design and i think it might be a Maccaferri Islander?????

Chris Tarman · Jan 30, 2011

It's not a Maccaferri, although it does have a similar fretboard end. Maccaferris were plastic, and had white tops.

dbhorner3 · Jan 30, 2011

Chris Tarman said:
It's not a Maccaferri, although it does have a similar fretboard end. Maccaferris were plastic, and had white tops.

Oh your right. Silly me this one seems to be made of maybe mahogany??? Any suggestions

Pippin · Jan 31, 2011

The neck relief angle is bad. The neck looks as though it needs to be reset. That crack in the back could be stabilized. It looks like it needs cleated at the very least.

The hardware looks much newer than the 1920s or even 1940s. I think it is much more recently manufactured. The frets look as if they are brass. That places the instrument in the low-end of the market price-range.

A modern maker that still uses brass frets on some models is Hilo, a cheap Chinese-made import.

Chris Tarman · Jan 31, 2011

I'm just guessing, but I'd say it might well cost more to repair it than it's worth. I'd hang it on the wall and put the money you'd spend fixing it towards a new uke.

OldePhart · Jan 31, 2011

Heh, the end of the fretboard is almost the mirror image of a Tabu...I wonder if it's an Ubat?

Okay...it's probably time for me to take my meds, now...

John

dbhorner3 · Jan 31, 2011

Pippin said:
The neck relief angle is bad. The neck looks as though it needs to be reset. That crack in the back could be stabilized. It looks like it needs cleated at the very least.

The hardware looks much newer than the 1920s or even 1940s. I think it is much more recently manufactured. The frets look as if they are brass. That places the instrument in the low-end of the market price-range.

A modern maker that still uses brass frets on some models is Hilo, a cheap Chinese-made import.

I was thinking of trying to reglue the neck using titebond yello glue and filling in the cracks with some hide glue (learned about both of these from youtube). Do you think that would work?

dbhorner3 · Jan 31, 2011

Chris Tarman said:
I'm just guessing, but I'd say it might well cost more to repair it than it's worth. I'd hang it on the wall and put the money you'd spend fixing it towards a new uke.

your probably right maybe in a couple months i'll save up for a tenor. My friend has one and i love the sound and feel of it.

dbhorner3 · Jan 31, 2011

OldePhart said:
Heh, the end of the fretboard is almost the mirror image of a Tabu...I wonder if it's an Ubat?

Okay...it's probably time for me to take my meds, now...

John

whats a tabu and ubat? sorry im just a noob...

OldePhart · Jan 31, 2011

dbhorner3 said:
whats a tabu and ubat? sorry im just a noob...

Tabu was an old made-in-Hawaii ukulele brand. They come up once in a while on eBay. Ubat is, of course, a (sort of) mirror image of Tabu. Lame joke, actually, like I said, it's a bit past time for my meds. LOL

John

Antique ukulele identification and restoration help???

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