What should I do to my cheap old Hilo uke?

davoomac

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I was thinking of painting it or refinishing it or Making some kinda of Island themed design on it. Right now, you can tell its gotten several years wear and tear. I used to bring it everywhere with me so it's pretty banged up.

Any ideas? Has anyone done anything awesome to there old ukuleles?
 
Hehe, great idea if you have nothing to do and also want to sex up your uke!
Im still playing on my old Tenor. I just slapped stickers on it, restrung it with new strings, airbrushed a tag on the 14th fret, changed the knobs to gotoh friction tuners and added straps and pegs. LOL
Its just something to do for now, but Im still waiting on my new Tenor Honu Big Island.. :D
 
Hehe, great idea if you have nothing to do and also want to sex up your uke!
Im still playing on my old Tenor. I just slapped stickers on it, restrung it with new strings, airbrushed a tag on the 14th fret, changed the knobs to gotoh friction tuners and added straps and pegs. LOL
Its just something to do for now, but Im still waiting on my new Tenor Honu Big Island.. :D

Awesome! now those are some ideas hehe. Got any pictures? :)
 
Nice :D I just need to go find more stickers.

A friend of mine etched a flower into his girlfriends uke using an exacto knife. Kinda risky since you only get one shot, but it ended up looking awesome. She etched the japanese symbol for 'love' or something like that in his.
 
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  1. Remove strings.
  2. Lightly sand the finish.
  3. Cover certain section with masking tape.
  4. Spray paint in black.
  5. Find a dragon cut-out.
  6. Spray the dragon on ... in metallic gold.
 
  1. Remove strings.
  2. Lightly sand the finish.
  3. Cover certain section with masking tape.
  4. Spray paint in black.
  5. Find a dragon cut-out.
  6. Spray the dragon on ... in metallic gold.

Hey...there is something I considered doing to my Lanikai (before I sold it to bj). See the G String uke that "grappler" has pictured. Go to a wood working shop and purchase a super thin piece of koa or something nice. Create a pick guard that looks like the G string pictured.....laquer and sand it really nice and then glue it to the uke.

Not sure how it will effect the sound though.......but would look sweeet...like a custom.......sort of at least...haha
 
Hey...there is something I considered doing to my Lanikai (before I sold it to bj). See the G String uke that "grappler" has pictured. Go to a wood working shop and purchase a super thin piece of koa or something nice. Create a pick guard that looks like the G string pictured.....laquer and sand it really nice and then glue it to the uke.

Not sure how it will effect the sound though.......but would look sweeet...like a custom.......sort of at least...haha

Ooh awesome. The pick guard idea sounds cool. Probably would add a nice touch to the uke. I dont think it would work so well for my hilo though.
That dragon thing sounds interesting too! if I had a bunch of older ukes laying around I'd try it out. Once you do it post a pic for us :D
 
paint it like Eddie VanHalen's famous Strat...

"5150 TIME"!! :p
guitar-5150sm.jpg
 
what kind of uke is that? the wood is beautiful. im almost sad that you put all the stickers on her.

haha nuke! its a mahalo tenor. bought it for $100 last year at the music store. not the best ukulele going around, had so much problems with it..:mad:
 
wow all these great ideas!!! especially that painted ukulele, something that i have never seen before in my life. The art work looks brilliant!!!
 
i jus use my old soprano uke i got from the philippines for signatures, recently jake shimabukuro signed it.

So yeah its pretty much a musician's canvas do as you like haha.
 
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