Identifying a Lyra uke

Hey all

I've been trying to find some info on an old soprano uke that I'm interested in trying to restore to playable order. Haven't found much so far, however, my googling brought me here and thought I might see if somebody could point me in the right direction.

The only identifying mark of any kind is the LYRA logo on the headstock. The most curious thing is the absence of a proper saddle. There's a tiny piece of wood (see the picture below) that sticks above the left end of the bridge, and I can't rightly figure if that's simply a tiny sliver that warped a bit over time or if it's the remains of what was once the saddle. It also has it's share of paint chips and dents, but other than that, looks to be in great playing condition.

If anybody has some information they could share, I'd really appreciate it.

Thanks!

Heres a little info http://www.tikiking.com/uke_db/Lyradb.html
Probably was a wooden saddle. Look forward to seeing the finished restoration.
Oh and welcome to the forum!

These were made by at least two companies and branded as Lyra (Harmony was one and I think the other was Regal). But there were two Lyra companies as well, one Hawaiian-based pre WWII, the other from eastern USA post 1940. This looks like the post-war (New Jersey?) company (see my pics on my web site for another) production, probably late 1950s-early 1960s. They were made in Japan - some models were stamped Germany and United States inside, but probably these were all Japanese-made bodies with final assembly in the other countries. Production seems to have stopped mid 60s. Generally mid-to-low end products with no frills, although at least mine is solid wood, not a laminate.

In the close-up shot of the bridge, it looks like it has the remnants of its wooden saddle. It also has identical tuners to my two '50s Harmony ukes.

The tuning pegs look identical to the ones on my early 50s era Harmony, and the bridge is similar.

-Kurt

Chris Tarman said:

In the close-up shot of the bridge, it looks like it has the remnants of its wooden saddle. It also has identical tuners to my two '50s Harmony ukes.

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Those wooden saddles were common on a lot of ukes. Usually it's rosewood or ebony, mostly made from same material as the bridge. I saw a similar bridge/saddle on a Diastone from the 60s.

Remove the wood saddle and replace it with bone or plastic to really improve the sound. The screw is an extra probably added because the bridge was separating.

I have the same tuners on my Lyra baritone, from the mid-60s.

Aloha TIG,
Welcome to the UU and our forums ....Have fun and enjoy....wonder if that is the original bridge..bare wood along the edges around the bridge on the top....hmmm what do you think guys???

Wow, thanks for all the information (and the warm welcome!) everybody. Interesting stuff, I figured this model was old but definately wouldn't have pegged it for the 50s or 60s. I guess my next question is how would I go about obtaining a replacement saddle and repairing it? Yeah, if you can't tell yet, I'm pretty ignorant about ukes (and instrument repairs for that matter).

Saddles are easy. Most are simply held on by pressure of the strings, and should pry up fairly easily. If it doesn't, it may have been glued, so you will want to talk to a luthier about removing it. A replacement saddle can be bought at many music stores. It's usually just a matter of sanding it down to fit the slot. It should sit snugly in the slot and not require glue.

However, this bridge looks like a small slot with thick bridge material below it. You might consider widening and deepening the slot too, so the distance between the string and the top has at least as much saddle material as bridge material. The saddle transfers the energy to the top better than the bridge, so you want to have enough saddle to make a difference, and less bridge to dampen it.

My Lyra had a similar issue: a credit-card-thick saddle about 1/8-1/4" deep. I replaced it with a Tusq saddle that has the more common uke width and thickness, but to do so had to use a small wood file to widen and deepen the slot. My first effort was a bit of a clumsy job, but it worked and the sound improved considerably. It's not difficult, just something to be careful with, and so in small stages, checking action many, many times as you deepen the slot until you reach the right depth.

Hey all, it's been a while Just wanted to give a quick progress report.

I finally had some spare time to work on the uke over the past couple of evenings. We ended up using a few different saws to delicately cut most of that old saddle out and I used some sandpaper to file what little was still wedged in the groove down. I think it could still use a bit more filing, but I'm not going to touch it again until I get a replacement saddle, lest I inadvertently set the action too low. Everything else seems to be in good shape, so now it's simply a matter of acquiring the necessary parts and crossing my fingers.

That said, today I'm looking into buying a set of strings (which is easy enough) and a new saddle (which is not quite so easy to find). Anyway, guess that's all for now!


Oh, also, I wanted to address this:

ichadwick said:

The screw is an extra probably added because the bridge was separating.

Click to expand...

Took the screw out while I was fiddling with it the other night. The bridge was still holding on nice and tight, so I have clue why someone would have added one there. Sure is interesting though.

(the) Indigo Getdown said:

Hey all, it's been a while Just wanted to give a quick progress report.

I finally had some spare time to work on the uke over the past couple of evenings. We ended up using a few different saws to delicately cut most of that old saddle out and I used some sandpaper to file what little was still wedged in the groove down. I think it could still use a bit more filing, but I'm not going to touch it again until I get a replacement saddle, lest I inadvertently set the action too low. Everything else seems to be in good shape, so now it's simply a matter of acquiring the necessary parts and crossing my fingers.

That said, today I'm looking into buying a set of strings (which is easy enough) and a new saddle (which is not quite so easy to find). Anyway, guess that's all for now!


Oh, also, I wanted to address this:

Took the screw out while I was fiddling with it the other night. The bridge was still holding on nice and tight, so I have clue why someone would have added one there. Sure is interesting though.

Click to expand...

When you stress it back up with new strings, the bridge will experience forces that tend to pull the bridge up off the top. If it is glued well, it should not need any further action. If it does start to pull up, the bridge should be removed and re-glued. Someone evidently used a screw to hold it down in the past. A screw is not the textbook answer on how to properly repair a loose bridge. Each string will tension to about 10-15 pounds when tuned to pitch so you're ending up with about 50 pounds force on the bridge. If you have to re-glue, use Titebond wood glue.

Another update:

Strings and saddle came in yesterday. Spent most of this morning sanding down the grooves a bit more. It's not a perfect fit, but I wasn't expecting one on a uke this old, and the action is great- no buzzing or anything of the like.

I figured getting the saddle adjusted was going to be the hard part, turns out my current obstacle is something altogether different - one of the friction pegs refuses to stay anywhere remotely in tune. As in, if I tune it and then let go of the peg, I can literally watch as the string pulls it back down. A couple of the other strings were slipping a bit at first, but the rest of them are pretty much stable now. My guess is the wood inside that hole must have been stripped away over the years, but I'm no expert.

Anybody have any ideas for how to keep this one peg from slipping short of buying all new tuners for it? And props for all the suggestions and advice so far. Very informative board you guys got here.

Use a small bladed screwdriver to tighten the bolt inside the little well in the top of the tuner button. Not super tight, just tight enough to get it to hold. It will get a little tighter to turn as the string winds on, so you may need to fuss with it a bit. If it's the post or bolt that is stripped, then you can probably swap out the pegs, they aren't expensive. The thing to watch for is length of the post; on vintage ukes they usually need to be shorter than those on friction tuners on modern ukes.

Teek said:

Use a small bladed screwdriver to tighten the bolt inside the little well in the top of the tuner button. Not super tight, just tight enough to get it to hold. It will get a little tighter to turn as the string winds on, so you may need to fuss with it a bit. If it's the post or bolt that is stripped, then you can probably swap out the pegs, they aren't expensive. The thing to watch for is length of the post; on vintage ukes they usually need to be shorter than those on friction tuners on modern ukes.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the advice. I managed to find a screwdriver small enough to fit the screw (found a couple of them, actually) and tightened it up as much as I could. It started holding better, but still kept slipping after a few seconds. For a few days, it was sticking at about a half-step down, so I decided to tune the rest of the strings to match and managed to play it for a while, but it finally started slipping again the other day.

The occured to me that I had two options- either drop some more cash to repair the stripped part, or just spend that money on a brand new uke, so...I ordered a Mainland earlier today

Definately want to thank everybody who's commented in this thread and while I still think repairing this Lyra is probably still very doable, I'll save the next step (whatever that turns out to be) for another day.

I am sure you will love your mainland! As far as the tuners, it is an easy fix. Remove the screws and take the tuner out of the headstock. Then put a tiny bit of lubricant in the hole for the screw. A tiny drop of lubricating oil will do the trick. Then, when you re-install the tuners, place a small flat brass or galvanized washer between the tuner and the wood of the back of the headstock. This takes up a bit of space so the screw can get deeper into the threads and it usually makes the tuner turn smoothly. Then, tighten the screw.....make small adjustments to the screw as necessary. They will work fine with a bit of tweaking! You are almost done!