experimentjon
Well-known member
Anyway, here is my Uke Story of the Day. So, I took apart my Applause tenor today to see if I could remove the unusually-designed bridge from the inside, as I figured that I might as well lower the action as was putting on new Aquilas, an upgrade from Hilos, anyway (the wound third was digging into the plastic bridge and was making a bit of a notch there.)
So I'm looking around on the inside with a flashlight, and discovered that there is no way to access the bridge from the inside. BUT what I do discover is a medium sized roach sitting nonchalantly on the piece of wood where the neck attaches to the body. I was not as calm. Again, I cannot stress enough that I hate roaches and they freak me the hell out. I nearly dropped my uke. But I let it down slowly instead. But decided that I'd rather not have the roach on my carpet in my room, so ran outside and shook it out. It was nearly dead. And good, because there's no food in my uke.
So I went back inside to keep poking around the inside of my uke. And I fixed the clip that held the wires to a side; it had become unglued, so I just glued it back onto the box on the side with the preamp controls. Then to my shock and chagrin, right there, in the exact same spot as the first roach was another slightly smaller roach twitching its antennae. I screamed/swore. (I tend to do that in horror movies too.) So I took the uke outside again, and tried to shake it out. It didn't come out and seemed to hide somewhere inside. So I grabbed my air duster and sprayed away. (didn't quite want to fumigate the inside of my uke). Holding the uke upside down so I could see into the back, I realized that he was probably hiding in this tiny space between the pickup box and the soundboard. So I took the air duster, turned it upside down, and sprayed in the crack. OOPS. I heard a bit of cracking...not sure from what. But it was because the air duster was quick-freezing everything there...probably not too healthy for the wood (don't use those air dusters upside down). And ta-da! I turned the uke right-side-up and tada! A freeze dried roach dropped out. Score: 2-0, Jon.
So yeah, I really hope that 1) they weren't roaches of different sexes using my uke as a love motel, and 2) that none of you guys have roaches living secretly in your uke. I suggest you check....you never know. And from now on, this applause is always going back into its zippered case.
I guess, the good news however, is that they were roaches, and not termites...
So I'm looking around on the inside with a flashlight, and discovered that there is no way to access the bridge from the inside. BUT what I do discover is a medium sized roach sitting nonchalantly on the piece of wood where the neck attaches to the body. I was not as calm. Again, I cannot stress enough that I hate roaches and they freak me the hell out. I nearly dropped my uke. But I let it down slowly instead. But decided that I'd rather not have the roach on my carpet in my room, so ran outside and shook it out. It was nearly dead. And good, because there's no food in my uke.
So I went back inside to keep poking around the inside of my uke. And I fixed the clip that held the wires to a side; it had become unglued, so I just glued it back onto the box on the side with the preamp controls. Then to my shock and chagrin, right there, in the exact same spot as the first roach was another slightly smaller roach twitching its antennae. I screamed/swore. (I tend to do that in horror movies too.) So I took the uke outside again, and tried to shake it out. It didn't come out and seemed to hide somewhere inside. So I grabbed my air duster and sprayed away. (didn't quite want to fumigate the inside of my uke). Holding the uke upside down so I could see into the back, I realized that he was probably hiding in this tiny space between the pickup box and the soundboard. So I took the air duster, turned it upside down, and sprayed in the crack. OOPS. I heard a bit of cracking...not sure from what. But it was because the air duster was quick-freezing everything there...probably not too healthy for the wood (don't use those air dusters upside down). And ta-da! I turned the uke right-side-up and tada! A freeze dried roach dropped out. Score: 2-0, Jon.
So yeah, I really hope that 1) they weren't roaches of different sexes using my uke as a love motel, and 2) that none of you guys have roaches living secretly in your uke. I suggest you check....you never know. And from now on, this applause is always going back into its zippered case.
I guess, the good news however, is that they were roaches, and not termites...
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