The; "Oh No, I scratched my Uke! + What to Use..." Thread

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Katz-in-Boots

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Kanile'a K1, 2nd hand from here with a couple of scratches already, but last night I really got it wrong & made a deep scratch (and lost a chunk of fingernail).

It's a satin finish wood, not gloss. Satin is quite raw looking, I've been wondering whether there's a wax or polish that might give it just a little sheen & maybe slick the neck a little.

Now I'm wondering if there's a wax or something to fill in those grooves - mainly because catching a nail in one again might lead to further damage.

I'm sure I'm not the only one who has done this....
Anyone???
 
SonSprinter said:
Sorry not much help from me on your point but, wow, u must really jam
Click to expand...

No, but I'm pretty new at this. Something happened, strumming finger got jammed or something then bounced off the string onto the uke.

Rodney. said:
Pics or it didn't happen.
Click to expand...

Well now that's the problem with satin finish, I couldn't get the light right to show it.

strumsilly said:
I have a hard time envisioning a scratch so deep you would be concerned with snagging a fingernai,. a deep,raw crack with a bit sticking up maybe, but a scratch?
Click to expand...

If I can do it once, I figure I can do it again. I'm talented that way :D
 
Try rubbing a banana skin on the scratch. Seriously.

It is supposed to work for scratches on furniture.

At worst, you'll have a uke that will attract monkeys for a while. :)
 
Katz-in-Boots said:
Kanile'a K1, 2nd hand from here with a couple of scratches already, but last night I really got it wrong & made a deep scratch (and lost a chunk of fingernail).

It's a satin finish wood, not gloss. Satin is quite raw looking, I've been wondering whether there's a wax or polish that might give it just a little sheen & maybe slick the neck a little.

Now I'm wondering if there's a wax or something to fill in those grooves - mainly because catching a nail in one again might lead to further damage.

I'm sure I'm not the only one who has done this....
Anyone???
Click to expand...
Scratches add character to a uke. Leave it.
 
I'll be just fine if my ukuleles (admittedly, they aren't expensive heirloom ukes) look like Willie Nelson's guitar someday... it will mean I've played the ever-loving crap out of them for years and years. :D

imagesizer
 
Wear that battle wound proudly. Besides, if you can't get a photo of it, no one else can probably see it.
 
All of the "get used to it" comments aren't terribly helpful—if he wanted to get used to it, he probably wouldn't ask. And as great as Willie Nelson is, if that guitar was owned by anyone else it'd likely be called "crap" were it to come up on eBay.

Anyone got any suggestions? I've wondered whether steel wool (0000) might work for minor scratches. Not sure about a gouge.
 
this might be a great question for the luthiers?? I know DKcrowne knows a bit about wood, maybe he'll chime in.
 
Gadzukes! said:
All of the "get used to it" comments aren't terribly helpful—if he wanted to get used to it, he probably wouldn't ask. And as great as Willie Nelson is, if that guitar was owned by anyone else it'd likely be called "crap" were it to come up on eBay.

Anyone got any suggestions? I've wondered whether steel wool (0000) might work for minor scratches. Not sure about a gouge.
Click to expand...

Fair enough. :cheers:
 
Didn't mean to sound like a grump. The Interwebs does that to me :)

:cheers:
 
Many of the posts advise the OP to wear the scratch on his ukulele as a badge of honor. I know the people who posted this thought are sincere and that this is good advice, but the OP asked a specific question about filling in what he referred to as a "deep scratch" on this ukulele's soundboard and, frankly, advising him to leave the scratch alone doesn't answer that specific question. I myself don't have an answer for the OP (I think asking in the Luthiers Lounge is a very good idea), but I do know that when I broke my finger in a bicycle accident and told the orthopedist I visited a few days later that I needed for it to heal properly because I use my finger for both playing music and drawing cartoons, I would not have wanted to hear that a bent finger adds character to my hand or that I should wear my bent finger as a bicycling badge of honor. As I said, I know everyone means well, but "leave it alone" as an answer to a specific question about how to fix something may not be that helpful to the person who asked the question.
 
If there is a deep gouge that goes into the soundboard as opposed to just the finish, then I doubt that any advice other than taking the uke to a competent luthier will get the OP where they want to end up. If it were simply a finish scratch, then many competent furniture builders could probably fix the problem, assuming that they knew the properties of the original finish. But, dealing with a gouge in a soundboard is the pervue of luthiers.

Now, after rereading, I am not clear on whether the scratch is in the finish or into the wood. Someone used the word gouge and that was what prompted my response.
 
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