my dads old uke

shmoo-brunca

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i came across my dad's old uke.... and old Regal of Chicago,... its not broken, but the sides and the back have come unglued.... some tuner knobs are cracked...

in short, i want to bring it back to life...he had it put up in a closet for the past 35+ years uncovered so it gathered dust... do you think this is possible?

would new tuners fit? like a grover? or are the holes different now a days?

how should i clean all the dust off? damp towel? or would that do more harm....

would the removal of the strings do harm via tension change?

please help...if anybody can

how much would this cost?
thanks!
 

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This might be better served in the luthiers section, I bet those guys will sort you out with the best advice. Good luck!

P.S welcome to the UU forums!
 
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I got an old Regal off of E-bay, sides unglued, tuners cracked. I glued the sides back with the proper glue and clamps and cleaned the tuners up. It's a quiet uke, great intonation, the tuners work perfectly, even though they have one foot on a banna peel and one in the grave.

Like Mr. D says, post a pic!
 
If you are handy you can fix this, if not a luthier can do it for you. I would try to use the tuners, I have an old one with cracks and it is used daily and they haven't failed yet.

The Regal I have looks similar, some details are different, so it is just probably a different year. I glued the sides by using the luthier glue from LMI http://www.lmii.com/

I applied the glue using a small paint brush I had trimmed down for the job to get the glue in all of the crack. I then clamped it. I used large wood clamps but could have used a long elasticband wrapped around a bunch of timers to clamp it.

I put on Worth clear strings.
 
What a lovely piece of nostalgia. The rib repairs are easy - if you haven't got clamps use high tack masking tape to pull the front onto the ribs. Remove the tape by heating it first with a hair dryer to soften the tape adhesive. The tuners may be salvageable. I'd try and repair using black superglue to fill the cracks and making sure they are stabilised. Try not to do too much to this uke to preserve it's original features. It's not a high end instrument but it is worth saving if not to just have a piece of your father's past. Damp cloth for the dust or vacuum it off!
 
If the back and sides have separated, there's a chance that some of the interior bracing has come loose as well. All easily repairable. No special glue needed. Use Titebond ORIGINAL (red cap) white glue. Heavy rubber bands will also work to reglue the top and back to the sides. Tape or rubber bands, use lots of them. You might have to see if the neck is still straight an true after all these years, the frets may need a bit of touching up. I agree with Pete about keeping the tuners and repairing the knobs with superglue. If you can't find black, the clear stuff will work fine since what you are repairing is black it'll be almost invisible. Go to the hobby shop and get some good quality super glue. I never can seem to get it to set up well without using accelerator with it so get a small bottle of that as well. You'll use it for 1000 other things around the house. Sounds like a fun project I think you can easily do.
 
Yes, the gap filling super glue on the tuners... I am going to try that on an old Bluebird my wife loves.
 
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