How to repair pushed in side crack? Can't get to it!

Tigershark

Tigershark

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What tools can you use to push out and align a pushed in side crack on a ukulele? It's down in the lower bout next to the endblock and scrunched in a bit.

The soundhole is so small I don't know what kind of tools to get in there or how to gently press out and align the pieces. What do you guys use?
 
INLB ( I'm no Luthier but , .... ) . I would take a couple small pieces of wood and glue them together in the shape of an " L " and use that to push it out.
 
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Maybe a small suction cup will adhere to the indented side long enough to allow you to pull it into alignment.
Good luck
 
dent-acoustic-guitar-side-repair.jpg

This isn't the instrument but it looks a lot like this. All the wood is there, some it is just pushed in.
 
Since you will have to repair the finish in that area anyway, why not use a little CA glue and attach a string to the pushed in area gently pull it out. You can even keep string tension on it while gluing the repair to keep it aligned. Sort of like patching drywall...
Anne
 
Do you have a small child handy? Just don't glue his/her hand inside the uke. Mothers tend to frown on that.
(Seriously, though, I once had my daughter reach in and push up on a crack while I wicked a little thin ca into it. She was the one who sat on the uke and broke it in the first place...)
 
Tigershark said:
What tools can you use to push out and align a pushed in side crack on a ukulele? It's down in the lower bout next to the endblock and scrunched in a bit.

The soundhole is so small I don't know what kind of tools to get in there or how to gently press out and align the pieces. What do you guys use?
Click to expand...

There is no easy answer for this situation without actually seeing and examining the instrument. There are too many variables involved, such as: vintage valuable instrument?, piece of junk just want to play it?, what kind of woods and finish? Trying to repair it by pushing the wood back out may do more damage on the inside.

If it is just a cheap import you could saturate the area with supper glue and then put a sticker over it to hide the uglyness. If it is a nice uke, take it to a pro to fix, but it won't be cheap to repair.
 
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You'll want to cleat the crack from the inside. The Don Teeter method of using a guitar tuner as sort of a winch to pull the cleat up from the outside would probably work, but without seeing it it's hard to tell.
 
Since you already have a crack, it is no travesty to drill a hole or 2 in the side to insert a wire (very small hole for guitar b string) to use with cleverly shaped cauls to pull the side out and manipulate with your fingers till things are aligned adequately for glue. The same method can be used to clamp in the cleat you may choose to use if the join is not as ideal as hoped. The hole(s) can be filled with similar wood splinter or a CA wood dust cocktail (high grade particle board!). There are smaller drills than the 1/16 that most carpenters have. They are called number drills and decent hardware stores have them if you ask.
 
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