Vintage Martin - reglued bridge ?

jimhuang · Mar 30, 2014

hi folks,

just got a 1960s martin style O with original case. all original with a great martin sound. but i found the bridge is likely been re-glued at some point. not quite sure . any help ?

View attachment 65349

thanks in advance.

Jim

jimhuang · Mar 30, 2014

sorry for the duplicate post..

Mattyukaholic · Mar 30, 2014

I'd say yes, definitely. You can see the glue residue.

As long as intonation is good I wouldn't worry about it. It's how they sound that's important IMHO.

OldePhart · Mar 30, 2014

It's been re-glued and not very well. It's rough enough to affect collector's value but as Matty says, if intonation is good and it's stable it should be a good player. I've got some pretty rough looking ukes but as long as they play well that's all I really care about.

John

FrankB · Mar 30, 2014

The good news is, it can be redone if it bothers you. www.frets.com/FretsPages/Luthier/Technique/Ukulele/ReglueUkeBridge/reglueukebridge.html
The bridge won't come off as easily as the one in the link above, but it shouldn't cost too much at all to have it done properly. I'd be careful about scraping that glue off to clean it up. Sometimes that sort of thing creates more problems.

OldePhart · Mar 30, 2014

FrankB said:
The good news is, it can be redone if it bothers you. www.frets.com/FretsPages/Luthier/Technique/Ukulele/ReglueUkeBridge/reglueukebridge.html
The bridge won't come off as easily as the one in the link above, but it shouldn't cost too much at all to have it done properly. I'd be careful about scraping that glue off to clean it up. Sometimes that sort of thing creates more problems.

Very good point about the scraping! I'm no expert and OP if you really want expert advice on how to repair it you might post something in the luthier's forum here. However, even I know that you don't want to scrape at globs of glue like show on the back of that bridge - depending on the type of glue and the original finish you can pull up whole strips of finish and even wood!

If you're concerned about collector value, or playing something that's a little visually rough bothers you, I recommend letting a professional remove the bridge and do a proper restoration. They have the experience to figure out what kind of glue was used in the previous amateur restoration and how to remove it without doing further damage to the uke.

John

John Colter · Mar 30, 2014

If the intonation is good, my advice would be to leave it alone. The re-glued bridge is part of this uke's life story. We all have our imperfections, scars, and blemishes. I'm not ashamed of mine - well, I wish I'd looked after my teeth!

If you are concerned about its re-sale value, consider how much it would cost to have the job done properly, against how much that would add to the value of the uke. I think that would convince you just to play it and enjoy it.

OldePhart · Mar 31, 2014

One last thing...if it were mine... (when reading the following, keep in mind that I am not a vintage collector type person...I play my ukes and value performance above all else).

That said, if it were mine and I liked the way it played I would probably convert it to a string-through-top by drilling small holes at the saddle end of the string slots, straight down through the top and the bridge plate underneath. You push the strings in from the top, fish them out the sound hole, tie a knot and then pull them up tight. This way you don't have to worry about whether the bridge is going to pop again with modern strings (modern strings tend to have a bit higher tension than old ones) or because the previous repair job was not well done.

I know, some of the vintage fans are cringing, and if you do this don't ever take the uke on "Antiques Roadshow"

Just for the record, though. If I ever do happen to find a vintage uke I really like and buy it...I will probably be converting the bridge to a string-through-top even if it is pristine. So there, vintage fans

John

jimhuang · Mar 31, 2014

you guys are amazing ;-). thanks for all the replies.

yes the intonation is good, just visually bad around the bridge. some minor residue. just concerned about the stability by such a reglue work...

jimhuang · Mar 31, 2014

hey thanks John & Frank,

yes, i was trying to clean it but soon i found it might cause some damage. i guess i would leave all things as is .

John Colter · Mar 31, 2014

No need to worry about the stability of the re-glue. If it pops off, you should consider it an opportunity to have the job done properly. If it stays put, that's good too.

coolkayaker1 · Mar 31, 2014

OldePhart said:
One last thing...if it were mine... (when reading the following, keep in mind that I am not a vintage collector type person...I play my ukes and value performance above all else).

That said, if it were mine and I liked the way it played I would probably convert it to a string-through-top by drilling small holes at the saddle end of the string slots, straight down through the top and the bridge plate underneath. You push the strings in from the top, fish them out the sound hole, tie a knot and then pull them up tight. This way you don't have to worry about whether the bridge is going to pop again with modern strings (modern strings tend to have a bit higher tension than old ones) or because the previous repair job was not well done.

I know, some of the vintage fans are cringing, and if you do this don't ever take the uke on "Antiques Roadshow"

Just for the record, though. If I ever do happen to find a vintage uke I really like and buy it...I will probably be converting the bridge to a string-through-top even if it is pristine. So there, vintage fans

John

That was an epic thread--one of those rare, truly memorable threads bc you taught us all something new--when you did the drill thru string conversion on that uke, John. Thanks again for that.

Vintage Martin - reglued bridge ?

jimhuang

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jimhuang

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Mattyukaholic

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OldePhart

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FrankB

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OldePhart

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John Colter

It ain't what you've got, it's what you do with it

OldePhart

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jimhuang

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jimhuang

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John Colter

It ain't what you've got, it's what you do with it

coolkayaker1

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