NOOO!!! A crack in my uke!

Valerie

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So, I've had my Koa Pili Koko a few months now. And I've taken excellent care of it- I've never dropped it, or even hit it against anything. I've kept it in a case with a humidifier and monitored the humitidy in the case (keeping it at 50%).

And, I went exacty two days without playing it. I opened the case to make sure the humidity was good and all- but didn't play.

Well, today I pick it up to play and find that there is a large 2.5 inch crack on the front, near the lower right bout.

I feel like crying. I mean, I'm screwed, right? There is no way to fix that.

I tried to take some pics, but the crack doesn't show up.

The wood does piano key- or I can press near the crack and get an up-down movement.


I feel like crying. I really have no idea what I did wrong... I calibrated my hygrometer biweekly- and as I said before, checked the humidity daily- even if I didn't play the instrument.

Blah... and won I'm rambling... Is there any way to fix such a crack or is my instrument truely ruined?
 
ouch. terribly sorry to hear that... Hopefully someone will have a solution.

Does it sound much different now that it is cracked?
 
I'm too upset to tell, really.

I changed strings a few weeks back and the new strings buzz a bit. I've been meaning to change back, but I don't have the money and I figured meh.

So there is the buzzing, but I think that's from the strings... I don't know.

I mean, this crack appeared really fast! Whenever I'm done playing, I always wipe the instrument down. When I wiped it down on Saturday: no crack. I wipe it down today: major crack!
 
Sorry to hear about that. It seems that KPKs are fairly prone to cracking as this isn't the first time I've read about cracks on KPK ukes. Odd considering they are supposedly made in a climate controlled factory in China.

I had a similar experience recently with a Sonny D tenor. It's back seam was already starting to separate and a couple of weeks ago I discovered a nice long crack on the spruce soundboard from the bridge to the bottom. The bridge also looks like it's starting to come off. Just a POS of a uke. Anyway, I knew about a good local guitar repair shop and looked up their repair cost. They fix cracks at $50 per inch! That crack must be at least 3 inches so I think I'm just going to stash that Sonny D in a closet.

For your KPK, perhaps you should check with the seller to see if Kelii cover this kind of thing. I recall Julie from ukulelereview.com had a cracked KPK that got replaced. Good luck.
 
Yeah, after listening to me talk myself into a worried fit (there were some tears...) my dad told me to just call the seller. So I did, and the instrument has a warenty.

So, I pay shipping, to return the broken one and get a new one.

I'm just worried that this happened, I mean, I don't know what else I could have done.

I've been super worried about this instrument all along- even before I got it I did a bunch of looking into hygrometers (buying a 30 dollar one from the local cigar store) and bought a humidifier for my room.


Anyways, it's nice to hear that this happens to others (bad for the others, I know) but it makes me feel better to think that maybe it wasn't something I did, but just something that happened...
 
Yeah, after listening to me talk myself into a worried fit (there were some tears...) my dad told me to just call the seller. So I did, and the instrument has a warenty.

So, I pay shipping, to return the broken one and get a new one.

I'm just worried that this happened, I mean, I don't know what else I could have done.

I've been super worried about this instrument all along- even before I got it I did a bunch of looking into hygrometers (buying a 30 dollar one from the local cigar store) and bought a humidifier for my room.


Anyways, it's nice to hear that this happens to others (bad for the others, I know) but it makes me feel better to think that maybe it wasn't something I did, but just something that happened...


Remember that you should not have to pay return shipping or at least argue that point. Sorry to hear about the crack. But I do have a 6 stringer that has two repaired cracks on it and it sounds great. There is hope.
 
dUDE, so sorry. Well, I think you know what you must do. We wrote about this a while back rather jokingly... but now its serious. Gotta move to Hawaii. I know, it seems like a drastic change, but we all have to do the right thing for the uke's sake.

Here, you can print this out and read it on the plane ride, its about cracks and repairs of cracks. Perhaps its too soon for you to look at these, some feature some pretty nasty cracks... but when you're ready, give 'em a look.

~
(**Warning: graphic photos, may bot be suitable for sensitive viewers)

http://www.frets.com/FRETSPages/Musician/GenMaint/CrackID/crackid1.html

http://www.frets.com/FRETSPages/Musician/Guitar/Maintenance/KeyCrack/keycrack.html

http://www.frets.com/FRETSPages/Luthier/Technique/Structural/LongPipette/longpipette01.html

http://www.frets.com/FRETSPages/Lut...tructural/Cracks/LG2TopCrack/lg2topcrack.html

http://www.frets.com/FRETSPages/Lut...uctural/Cracks/Taylor355Cracks/355cracks.html
 
Very true, before it was a joke, but now, well my boss has just got to understand- I've evidence!

Must-move-to-Hawaii


(thanks for making me laugh)
 
^ how we all love MGM

i did the same, took care of my lu-21t... dropped it once and massive mark on it. so yeh... :( but i was over it like 5mins later, especially that its only $100 uke
 
oh great, i wish i didn't read this thread....please please please ukulele god dont let my new kpk crack!!! now im cracking...i mean crapping myself.
 
Valerie,
Most likely you didn't do anything wrong.Solid wood sometimes cracks,that's the way it is. Sometimes there is a weak point in the wood grain.It's not anyones fault,it's just that piece of wood had an unknown weakness.
 
Very true, before it was a joke, but now, well my boss has just got to understand- I've evidence!

Must-move-to-Hawaii


(thanks for making me laugh)

i think we all should just move to hawaii.. this happened to my bushman ukulele which was not under any warranty.. so i just sold it on ebay.. got what i could out of it.. and got a Koaloha!! you can bet i am keeping it at 50%

d
 
My beautiful pineapple koa uke has developed a couple of cracks probably due to dry weather, but it still plays and sounds great. In fact it's featured in my next video!
:)
 
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