Advice requested on problems w/ a new build

It's got to be a bit confusing to the original poster. He seems to believe that bringing the himidity surrounding his ukulele up to 75% is the way to go and some kind of fix. That is just about opening your window during a rain storm and keeping your uke by that open window. Not a good idea. If the humidity in my shop got anywhere close to that I would be in full panic mode. When I hear folks talking about rehydrating or rehumidifiny I cring. Try to keep your instument in the same environment it was built in, or just a couple percent higher. r it's not cup of noodles you don't need to add water.
 
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It's got to be a bit confusing to the original poster. He seems to believe that bringing the himidity surrounding his ukulele up to 75% is the way to go and some kind of fix. That is just about opening your window during a rain storm and keeping your uke by that open window. Not a good idea. If the humidity in my shop got anywhere close to that I would be in full panic mode. When I hear folks talking about rehydrating or rehumidifiny I cring. Try to keep your instument in the same environment it was built in, or just a couple percent higher. r it's not cup of noodles you don't need to add water.

Yes, i just re read my last post and it wasn't super clear so i edited it and will repost it.

An instrument should be built in around 45% humidity, and kept in 45% by the owner. (45% simply being a happy median between super dry and raining)

Even aged wood (or an instrument built with aged wood) needs to be humidified at 45% (by luthier and customer of instrument).

The only time humidity isn't an issue is if the instrument is built for you by your next door neighbor and you happen to live in an environment which doesn't have humidity swings throughout the year....
BUT that isn't recommended for if you live and build instruments in say Hawaii, and sell to your neighbor an instrument that was built in the local humidity (about 60-70%) then they sell on that instrument to someone in Arizona that instrument will suffer greatly. If you must do this, (not sure why anyone would) clearly write on the label something like "This instrument was specially build at 70% humidity"
 
Hello again - Been a while.

I wanted to post an update on the status of my tenor that I originally posted about nearly a year ago. I was reluctant to follow up sooner because of some flack that I took due to the fact that I don’t have a lot of post count here. Apparently, that was viewed by some to be me looking for a forum just to grind an axe which I assure you is not the point.

Anyway, the pic labeled as '2 weeks' was taken at the time of my original post showing the crack that developed within ~2 weeks of my taking delivery. I showed this around and was told that the glue joint is defective and that short of sending it back to the builder for repair, the only thing to do was to try to rehumidify the uke and close the joint. I don't see how rehumidifying will fully seal the joint, and after ~1 year of maintaining it at ~45-50% RH in the closed case, the pic labeled as '1 yr' shows the current condition.

I did spend a lot for this uke, and for it to develop a substantial split in the top like this within 2 weeks after taking delivery while in the case with humidifier during that entire time is just not right.

This should be a warranty issue, but the builder takes zero responsibility, does not stand by his work, and has gone dark. Sorry to say, but IMO, this is unconscionable. Barring the ability to get anywhere with the builder, I’d appreciate any advice of suggestions that you may have. Feel free to contact me either online of offline as you see fit.

Uke_2weeksB.jpg

Uke_1yrA.jpg

Thanks for listening.
Steve in MD
 
I'm not looking back over the thread, just addressing how to fix the crack. The process is comparatively easy for someone who has skills in doing this.

1. Clean out as much of the old glue in the crack as possible (unless it is hide glue, in which case there is no need, just try to clean out any dirt which would show in the glue line).

2. Keep the uke in a *higher* humidity environment, maybe 65%, for a week or two to see if the crack closes up.

3. If it closes, work glue into the crack and clamp to ensure the two sides stay in the same plane. Once the glue is dry, cleat on the inside.

4. If it doesn't close, cleat on the inside to reinforce the crack and then decide whether to live with the visible crack (cheap) or get a skilled person to insert a splint of wood and disguise the repair (difficult and expensive).

A competent luthier will be able to do all this fairly cheaply (costs vary by location and demand for that luthier's services, but I'd guess around US$100) except for splinting the crack, which requires high level skills and is costly.

In theory a competent woodworker could do all this as a home repair (except the splint if needed), but it's easy to use the wrong glue and/or leave the result looking ugly so I'd recommend a professional for anything but a cheap instrument.
 
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