Is this Kamaka beyond hope?

ghostrdr · Sep 25, 2019

I saw this on eBay and the price seems right, but man that crack in the soundboard is gnarly.

Also, the rope and abalone (?) rosette and bindings are in pretty bad shape.

The pineapple decal is in good shape, but the instrument may need to be re-finished also and who knows what else may be wrong with it, neck, frets, other cracks, etc. No idea how a re-finish would affect the pineapple decal.

If someone walked in with this instrument, what do you think it would cost to fix her up? Is it something that could be fixed up?

she has some potential, but ugh, that's a lot of work.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Kamaka-Pineapple-Ukulele-Damaged-4-String-w-Kido-Case-AS-IS-PARTS/264475834831?hash=item3d93fcf9cf:g:reQAAOSwHfxdiWvj

Thoughts?

Pegasus Guitars · Sep 25, 2019

Having lived in hawaii for the past nearly 40 years, I've worked on many, many Kamakas. Problem with repairs like this is that many, if not most of those old Kamaka ukes are sanded paper thin in places. Very difficult to repair. Almost impossible to refinish because you can't do any sanding. Of course any repair is possible, but this one may just be a wall hanger. Impossible to tell without actually seeing the uke, but unless you are a very skilled repairman this one may not end up as a player. If you just want a fun collectable of not much value, go for it but you probably won't actually be getting a playable uke. Good luck!--Bob

robinfowler · Sep 26, 2019

You may want to consider Kamaka for a repair.

I recently bought a cracked 1928 pineapple from eBay for $200. This is a plane pineapple with no rope etc. Small crack on front and large cracks on back. But no where near as bad as your example. Sending it to Kamaka they quoted $200 for repair.

They will replace back and fix front crack and refinish.

Only drawback is I will take 10-12 months to fix.

Michael Smith · Sep 26, 2019

If you are not fully confident to make a really nice repair I would not think it worth the $600 or there about you will pay for it.

ghostrdr · Sep 27, 2019

Wow. When I posted it, it was bidding at about $50-70. Now it’s like $500+!

When you factor in the time and money spent to restore it, I think it’s probably a bit too much effort and trouble for me. Yikes

Wukulele · Sep 27, 2019

It would depend on what you want to do with it. Display, restore, actually play?
When looking for my 1st uke, I knowingly bought a cracked Kamaka. But I also had a ball-park idea of how repairable & cost of repair.

ghostrdr · Sep 28, 2019

Wukulele said:
It would depend on what you want to do with it. Display, restore, actually play?
When looking for my 1st uke, I knowingly bought a cracked Kamaka. But I also had a ball-park idea of how repairable & cost of repair.

I would want to restore it. I think it would be difficult to repair that huge crack in the soundboard. I thin it would be tough to not re-finish it, but to re-finish it might mean sanding it down and destroying that lovely pineapple decal. I also think it would be pretty difficult to replace all the Rosettes, purpling and damaged binding. I don’t know how much a well-restored vintage pineapple would go for, but it’s already in the $500 range before any repairs.

Probably not a project I want to undertake.

AQUATOPAZ · Oct 5, 2019

ghostrdr said:
I would want to restore it. I think it would be difficult to repair that huge crack in the soundboard. I thin it would be tough to not re-finish it, but to re-finish it might mean sanding it down and destroying that lovely pineapple decal. I also think it would be pretty difficult to replace all the Rosettes, purpling and damaged binding. I don’t know how much a well-restored vintage pineapple would go for, but it’s already in the $500 range before any repairs.

Probably not a project I want to undertake.

Sold for $898.88 with 11 bidders and 27 bids.

ghostrdr · Oct 6, 2019

Bill1 said:
Send it to Kamaka for repairs and restoration and all you need to worry about is the cost of the repair. A double whammy of getting a Kamaka restored by Kamaka (benefit of still being in business) and rarity. Once it is repaired with the binding and purfling restored, what will the $898.88 purchase price turn into?
A lesson in collecting.

If we assume that (1) it could be repaired, and (2) Kamaka would repair it, I would think the cost of repair and refinishing would be really high, maybe even almost as much as the almost $900 purchase price? There’s a lot of the abalone and rope binding missing. I guess you could get that back if you were selling it, but that’s a long term project I bet. I was surprised to see it sell for that amount. Shows you what I know I suppose

Is this Kamaka beyond hope?

ghostrdr

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Pegasus Guitars

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robinfowler

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Michael Smith

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ghostrdr

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Wukulele

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ghostrdr

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AQUATOPAZ

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ghostrdr

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