Worst damage you have done to a nice uke...

Oh man, I did that too to one of my tenors. I was home with the flu for almost a week. (Remember those innocent days?) And had taken my afternoon meds: a strong cough syrup, antihistamine, and prednisone. Couldn't go to sleep so I got the brilliant idea to mount a strap button to the side of the heel. I used another uke to make sure I was placing it correctly for the straps use. Double checked it twice. Yet in my somewhat fevered codeine state I still managed to start drill on the wrong side of the heel. I still have a hard time looking at the hole that mocks me. And reminds me not to work on my ukes when I am in an impaired condition. It only takes once... :p

At least you can blame it on your impaired state. I have no mitigating circumstances to offer .... I just messed it up.
Now I triple check before drilling.
 
I had bug spray on when playing my Kamaka and now where my forearm rests, the finish has been eaten away down to the wood and there’s a palm print on it. It’s mine forever because my prints are literally all over it.

Bug repellent is horrible stuff. Lacking proper ant spray in my camper the other day, I sprayed some mosquito repellent along the kitchen counter where it meets the wall to try to keep sugar ants away. Next day I found the spray had attacked the black rubber wire insulation on my egg steamer and the power cord was now leaving nearly indelible black marks wherever it touched the counter. I had to scrub the marks off with isopropyl alcohol and wrap the cord with electric tape.
 
Right? It’s crazy how bad that stuff is for just about anything around us but we slather it on ourselves regardless. ;-)
 
Two of my ukes have dings. They were both knocked off a table by a cat I used to live with. My go to uke has missing lacquer from where my pinkie finger sits when I pick. I didn't notice it till it was too noticeable to put on a clear pick-guard. ARGH!
Strange, my wife is very careful with all her instruments except the U-Bass I gave her. She bangs it into whatever's handy. It's getting pretty ugly.
I won't share any pics.....
 
I was gonna start a thread like this the other day. Because I made a small chip on my Koaloha Koa concert.
Jerry said it’s safe as long as we keep them in the hard case... no no no. I took the uke out of the hard case and it bumped into the metal buckle on the hard case... I have been devastated for a while now.
 
No case is a guarantee of a safe ukulele. A friend of mine, who is no newbie, thinking his case latches were fastened when they weren't, picked it up and promptly dropped a new uke on the floor. It sure didn't look new anymore.
 
I took the uke out of the hard case and it bumped into the metal buckle on the hard case... I have been devastated for a while now.

Case bite. Years ago I brought an expensive guitar to work one day. My boss was a really good guitar player, and I wanted to hear how it sounded in really competent hands. It sounded wonderful, and he would play a bit and then put it back in its case, and take it out again for a little more playing. I heard a loud banging noise from the next room where he was - the case lid had come down with the buckle end hitting into and denting the top. "oops, case bite'" he said. I wanted to kill him. Figuratively.
 
I just bought a new soprano with a thin solid deck and the shop filed the fret ends, which I complained about. They offered me the cardboard box to take it home in but I refused as I always cycle and put the ukulele in my backpack.
On the way home, I bought some groceries.

When I took out the ukulele at home, it had a crack on both sides of the bridge, from some of the groceries being pushed to hard down the bag.

I glued it and appointed it to be permanent "in car ukulele"
 
I didn't do the damage but I got a KTM that had two massive dings on the neck from someone closing the hardcase on it. Was deeply discounted and doesn't change the sound or playability for that matter so worth it in the end.
 
I recently acquired Moonbird, a 2nd hand one in Mint Condition....
Unfortunately when I pressed it against my tummy to play, some of the plastisol print of my cheap T-shirt worn off and stuck to the uke gloss on one side of the back, making some ugly smdges.
No idea how to clean it, tried microfibre cloth but it seems the plastic are rubbed into the gloss surface futher afterwards.

Case bite. Years ago I brought an expensive guitar to work one day. My boss was a really good guitar player, and I wanted to hear how it sounded in really competent hands. It sounded wonderful, and he would play a bit and then put it back in its case, and take it out again for a little more playing. I heard a loud banging noise from the next room where he was - the case lid had come down with the buckle end hitting into and denting the top. "oops, case bite'" he said. I wanted to kill him. Figuratively.

I realize that some hard cases have quite a heavy lid, and can come off easily before properly one completely fits the instrument back in. My bird has a (luckily) minor dent on the spruce top after one of those accidents...
 
Last edited:
I recently acquired Moonbird, a 2nd hand one in Mint Condition....
Unfortunately when I pressed it against my tummy to play, some of the plastisol print of my cheap T-shirt worn off and stuck to the uke gloss on one side of the back, making some ugly smdges.
No idea how to clean it, tried microfibre cloth but it seems the plastic are rubbed into the gloss surface futher afterwards.



I realize that some hard cases have quite a heavy lid, and can come off easily before properly one completely fits the instrument back in. My bird has a (luckily) minor dent on the spruce top after one of those accidents...

Wow never heard of the T shirt print thing before! That’s a new one on me, but I guess it makes your ukulele unique!
 
I recently acquired Moonbird, a 2nd hand one in Mint Condition....
Unfortunately when I pressed it against my tummy to play, some of the plastisol print of my cheap T-shirt worn off and stuck to the uke gloss on one side of the back, making some ugly smdges.
No idea how to clean it, tried microfibre cloth but it seems the plastic are rubbed into the gloss surface futher afterwards.
.

I suspect that something like alcohol or something similar may work without damaging the finish. But to find out what is recommended, I would contact an "expert" such as Mim or HMS or aNueNue USA and make an inquiry. Or post a separate thread on this in Uke Talk or in the Building section.
 
I suspect that something like alcohol or something similar may work without damaging the finish. But to find out what is recommended, I would contact an "expert" such as Mim or HMS or aNueNue USA and make an inquiry. Or post a separate thread on this in Uke Talk or in the Building section.


Thanks for your advice. I tried rubbing alcohol but it's not working. Then I risked a bit [the uke has a gloss finish luckily] with an alcohol based makeup remover and it worked :)
 
Glad it worked - but for others reading the thread, I'd check with the manufacturer before trying anything other than a dry cloth or one dampened with warm water, if you don't know what the finish is - alcohol is safe on many finishes, but it will strip shellac right off (so don't use it on a traditionally french polished instrument!).
 
Not me, not even a ukulele, but this is some of the strangest damage I've seen to a stringed instrument. A good friend's classical guitar had half a dozen oblong dents across its cedar top. It turned out that he once played for a some teenagers who sang along, and they thought it was fun to aim coins at him at the end, in jest. The top is still going strong 30 years later, but at the time he was, well... not amused.
 
Not me, not even a ukulele, but this is some of the strangest damage I've seen to a stringed instrument. A good friend's classical guitar had half a dozen oblong dents across its cedar top. It turned out that he once played for a some teenagers who sang along, and they thought it was fun to aim coins at him at the end, in jest. The top is still going strong 30 years later, but at the time he was, well... not amused.

The Cleveland Orchestra used to play a free concert for school kids every year. They bus them in and the venue held over a thousand children and teachers. They finally had to stop because the kids started throwing coins at the players. Especially the tuba players trying to get them in the bell. A real shame. I was able to watch George Szell and other conductors lead the full orchestra in some wonderful pieces. What a difference it was from the pretty good Akron Symphony! (Ohio.)

Those concerts solidified my appreciation of classical music while I was in 4th, 5th, & 6th grades.
 
Last summer we had a gas explosion in the condo building where we live. Our suite was flooded with the water that extinguished the fire that was caused by the explosion. Firefighters, after 8 hours of tending to the building and checking for the degree of structural damage, allowed us into our suite for about 15 minutes to remove our valuables.

The first thing I collected were my ukes. I quickly nestled them into their hard cases and rushed out to hand them over to a kind neighbour and fellow uker.

My friend held onto the instruments while we stayed in a teeny nearby hotel room temporarily as the insurance claim process was launched. Play any of the ukes, I encouraged her and so she did. Until, a few weeks later when, after having laid my mango Koaloha tenor on her coffee table, she tripped on her area rug and then fell sideways onto the body of the uke.

The soundboard was cracked from the sound hole to the bottom end and the side separated from the soundboard as well.

I have to say, I was taken aback and found it difficult to play it down which I felt I had to do in order to comfort my pal who was devastated by the damage to the instrument.

Fortunately we have talented local luthier who did a terrific job of repairing the uke and if you didn’t know where to look, it’d be hard to spot the site of the calamity now.
 
Top Bottom