Worth repairing a Kamaka Keiki?

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SaintWacko

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When I got married, we decided on a tropical theme for the reception. As part of that, I purchased an old tiki bar on craigslist, and the seller threw in some old Hawaiian decorations, including a decorative ukulele.

A few years down the road and I decided to start learning ukulele as my quarantine activity, and so got a little more interested in them. Just a couple days ago we finally had room in our house for the tiki bar and decorations, and upon picking them up I realized that the ukulele wasn't just decorative. After some research, I've discovered that it's a Kamaka Keiki gold label ukulele, made by Kamaka between 1963 and 1970 for the Japanese market.

I haven't been able to find any online that look exactly like this one, though. Most of them just have the 'k k' on the headboard. The only one I've seen that has the full 'k keiki' label has a guitar style body rather than the pineapple style.

I have an appointment to drop it off tomorrow with a luthier, but I was hoping to find someone familiar with it here who had some idea how much it could be worth, and how the sound will be once it's fixed up. From what I can tell, while the keiki is an entry-level uke, Kamaka seems to be a higher end brand. For reference, my other uke is a Kala KA-15S.

PXL_20210111_185559467.jpgPXL_20210111_185617030.jpgPXL_20210111_185536450.jpgPXL_20210111_185457248.jpg
 
Wow! What a lucky find! It looks to be in pretty good shape. It is missing a tuner and the soundboard in the second picture may show a crack. It can definitely be repaired. I might ship it back to Kamaka and they can repair it for you for a fee also. They can also tell you more about it.

From Kamaka's website: From 1963 to 1970, to compete against unscrupulous ukulele manufacturers who tried to sell fake "Kamaka" ukuleles in Japan, Kamaka & Sons Enterprises collaborated with Tokyo Stringed Manufacturing Co., Ltd. to produce ukuleles for sale in Japan. Called "Keiki Kamaka," the ukuleles were made of mahogany, and were only available in the standard (soprano) size. "Keiki" means "child" in Hawaiian, a fitting name for the lowest-priced, beginner's model.

A pineapple shaped Keiki is pretty cool! I bet it sounds great!

Congrats!
 
Nice! I would definitely look into fixing it up
 
To me, it sounds like they were made in Japan. Nice find, hope you fix it up. If no cracks, you may just need a new tuner. If it was mine, I'd first get a $17.00 set of Ping friction tuners (link below), try one in the missing spot (super easy to do, using a small flat washer instead of opening up the small hole for the Ping bushing), string it up and see how it plays/sounds. Then, if all is well, you could either replace all 4 tuners, or look for a vintage matching one, if that is preferable to you. The friction tuners on my old gold label Kamaka soprano were really bad, cracking buttons, etc, and a set of Pings looked and worked great.

https://www.ebay.com/i/142252370451...MIk7mRh-GU7gIVCr3ICh1g7QE6EAYYASABEgImqPD_BwE
 
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ghostrdr said:
Wow! What a lucky find! It looks to be in pretty good shape. It is missing a tuner and the soundboard in the second picture may show a crack. It can definitely be repaired. I might ship it back to Kamaka and they can repair it for you for a fee also. They can also tell you more about it.
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It definitely has a crack in the soundboard. A couple, actually. The visible one in the picture runs nearly the length of the soundboard. I'll absolutely contact Kamaka as well, although I suspect that'll be a lot more expensive than using a local. Do you think there'd be any difference in quality between Kamaka's repair and a reputable local luthier?
 
Ukecaster said:
To me, it sounds like they were made in Japan. Nice find, hope you fix it up. If no cracks, you may just need a new tuner. If it was mine, I'd first get a $17.00 set of Ping friction tuners (link below), try one in the missing spot (super easy to do, using a small flat washer instead of opening up the small hole for the Ping bushing), string it up and see how it plays/sounds. Then, if all is well, you could either replace all 4 tuners, or look for a vintage matching one, if that is preferable to you. The friction tuners on my old gold label Kamaka soprano were really bad, cracking buttons, etc, and a set of Pings looked and worked great.
Click to expand...

Thanks, I'll take a look at those! While I'd prefer to just get one to replace the missing tuner, the actual... keys? grips? are missing on all three remaining pegs, so it'll probably be easier to just replace them all.
 
SaintWacko said:
It definitely has a crack in the soundboard. A couple, actually. The visible one in the picture runs nearly the length of the soundboard. I'll absolutely contact Kamaka as well, although I suspect that'll be a lot more expensive than using a local. Do you think there'd be any difference in quality between Kamaka's repair and a reputable local luthier?
Click to expand...

Yes, probably a bit more expensive and time consuming, but they will do the job well and have an interest in returning your kamaka keiki pineapple to a terrific condition. Some "luthiers" are great and others are used to working on electric guitars and apply a one size fits all approach to problems. I had a special ukulele that it took me two years and like 3 "luthiers" who were well respected in my area before I finally sent it back to the manufacturer to fix the issues the first luthier created.

If there are multiple cracks, it sounds like it has probably dried out and needs to be re-humidified a bit. I might leave it in your bathroom where you shower for a few days and see if the cracks close up a bit. They'll still need to be repaired.
 
ghostrdr said:
Yes, probably a bit more expensive and time consuming, but they will do the job well and have an interest in returning your kamaka keiki pineapple to a terrific condition. Some "luthiers" are great and others are used to working on electric guitars and apply a one size fits all approach to problems. I had a special ukulele that it took me two years and like 3 "luthiers" who were well respected in my area before I finally sent it back to the manufacturer to fix the issues the first luthier created.

If there are multiple cracks, it sounds like it has probably dried out and needs to be re-humidified a bit. I might leave it in your bathroom where you shower for a few days and see if the cracks close up a bit. They'll still need to be repaired.
Click to expand...

Hm... Well, maybe I'll postpone my appointment with the local luthier in order to see what I hear from Kamaka. I called them earlier today and they had me send in some pictures so I can get some idea of what I'm dealing with here.
 
I heard back from Kamaka yesterday. It's definitely a Keiki made between '65 and '69 out of mahogany. They said to repair it would be $250 with a 9 month turnaround :eek:. And I'm sure that doesn't even count shipping it to them. So I'm going to take it out to a luthier today and see what they quote me. Would it matter at all to the value of it if it were restored by the original manufacturer rather than a third party?
 
SaintWacko said:
I heard back from Kamaka yesterday. It's definitely a Keiki made between '65 and '69 out of mahogany. They said to repair it would be $250 with a 9 month turnaround :eek:. And I'm sure that doesn't even count shipping it to them. So I'm going to take it out to a luthier today and see what they quote me. Would it matter at all to the value of it if it were restored by the original manufacturer rather than a third party?
Click to expand...

I guess it would depend on your future plans for the instrument. If you want it just put back in condition for playing, a good, local luthier should be able to take care of it fairly easily. If you're thinking of it as an investment, it might be worth sending it back to Kamaka for repairs. Since it's a Japanese-made 'beginners" ukulele, it might not be worth the trouble and expense. It doesn't sound like it's particularly rare or collectible, so if it was mine, I'd be taking it to a local technician that I trust to do a fine job without the hassle, wait, and shipping expense of returning it to the factory.
 
SaintWacko said:
I heard back from Kamaka yesterday. It's definitely a Keiki made between '65 and '69 out of mahogany. They said to repair it would be $250 with a 9 month turnaround :eek:. And I'm sure that doesn't even count shipping it to them. So I'm going to take it out to a luthier today and see what they quote me. Would it matter at all to the value of it if it were restored by the original manufacturer rather than a third party?
Click to expand...

It looks like it’s in very good condition and you could fix it yourself with new tuners and strings. Start there. Should cost about $50 or less and take you about an hour if you go slowly.
 
Snargle said:
I'd be more concerned about the cracks in the soundboard.
Click to expand...
there are two threads , the original poster should close the other one. I don't see the cracks, but my eyes aren't as good as they once were. If it were mine, I wouldn't spend $250 on a uke that may not even be worth that much. If the cracks aren't too bad , just replace the tuner , put some new strings on, and strum on.
 
SaintWacko said:
I heard back from Kamaka yesterday. It's definitely a Keiki made between '65 and '69 out of mahogany. They said to repair it would be $250 with a 9 month turnaround :eek:. And I'm sure that doesn't even count shipping it to them. So I'm going to take it out to a luthier today and see what they quote me. Would it matter at all to the value of it if it were restored by the original manufacturer rather than a third party?
Click to expand...

Yes, it would matter to the value.
The question is what do you plan to do with this uke once repaired?
 
strumsilly said:
there are two threads , the original poster should close the other one. I don't see the cracks, but my eyes aren't as good as they once were. If it were mine, I wouldn't spend $250 on a uke that may not even be worth that much. If the cracks aren't too bad , just replace the tuner , put some new strings on, and strum on.
Click to expand...

Wait, what other thread?

Edit: Oh, geez, I didn't even realize that was there. How do I get it closed?
 
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Snargle said:
I guess it would depend on your future plans for the instrument. If you want it just put back in condition for playing, a good, local luthier should be able to take care of it fairly easily. If you're thinking of it as an investment, it might be worth sending it back to Kamaka for repairs. Since it's a Japanese-made 'beginners" ukulele, it might not be worth the trouble and expense. It doesn't sound like it's particularly rare or collectible, so if it was mine, I'd be taking it to a local technician that I trust to do a fine job without the hassle, wait, and shipping expense of returning it to the factory.
Click to expand...

This is what I ended up doing. I just got back from a local shop who is spoken well of online. I was still a little nervous about handing it over, but he seemed like he know what he was talking about, and actually worked on one of these last year, so he has some experience with it. I should hear back with a quote early next week.
 
Ukecaster said:
Yes, you have 2 different threads going on this same topic, see screenshot below

View attachment 131748
Click to expand...

Agh, the first time I tried to post the thread I got a server error. I should have checked to see if it had gone through anyway. I posted a message there directing people here, but how would I get the other one closed?
 
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