Yikes, my bridge flew off! Lost!!!

Lori

Lori

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I have just recently restrung my Soprano Zebrawood Ohana, and was thinking how nice those Brown Worths were sounding, when I but the uke on the bed, and went into the kitchen to do the dishes. When I returned, the strings were all loose, and laying above the headstock, and the bridge and saddle gone!:eek:. I have a fairly cluttered space, and I have no idea how far that thing might have traveled. It looks like the glue just let go, but there are a few slivers of wood sticking up that must have come from the bridge.

Any ideas on how big my radius for searching should be? Do Ohana's have a warranty? It has lived a privileged live, no drastic temperature changes, lives in it's case with a properly watered Herco. Not a scratch or dent on it. I have only had it since the end of May.

:anyone: happen to be in the room when a soprano popped it's bridge?

–Lori
 
Under the circumstances you describe, I can't imagine that anyone would regard a claim for a replacement as unreasonable. If you treat it as carefully as you say, then it certainly sounds like one of those rare failures that can happen with the odd instrument of almost any brand.

If your retailer is reputable you should be ok. Ohana certainly have a sound rep.

So, contact the store you bought from. If you bought straight from Ohana you might want to consult Ken Middleton for advice. He works with Ohana.

Hope you get it sorted ok. :(
 
Lori said:
Any ideas on how big my radius for searching should be?
Click to expand...
My educated guesstimate would be anywhere between 2 and 5 feet, depending on your tuning.

Finding it and contacting your dealer, as buddhu suggests, is indeed the key to your recovery from this unhappy uketastrophy.
 
So thats what that noise was last night...I heard something go wooooosh bling bang pop as it hit my bedroom window last night....I had no idea...Thought it was a pesky hummingbird on crack?(they're always hitting the window at 3am...aarrgghh...I need a better neighborhood)....Nonetheless your bridge is down here in Tenn. I dont think it's useable as it has suffered some extreme wind damage.....actually looks like it burned up a little while re-entering the atmosphere as well.:eek:


Sorry to hear bout your uke...Im sure Ohana will make this right.
 
If the whole thing popped it could be anywhere. They really fly with the tension on them. I would think the manufacture should fix that one it really shouldn't have came off especially on a Uke. Sounds like it wasn't glued properly. Doug
 
It seems odd that the strings did not remain attached to the bridge. I can understand one or two slipping from the force to lack of force back to force, but it seems like they should have stayed connected.

Do you have gnomes running around your house?

According to this site:

http://www.ukuleles.com/Technology/strings.html

sopranos provide about 21 pounds of tension. That is relatively low for stringed instruments it seems. I can't imagine it went far. You should be able to walk a relatively straight line from where the bridge is supposed to be along the neck. That is the direction it would have flown. Then it could bounce and such, but you can figure it is not anywhere BEHIND the instrument.
 
Ohana CS comes through

I got a very prompt response from Ohana this morning, and they have a warranty for one year against manufacturer defects. Since I live in the Los Angeles area, they have invited me to come to their Signal Hill warehouse for repair or replacement. I hope to find the bridge, since I like the one I have, and the chances of them repairing it are greater if I can find the bridge. Also, it was set-up already, so I would hate to loose that benefit.

So far, great customer service from Ohana! I will update you when it's over.

I was hoping the strings would hold the bridge on a leash, but it is one of those knotted slot bridges. If it were a tie-on bridge, it would still be attached to the strings.
–Lori
 
found the bridge!

So, I started looking for the bridge, and fortunately, it was in the first area I looked. I store my ukes standing upright in a couple of boxes. The neck of the zebrawood uke was pointing in that direction. I started taking the ukes out of the first box, and, there it was, bridge and saddle! It landed about 4 to 5 feet away from the uke. I am so glad it didn't hit the wall and fall behind the filing cabinet. The bridge doesn't look damaged. There is small bit of glue, and a sliver on the "A" string side that will possibly help in the positioning for re-gluing.

–Lori
 

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Glad you found the bridge, honestly, that was the funniest thing I've read in a while.

Who knew ukes could be used as medieval catapults?


+1 for Ohana's customer service
 
spazus_maximus said:
So thats what that noise was last night...I heard something go wooooosh bling bang pop as it hit my bedroom window last night....I had no idea...Thought it was a pesky hummingbird on crack?(they're always hitting the window at 3am...aarrgghh...I need a better neighborhood)....Nonetheless your bridge is down here in Tenn. I dont think it's useable as it has suffered some extreme wind damage.....actually looks like it burned up a little while re-entering the atmosphere as well.:eek:


Sorry to hear bout your uke...Im sure Ohana will make this right.
Click to expand...

That must have been someone else's uke bridge. The neck was pointing east though! I think the timing would be off a bit anyway... let's see, from Los Angeles to Tennessee, launching at about 9:45 pm PST at 20 MPH, take in the fact it was raining (it's like those dreaded third grade word problems from math class all over again!).

–Lori
 
Lori said:
I got a very prompt response from Ohana this morning, and they have a warranty for one year against manufacturer defects. Since I live in the Los Angeles area, they have invited me to come to their Signal Hill warehouse for repair or replacement. I hope to find the bridge, since I like the one I have, and the chances of them repairing it are greater if I can find the bridge. Also, it was set-up already, so I would hate to loose that benefit.

So far, great customer service from Ohana! I will update you when it's over.

I was hoping the strings would hold the bridge on a leash, but it is one of those knotted slot bridges. If it were a tie-on bridge, it would still be attached to the strings.
–Lori
Click to expand...

Glad to hear they got back to you so fast! While you're visiting, ask them to respond to my emails, please--I've written them twice and never heard back.
;)
 
Yesterday afternoon I was sitting in my backyard strumming a tune when out of nowhere something hits me on the head . Ouch! Weirdest thing was it was a bridge from a 'ukulele. Can you describe yours?
 
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Ahnko Honu said:
Yesterday afternoon I was sitting in my backyard strumming a tune when out of nowhere something hits me on the head . Ouch! Weirdest was it was a bridge from a 'ukulele. Can you describe yours?
Click to expand...

lol...I just spewed coffee on my monitor:D
 
mattclara said:
Glad to hear they got back to you so fast! While you're visiting, ask them to respond to my emails, please--I've written them twice and never heard back.
;)
Click to expand...

I am driving down there tomorrow morning. If you like, PM me your Ohana email, and I could hand a printout to him if that would help.

–Lori
 
I almost lost a mouthful of good beer when I read all of this...Ha! Ha! Ha! Lori, I sincerely hope you get that squared away real quick with Ohana...!!!
 
Tragic, and hystericaly funny at the same time.

I'm no pro, but it looks like a crappy glue job from here. Ask Ohana what the turnaround will be and then just take it to a decent guitar repair shop. My gues is they can pop it back on and have it back to you the next day. Likley very cheap to fix as well.
 
I am going tomorrow morning to their warehouse in Signal Hill. I figured, let them put it back on, and that way, if anything else happens, the warranty coverage should be undisturbed. I am kind of curious to see the warehouse. I want to make sure the bridge position is just right, since it could affect the intonation. I figure, when possible, go to the experts. For all I know, zebrawood might have properties that might affect the glue. Sure, I could go to a local shop to have it glued, but I would have to pay them for that service. So, I think it's worth the drive (probably less than an hour on a Saturday morning) to have Ohana handle it.

–Lori
 
Lori said:
I am going tomorrow morning to their warehouse in Signal Hill. I figured, let them put it back on, and that way, if anything else happens, the warranty coverage should be undisturbed. I am kind of curious to see the warehouse. I want to make sure the bridge position is just right, since it could affect the intonation. I figure, when possible, go to the experts. For all I know, zebrawood might have properties that might affect the glue. Sure, I could go to a local shop to have it glued, but I would have to pay them for that service. So, I think it's worth the drive (probably less than an hour on a Saturday morning) to have Ohana handle it.

–Lori
Click to expand...

I think it'd be worth it to visit the warehouse...of course I have visions of "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory". Only it'd be "Lori and the Ukulele Factory". ;)

Sorry about your bum luck...but it is freakin' hilarious.
 
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