Broken ukulele.....twice:(

Hi everyone!I'm new to this forum,my name is andrea and I'm from Italy.
I just bought an ukulele "arrow" and i've been practicing all yesterday.
Today i was strumming a little when suddnely the bottom wooden piece( the one attached with glue, it serves to reinforce the wood against the pressure created when the strings are plucked) deatched,removed from the body. I went to the shop and got it changed,then,back home, I gently tuned the ukulele,but the last chord made the same piece of wood deatch.
What should I do?remove the glue and put my self some hot glue?i don't know what to do
thanks for help and sorry for the long post!

I would say go back to the store and pick up a different brand or model..

misterM said:

Hi everyone!I'm new to this forum,my name is andrea and I'm from Italy.
I just bought an ukulele "arrow" and i've been practicing all yesterday.
Today i was strumming a little when suddnely the bottom wooden piece( the one attached with glue, it serves to reinforce the wood against the pressure created when the strings are plucked) deatched,removed from the body. I went to the shop and got it changed,then,back home, I gently tuned the ukulele,but the last chord made the same piece of wood deatch.
What should I do?remove the glue and put my self some hot glue?i don't know what to do
thanks for help and sorry for the long post!

Click to expand...

Not sure exactly what happened...how about a picture? I may be able to help you then...thanks, e.lo...

ok this is not me and not my ukulele,but the thing that happened is this
http://files.splinder.com/bb6c31977dbec5e9ffb4bc9d53c625a5.jpeg

maybe you didn't wait long enough for the glue to "cure".

Basically, the bridge came off.

Possible problems:

1) The ukulele you bought is no good.

2) The strings are tuned too high.

or

3) The strings you purchased are for a larger size ukulele which the smaller ukulele cannot handle.

Those are the only things I can think of. Sorry to hear about it.

If you're getting the bridge glued back, make sure it's clamped on while it cures.

misterM said:

ok this is not me and not my ukulele,but the thing that happened is this
http://files.splinder.com/bb6c31977dbec5e9ffb4bc9d53c625a5.jpeg

Click to expand...

misterM, thanks for the pic. Yes, that would be a pic of a '"bridge" coming off. You can try to glue it back on yourself. A couple things to make sure you do is...
1. Do not try to glue the bridge back on without cleaning the old glue off.
2. Make sure that the bottom of the bridge AND the body where the bridge will be attached is free of any finish. You must glue the bridge to the body using only clean, bare wood to wood. If you try to glue the bridge to a finished top it will come off every time. So have a good, clean, dry, bare wood to wood contact.
3. Use Titebond |, ||, or |||
4. Use a "C" clamp through the soundhole to clamp the bridge. (watch for movement of the bridge piece once clamp. It will want to wander a bit.)
5. Wait at least 24 hours of the bridge to dry. Two days if you want to be sure...
6. If it comes off again....then the only thing I can think of is that the body wood is not finished drying out. (i.e. still green wood with moisture trying to evaporate).
Some lower end ukulele companies that come from Asia or elsewhere will use fairly, fresh cut wood to crank out a product and will skip the drying out stage for the wood. The results are bridges poping off, finishes that start to flake off, etc.. Good luck with the bridge...e.lo....

thank you guys,you have been really helpful.
Tomorrow I'll try.Anyway mine is a reaaaaly cheap made in china ukulele,i wonder if the instrument has been built with wood or plastic
i wanna try the ukulele if i'm gonna love it i'll buy a better one for sure!
i'll let you know.
see ya:music:

p.s wich tool do you suggest me to use to take off the glue?i don't wanna finish up carving the body!

Use a fine grain sandpaper to take off the old glue.

misterM said:

thank you guys,you have been really helpful.
Tomorrow I'll try.Anyway mine is a reaaaaly cheap made in china ukulele,i wonder if the instrument has been built with wood or plastic
i wanna try the ukulele if i'm gonna love it i'll buy a better one for sure!
i'll let you know.
see ya:music:

p.s wich tool do you suggest me to use to take off the glue?i don't wanna finish up carving the body!

Click to expand...

misterM, getting the glue off is sort of hit-or-miss. You will just have to eye-ball it and think about it. Some first go-to tools might be a utility raser blade used as a scraper (take it out of the knife to use) to get the heavy stuff off then sand paper for the rest. It doesn't have to be pretty since both surfaces will not be seen by the eye. The idea is to just get a good contact between the two pieces of wood.

P.S. remember to blue tape on the top of the uke around your working area to avoid the occassional slip of the raser blade. Good luck...e.lo...

hoosierhiver said:

Use a fine grain sandpaper to take off the old glue.

Click to expand...

This is a very important step. Both the bottom of the bridge and the surface of the uke it glues to. Next go to a store like Home Depot and get GOOD wood glue. Something with "alpheric resin" (spelling?). I use Bondtite. The one that has the "III", instead of the "II" or "I". It is waterproof and one of the strongest bond agents available for wood. Once you have the bridge in the proper position, it needs to be clamped for about an hour. Clean up any excess glue before it dries. Let the glue cure for about 24 hours before reattaching the strings.

Of course, you may just want to buy a nicer uke. The glue I use is about $9 bucks and the wood clamps are about $10 bucks to $20 bucks. Also the nicer uke you can buy with that extra money will probably be more playable. Ric

Sometimes the finish (varnish, Poly, etc) is over done and the bridge gets glued to that instead of the wood. The surface you are gluing to should be free of finish and the same size or slightly larger (1/64") than the bridge itself. Else the bridge is elevated the thikness of the finish and the glue doesn't bind properly with the bare wood but rather you glue the bridge to the slick finish (POP!!). If you had two do that I bet thats what it is. I've seen that before straight frm the manufacture. Gluing the bridge isn't magic, just need a clean bare wood surface on the top of the uke and the bottom of the bridge.

So today I went over to one friend's of mine,he is good with manual stuff and so and he just built a boat(a mini boat,for collection) and luky me he had just the right tools to take off the glue and do the rest.
Yeah i bought an ukulele for 30€,wich is about 40 bucks,and actually the bridge was made of wood,but the body.....i'm not sure it was proprley wood....but for that low price i couldn't exept anything better,tomorrow i'll see the results,if the brige blows off again i will put a nail.....or smash it and buy a good one

everything looks fine for now.thank you all!!:music: