As far as breaks in tops and backs on acoustic instruments go, there’s little to differentiate between classical guitars, flat top guitars, ukuleles and even violins. Either the seam separates or a trauma causes a fracture.
This tenor ukulele had been sitting tight at home in its soft case till when it was taken out. This is what was seen on its back.
This was one of those fun jobs that do not involve millions of small steps to get one step of the job done. All it needed was some saw dust, some wood glue, sandpaper and a bit of touch-up.
But first, how it could have happened. As I look at it, this uke, possibly, suffered an impact, sudden and forceful, exactly at this point. It could also be possible that something very heavy was dropped on it.
However, it was also true that it was pretty instrument – mainly because of the highly figured wood used and it was an all-solid wood construction.
Getting down to work, it was just a matter of filling up the crack with a mixture of saw dust and wood glue and holding everything in place such that a lip did not appear anywhere along the break.
A few grits of sandpaper to smoothen out the ‘scar’, but this is how it looked after the first few grits of sandpaper.
And here are all the grits of sandpaper that were used.
Once I was through with all those, furniture marking pens came in handy to disguise the ‘scar’ both in the dark and the light areas of the wood.
Yes! One can still see the break but it is now solid and the eye is not drawn to it like it earlier was.
