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| Moderated by: Tony Provencher, Richard Hefner |
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| Bling my Roy Smeck? | Rate Topic |
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| Posted: Mon Feb 9th, 2009 09:28 pm |
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1st Post |
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Ahnko Honu Approved 
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Aloha, several years ago during my ukulele accumilation phase I picked up an old soild mahogany (Harmony?) Roy Smeck ukulele for a song on eBay. It is in great shape, and sounds wonderful BUT (and everybody has one) it just looks cheap with it's plastic bridge and fret board. I am seriously considering adding some bling to my Roy Smeck by replacing the plastic pieces with rosewood or ebony. Should I leave it be? Does it have any collector value that will be ruined by making these changes? Mahalo for your input.
____________________ "I ike lakou, o oe, ka mea wale no nona ka inoa o IEHOVA; O oe no ka Mea kiekie loa maluna o ka honua a pau." Na Halelu 83:18 |
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| Posted: Tue Feb 10th, 2009 12:41 pm |
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2nd Post |
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Dave Alexander Approved 
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Ahnko: I have one just like it, and have wondered the same. I hope we both get the response that there's SOMETHING we can do. The thing sounds awful, but I wonder if that is because of the plastic fetboard, or the general construction. We might hear somebody upset about the historical value (doubtful since these were mass produced) but how about this perspective: It's your uke. Paint it, replace the fretboard, add Hello Kitty stickers... It's your uke. This runs against the grain of some folk's total observance of historical significance, and I'd never carve up something really important... So folks, are we holding onto important historical ukes? Or the uke equivalent of a Gilligan's Island lunchbox?
____________________ "My ukulele playing IS entertaining. Just not always to others." -- Dave Alexander |
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| Posted: Tue Feb 10th, 2009 10:15 pm |
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3rd Post |
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Ahnko Honu Approved
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Dave Alexander wrote:
Or maybe even worse, what if we turned our Gilligan's Island lunchbox into one of these: http://www.boxaleleco.com/maniatv.html  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NcysiFxgK2Y
____________________ "I ike lakou, o oe, ka mea wale no nona ka inoa o IEHOVA; O oe no ka Mea kiekie loa maluna o ka honua a pau." Na Halelu 83:18 |
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| Posted: Wed Feb 11th, 2009 01:43 am |
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4th Post |
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Dave Alexander Approved
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That's scary.
____________________ "My ukulele playing IS entertaining. Just not always to others." -- Dave Alexander |
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| Posted: Wed Feb 11th, 2009 05:14 am |
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5th Post |
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sano Approved 
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Some old ukes belong in glass cases, but I've fixed up quite a few oldies now, and my approach is to make them all playable and beautiful. I personally wouldn't hesitate to replace a plastic fretboard. They're really not that valuable or uncommon, and doing what you like with your own uke is no crime against humanity anyway. I like to keep branded ukes as original as I can, but I've stripped a few right down to bare wood because of terrible refinishes. I'd suggest getting a nice piece of rosewood or maple and making a new fretboard. Just make sure you don't use oversized frets. I'll admit to having an aversion to plastic fretboards. That's the only reason why I don't own a fluke or flea (and because I think the ones with wooden fretboards cost too much). I'm sure they're fine sounding ukes, but the plastic just gives me the creeps. edit: ebony's a beautiful choice too though I guess it's kind of the ivory of woods, if you know what I mean. Just a note slightly off topic: I've acquired a number of Chinese made lap slide guitars for resale. It urks me that they've got thick rosewood fretboards. Considering the strings are 3/4" from the fretboard and never touch it, using rosewood is really a waste. All you need for a lap slide is a single solid slab of wood. I'm thinking more and more about environmentally friendly approaches to instrument making. But hey, I'm not trying to tell you not to use ebony. It's a superior wood for a fretboard and will last a hundred years. Nice to imagine your Smeck being played by your great great grandkids, eh? Last edited on Wed Feb 11th, 2009 05:27 am by sano ____________________ sano |
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| Posted: Sat Feb 14th, 2009 06:31 am |
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6th Post |
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teek Approved
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I like how guzi65 refurbs old worn ukes, he does nice work. http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=280304342622 I got chastised by a young punk working behind the repair counter of a local guitar shop for taking most of the shellac off a circa 1920 soprano, he couldn't believe it. (He didn't see anything of it, I was just asking about refinishing. It was completely unplayable to my way of thinking, filthy and the shellac was all drawn up into a bumpy surface all over from heat, looked like attic storage damage. I couldn't see anything of the wood or grain, could see one crack but didn't know if there were more, or how deep. And I didn't do anything until I'd done a bit of research. I took enough off via denatured alcohol so it came off cleanly in a controlled manner, no sanding!!! to see that it was koa, not mahogany, get the filth out, clean the fretboard, leave behind a glow, and I have new clean shellac to refinish it. I had to use a tapered round file to very gently enlarge the original carved wood tuner peg holes by 1/16 of an inch or so, and installed plain silver and white Gotoh friction tuners. Looks nice with the nickel silver frets. Very simple. Put Worth Browns on it tonight, tuned it up, it will be a pretty little player! I wanted to check the sound before I finished it. It still has a twist in the neck, but I've read that's not uncommon, and it plays quite well. Feather light, with loud, clean and bright sound, and some nice sustain for a soprano. So far I have $20. for the uke which looked like trash when I brought it home, everyone was disgusted with me, now I heard tonight "I can't believe the difference!", just wait til it has that warm glow back on it! Now it looks like something that begs to be picked up, no more "eeewww". Add $4. for gas money to pick it up, $13.00 for tuners, $6.00 for dewaxed shellac flakes, I already have denatured alcohol, a clean glass jar and brushes, pretty good price and I learned not to be afraid to fix something up myself, knowing where I have limitations of course. So $43. outlay for a clean vintage koa soprano, and the time spent was fun. So maybe check out suppliers, I know you can get fretboard pre grooved(?) for frets, and I just got some abalone dots to pimp my Favilla junker (it's my practice piece for stuff like that) and I think I may use the tiny little side fret markers in the fret board of the koa uke, so that there's something there but very discreet. I don't intend to sell it, and if I do it's not worth more than probably $150. tops, it's just a player, not much to worry about on something that there are plenty of on eBay. Like the Harmony's with plastic. I have an all mahogany one (including fingerboard) I may end up selling, it is a sweetie, but I find I prefer concerts.
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