Out of sight
A Bad Break
© Frank Ford, 2005; Photos by FF
I was originally going to title this piece "Kamaka Crunch" but that sounded a bit too much like a breakfast cereal. . .
"Gee, it was less than a year old when my 20 lb. cat jumped on it and killed it." The owner wanted an invisible repair, so we talked for a while, discussed the meaning of "invisible" and came up with this plan of action:
No point in blaming the cat, but you have to admit he hit HARD:
He punched a big hole clean through the top, and loosened the brace there,
too:
In a separate operation which I forgot to photograph, I removed that brace to get better access to the inside of the top damage.
I knew I'd be pressing a lot of crunched wood fibers back into position, so
I'd need a really solid flat caul on the inside. I took a piece of 1/4"acrylic
and traced the perimeter of the damage, allowing a bit of clearance for the
linings:
After a quick trip to the band saw, sander and buffer, I had a nice interior
caul:
This one would need lotsa glue, so I slathered the area with nice hot hide
glue, pressing it in first with a brush and then with my fingertips:
I covered the inside caul with wax paper, and used a similar but larger outside
caul, also protected with wax paper to avoid gluing it to the top:
After the glue had dried overnight, I re-inserted and reglued the upper brace:
There were lots of tiny voids and cracks, so out came the "burn-in stick"
to fill them with a reasonable matching color:
This material is pretty crumbly, so I find it neatest to actually shave it
down with a razor blade, just as you'd shave hair:
Some block sanding with 600 grit lubricated with kerosene to level the fill
to the surrounding finish:
Now the job looked almost presentable, but definitely visible to even the most
casual observer:
Since ukulele players strum and flail around above the soundhole, both the
owner and I thought it would be a reasonable idea to add some pickguards to
this area:
Now, you'd be hard pressed to notice the repaired damage, and the instrument
looks pretty cool, I think:
