Luna neck break and subsequent repair

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I know. I haven't blogged in a long time. Yes, I know - you don't want to hear my excuses. Fine! I'm not going to give any this time. However, today I have a post that might (or might not) make up for my long absence.

My good friend, Tom acquired a Luna Concert Uke a couple years ago and he has been enjoying the heck out of it. But recently, tragedy struck. Tom dropped it (allegedly) and it broke! Personally, I don't buy his story. Here's what I like to think happened instead...

Tom was enjoying a leisurely cup of coffee on a Saturday morning while strumming some chords. The front door suddenly burst open and two men with guns rushed in and pointed them at Tom. "Where's the money!", exclaimed one of the men. You see, Tom has recently gotten himself involved with some mafia types and some drug deals have gone south. Tom is now indebted to them for large sums of money. Tom, of course, didn't have the money on that particular Saturday morning, so like any good mafia dude who is worth his weight, Mafia man A (we'll call him) sent Tom a message. He picked up Tom's Luna uke by the neck and bashed it into the wall, thus turning the ukulele into the pile of wood that you see below...

But no worries, Tom! I know (sort of) how to repair such breaks. As for repairing your relationship with the mafia...I'm sorry, but I can't help you there.

First things first, here's what we need - wood glue, clamps, paper towels, and hope.

Thankfully, the break on the neck was fairly clean so it didn't require expert skill...just me. Disclaimer: I did tell Tom that I might further damage it trying to fix it.

After setting the clamps, I cleaned up the excess glue with power towels (and love). As for how long you should leave the clamps on, different people have different opinions. I'd say 6 hours AT LEAST. This one set clamped for over 24 hours...mostly because the time of day I did it (about 5pm). After I got home the next day from work, I took the clamps off.

As you can see, there is still some residual damage. And yep, my glue job was a little bit sloppy.

Next step was to test it's strength by stringin' it up. I chose Martin M600's because the tension is a bit lighter and I was a bit hesitant to put on something with higher tension. After stringing it up and testing, I do think the bond is strong enough to hold some Aquila's.

Voila! The Luna is once again playable and ready to be shredded upon...or lightly plucked, if that's what Tom prefers. Boy, I hate to see what the mafia will do to this ukulele next time if Tom doesn't pay up...

I suck

Yep, it's true. I haven't blogged in far too long. Sorry for my absence. Life happens. Kids happen. Job responsibilities happen. Home ownership happens (chasing raccoons out of my chimney, cutting up fallen trees, sealing cracks, etc.)

While I don't have time to update with the same frequency that I did a few years ago, I'm going to make a concerted effort to put something up every once in awhile, be it a tab, review, or another apology 2 years from now for not doing anything. :)

Schoenhut Ukulele Winner!

We had a lot of fun with the "why do you love the ukulele" contest. Congrats to Cecile from Utah! He loves the ukulele because "it is cheaper than therapy". We couldn't agree more! Thanks everyone for playing. We'll do another giveaway soon so stay tuned.

Yamaha Guitalele review

It's a ukulele! No wait...it's a guitar! No wait...it's a Ukutar? Yeah, Guitalele sounds a lot cooler. Nice Job, Yamaha! My wife got me this Yamaha Guitalele (GL-1) for my birthday this year. I thought it was a cool idea, but since it was around $100, I really wasn't expecting too much from it. But I'm pleasantly surprised by it! Smaller scale guitars (like pocket guitars) have been around for some time, but these guitaleles are new territory. Here's the report card....


Specs and details: Spruce Top, Meranti back and sides, Rosewood fretboard and bridge. Scale length 17". Geared tuners.

Schoenhut Ukulele Giveaway!!!

You've got a shot to win this toy Schoenhut Ukulele! Actually, you've got a lot of shots to win it with the "Why I love the ukulele" contest.

Here's how it works. Fill out the form below and tell us in 5 words or less why you love the ukulele. We'll pick our favorite each day for the next 20 days and each daily favorite will be entered into the drawing to win this lovely little uke.

The best part is that you can play every single day!

We'll post the daily favorite on our Facebook and Twitter so make sure to like and/or follow us there to see if your entry was the daily favorite!

We'll do it every day through May 6th! Daily entries end each day at Midnight (central time).

Here's the form. Good luck!

Bugsgear Plastic Ukulele review

Everyone loves a plastic uke, right? This time around we're taking a look at this Bugsgear Aqulele Plastic Ukulele. The name doesn't sound familiar, but you might actually be familiar with the work of this same company. It's the same people that make the quirky looking Peanut Eleuke. 

This uke is made from ABS. This soprano scale uke is intended for the ukulele player on an adventure. It can be taken along camping, hiking, or just thrown in the back of the car without worrying about it. Think of it as the "Rocky" of the ukulele world. Here's the report card.....

"A place to hang my uke" winners!

Congrats to our contest winners! Mervin Keith is our first place winner with his "Couch Uke" picture with 43% of the vote. Runner up Jake Tolbert also earned himself a nice new wall hanger with "Uke in the Corner" taking 30% of the vote. Nice work guys! Enjoy your new ukulele wall hangers.

Special thanks to Etsy sellers Jon Woodworking and Toucan Mango. Make sure to stop by their shops and take a look at their work!

Here's the winning pictures....