Wendell Hall uke banjo - neck repair

[Rob Collins]

A friend from the British ukulele forum Uke Cosmos has just sent me this uke banjo neck in a very sorry state, hoping that I could simply replace the fretboard and everything would be OK.

Unfortunately the neck has many problems beyond merely needing a fretboard replaced. As you can see, the thin (1/16") ebony fretboard has shrunk and crumbled, leaving the frets distorted and out of place.

The ebony centre strip of the neck has delaminated from the walnut on both sides, starting at the headstock and going down most of the length of the neck. The gap can be splayed open with very little force and my feeling is that it would take no effort at all to pull the whole neck apart.

The gap can easily be pulled open. You can see daylight through the separation.

From the front you can see that the crack in the headstock veneer is messy, with some small shards that are about to drop out.

I'd appreciate any feedback re my proposed plan to tackle this repair. My approach is limited by what the final value of the instrument will be. I don't think it will be viable to completely split the neck and glue in a replacement centre strip. I'm thinking that I'll proceed as follows:

(1) I want to stabilise the headstock by inserting a dowel through the from the side of the head, in the "waist" area between the tuner holes. I will drive the dowel in slightly below the mouth of the hole and plug with a walnut disc, stained to match the old walnut as best I can.

(2) I'll chip away the crumbling fretboard and clean up the gluing surface.

(3) I'll rout some shallow slots perpendicular to the neck centre line and glue in some walnut cleats to hold the neck together. These will be concealed when the new fretboard is on.

(4) I'll make a new ebony fretboard, slightly thicker than the old one. I'll salvage the pearl dots from the old fretboard.

(5) Wick CA glue into the remaining visible cracks and gaps along the line of the old delamination, to seal any gaps and prevent any loose splinters of ebony from falling out.

(6) Do a minimal finish touch up using French polish.


Does this sound like a plan?

[Steve Senseney]

Looks like a several step process that should turn out well.

Regarding the peghead. I would avoid a dowel in the peghead. It should close fine with simple clamping. I personally like to use hot hide glue to glue this kind of repair. If it is not done well, it can be reversed.

If you put a dowel across this joint, it will expand and contract at a different rate than the other woods, and will cause the joint to fail in time.

The rest of the neck hopefully is well glued as far as the laminations.

I agree that the fingerboard is pretty much gone and needs to be replaced.

If the neck has not delaminated, I would not try to use any cleats under the fingerboard. If it is slightly delaminated, you can clamp and use the hot hide glue, or use CA for small areas. If there is a lot of wood missing, you can use the epoxy.

Replace the fingerboard in the usual manner, and salvage the pearl if possible, but it could be new pearl in the same style/positions.

I can't see from the pictures if the frets are T frets, or bar frets. The modern T frets are easier to use, and are what I would recommend, unless you are going to an old vintage museum type repair.

[Michael Lewis]

I will echo Steve's advice except for the CA and epoxy suggestion. Hot hide glue all the way for this one. It was no doubt put together with it when it was made. If there is any wood missing replace it with wood and move on. I would be inclined to give the hide glue a try, and if it doesn't hold everything together then disassemble the neck and replace the center strip with known solid wood. A lot of very old instruments have wood in them that was treated with acid to darken it. The acid does darken the wood but eventually destroys it too.

[Rob Collins]

Thanks Steve, Michael.

In the end, the owner of the banjo has decided to sell it on in "as-is" condition, so I won't get to do the repair after all