Guitar Tech Corner, Ventura

Guitar Tech Corner

Drop Off and Pick up at Almighty Guitar Planet

1822 E. Main Street 

Ventura, CA 93001

http://www.guitartechcorner.com/

It's important to have a 'guy'. 

At least, you should have someone who can fix the things that you can't. I have a contractor that I trust, a mechanic that I trust, and a guitar repair guy that I trust. 

I came across Tracy Longo, the owner of Guitar Tech Corner, a few years ago when I had bought an Arts and Lutherie Ami guitar on eBay. A parlor size guitar that is similar to a Martin, the Ami is solid wood and made in Canada, dating from 1997 and it needed some attention when I bought it. But it only cost me $77, so with a list price of around $350, I figured that if I didn't spend too much on repairs, I'd be okay. 

I dropped the Ami at Guitar Planet, a great guitar shop that I'll give it's own post one day, where Tracy picks up and drops off his repairs. I guess his actual shop is in an industrial part of the east end of town. Tracy called me to give me an estimate-$95 which I thought was more than reasonable. I picked it up a few weeks later, and the Ami played great! 

About a year later, I bought a Sigma 12 string Japanese acoustic guitar on the Heritage Auction site for around $100, which I then brought to Tracy for repairs. On that, he did something that I didn't expect. He called me and said that though he could fix it, it wouldn't really be worth the cost when there are plenty of newer guitars that would play just as well and cost less. He suggested I sell it because there were a lot of 'kitchen luthiers' out there who would be able to fix it on their own, and even suggested the things I should point out about the guitar to get the best price. And he didn't even charge me! 

At that point, Tracy got a customer for life.

So when I came across this vintage koa wood pineapple ukulele, I figured that if I could get it for the right price, I could probably have Tracy do the repairs for me. As I've documented here, I've done some repairs on guitars and ukuleles, but the online description led me to believe that the repairs would be beyond what I was comfortable with. It had some cracks in the back, the bridge was unglued, the soundboard had some major cracks, and two of the tuning pegs were missing.

Still, it was vintage, and it was koa, so I figured if it was cheap enough, it'd be worth it. My limit was $80, including shipping, and I was able to score it for $76. When it arrived, it was pretty, but needed some tender love and care. I opted not to even try things that I thought that I'd be able to do, and shot Tracy an email and a couple of pictures, and he said that he'd be happy to take a look.

When he finally saw it, Tracy remarked how much it looked like a vintage Kamaka (My dream ukulele), and said he could get it up and running once more. I emphasized that I really wasn't in any rush (since my repair budget was a little tight), but if he thought he could get it working, to go ahead and fix it. I said that it was okay to change the tuning pegs to geared machines, but he quickly disagreed, saying the he could find wooden ones, and that it was much more in keeping with the vintage vibe, and I said if he felt it was best, that was okay with me.

It took almost three months, which I was totally okay with. I figured that Tracy's shop was at the proper humidity for wooden instruments, and that would help the koa. He described his shop (when repairing my Ami, which appeared very dried out when I bought it), as being like a spa for guitars, and spa time for what appeared to be an 80 year old instrument seems like a good idea. 

I picked it up today, and the ukulele was beautiful, much prettier than when I took it in. In my initial playing, it seems a little muffled, but I've notice that ukulele's need time to open up, and nylon strings really need time to break in, so I'll put a sound sample up in a few days. A Kamaka of similar style and vintage is much more than the approximate $250 that I put into this, so though I'm going to hold my final judgement for a month or two, so far I'm pretty happy.

Very pretty indeed.

Harmony Canoe Ukulele

Harmony Canoe Ukulele

1950's

According to both Elderly and Lardy's  Ukulele Database, this is a 50's era Harmony Ukulele, made of birch and with a plastic fretboard. It came with a case, which you can see in the pictures, and the smell of moth balls, which you can't. It cost me $48, with $11 for shipping when I won it back in September.

When the uke arrived, it smelled like it had been in someone's basement for the last 30 years, and like the Fluke I bought a year and a half ago, which wreaked of cigarette smoke, I put a tennis shoe deodorant ball inside the case. After four months, the smell improved considerably.

           

The uke was dusty, missing a string and missing the head from a tuning machine. I rummaged through the various guitar and ukulele parts that I have until I found a a suitable replacement. Though it looks a bit different, it does the job and I don't have to replace all the tuning heads.

From there, I got out the usual array of cleaning materials. Mini shop vac with attachments to get the dustbunnies out of the body, and Dunlop guitar polish for the body. I sometimes use lemon oil, but didn't on this one. With some elbow grease, it shined up well. I've used Aquila Red Strings, and thought they sounded okay. This time I used the Kala Red strings. I like using the red strings against the  white plastic fretboards-snazzier, you know.

Since this uke was in pretty good shape when I got it, getting it to smell better was really the biggest concern. I cleaned, vacuumed, polished and tightened it, and with the new strings, it was good to go.

My initial take is that it's a bit quieter than the Fluke or the Kay, (which otherwise it closely resembles). It plays reasonably well, though. I think it will be the 'work' ukulele, since I have more than enough ukes here at home. It's pretty, too, so if I have it out at work, it at least looks interesting.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         

Primo Hawaiian Shirt, Exotical Downey, and Patrick Pangan (and Portos, too)

I've written about Exotical once before, on 9/22/12. I was in Downey for the Downey-Oxnard Football game, which Downey won while on their way to a CIF title.

In it, I refer to a Primo Beer Hawaiian Shirt in chartreuse, which the kid in the store recommended over the blue that I was initially going to buy. I like the chartreuse, so don't get me wrong, but there was something about the blue that I really wanted, and I've been thinking of going back ever since to get it. Finally, I was back in Downey, and after a lunch at Portos, which opened in Downey a few years ago and was as delicious and inexpensive as 1,000 internet reviews say it is, I walked across the street to Exotical, and bought the blue Primo Beer shirt. The price had gone up since last year, but I wanted it.

And now, why did I want it? It all goes back to Patrick Pangan, a Hawaiian kid that I knew back in grade school. I attended St. Rose of Lima in Maywood in the 70's, and Patrick was in my class. On free dress days, which was a major event at a Catholic School, it seemed like he always wore a blue, Primo Beer Hawaiian shirt. I'm not quite sure what I liked about it even then, or why I wanted to look like Patrick Pangan.

If memory serves, though, for some reason I also liked his hair. It was kind of like the old Justin Bieber haircut, where there wasn't any real part, but the hair was combed in such a way that implied being parted. The hair wasn't combed into the face, Bieber style either. Anyway, that's how his was combed, and I remember liking that and trying to comb my hair the same way. In the 70's, it was a look that I could get away with, and it took me a while to perfect that style, but I finally got it.

Why did I want to look like Patrick Pangan? I don't really know. I liked the Primo Shirt, and I liked the hair. He was a nice enough kid, if memory serves, but I don't recall any hero worship type thing at that point in my life. The girls liked him better, but I don't think that was a big concern in the 5th, 6th, or 7th grade. He played basketball well for a grade schooler, but again, I can't believe that was a motivation.

So rather than go all Freudian, I'm just going to say that I liked the shirt, and the hairstyle was something that my dad would let me get away with.

The same kid helped me as helped me last year, and when I started talking, he said that he remembered me, but who knows. On this trip, they had some vintage ukulele's that I don't remember being out the last time I was there, a couple of Kamaka's and a Martin, as well as a couple of off brands, and of course I played them all. Then I found the blue Primo Beer Shirt! They still had one-several, actually, in a variety of colors. It was $69, but a quick internet shirts usually has them between $75 and $125, if you can find them at all.

Then, as I was looking through the clearance rack, I looked at a shirt that was so ugly it was cool. I pulled it out, and the salesguy said the same thing. Green, yellow and brown is not a color palette that I normally work with, but I know that I can pull off most anything. Exceptionally ugly can be a good thing in a Aloha shirt, and it was only $19, so I wore the ugly one out. It's a Jade Fashions Made in Hawaii, and checking their website, I noticed that they had several other ugly yet cool shirts that I might have to buy myself.

Exotical is not the Tommy Bahama store, but there's usually some interesting stuff.

Ukulele Repair-the Kay

Great Logo!

I really do need to stop buying things. I'm not a particularly good luthier, but it is becoming an interesting hobby for me.

This Kay was purchased off the Goodwill website in the beginning of August, and arrived at my door for $41.50, including shipping. I wanted it for the off white plastic fretboard, and the "Kay" headstock design. I have Regals and Harmonys, so a Kay works for the completist in me.

There are no dates or distinguishing markings on the Kay. It may be from the 50's or 60's, it may be made in either Chicago or Japan. I think it appears to at least have a solid top, but I can't say for sure. Perhaps someone out there can tell from the pictures.

Old and New Tuning Machines

When it arrived, the Kay had no strings, and was missing a tuning peg. I ordered some colored pegs from China on eBay for $6, and got some red Aquila strings (also on eBay) because I thought they'd look sharp against the plastic fretboard.

There also appears to be some water damage between the soundhole and the end of the fretboard, as well as where the neck joint attaches to the body. 

Counter-Sink

The first thing that I needed to do was drill out the holes for the replacement tuning pegs. They were just a bit larger than the holes in the head of the uke, so using the largest bit that I had handy and my counter-sink, I slowly and carefully used my hand held Craftsman drill to make the holes. The new tuning pegs just barely fit.

Next, I noticed that the top was starting to separate. I broke out the Titebond and my clamps, and did my best to glue the top back on. It's not the greatest seal, but I think it's okay.

I cleaned the uke with Dunlop Guitar Polish, and strung up the red Aquila's, and took it out for a test strum. It seems to be one of my louder ukes, on par with even my Fluke, which is very cool. No one is going to mistake it for my dream ukelele, the $900 Koaloha Pineapple, but on the whole it isn't bad. Certainly worthy of the Sunday Ukelele jams. 

Final Product

With my broken Richter

I'm beginning to enjoy these old ukuleles. There's something satisfying about fixing them up and playing them again.

Please enjoy my soundbite, and make a comment!

Oct. 14, 2013 Update

I've been meaning to rerecord the video, and finally got around to it today. I have to remember to have a livelier expression when I'm recording myself playing an instrument. The things you have to think about when you make a video.

                                                                                                                                 
And now to mangle White Stripes. My apologies to Jack White.

I'm not sure why I'm sideways. Just go with it....

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               

Ukulele Repair S.S. Maxwell

Ukulele Repair

S. S. Maxwell

Back when you could take summer school for "fun," my parents would insist that I attend. During my middle school years('74, '75, '76), that meant heading to Nimitz Junior High School in Huntington Park, away from the nuns that taught me normally at St. Rose of Lima in Maywood. The interesting part is that a dozen years later, I would begin my teaching career back at Nimitz, and many of the teachers were still around.

Pried off bridge to attempt to reglue.

I signed up for Woodshop one of those summers, thinking that would be interesting and quickly discovering that I had no aptitude for wood working. In hindsight, I think it reflected my incredible lack of patience, and though the lessons I learned sunk in, I was unable to use them at the time that I learned them. (On a side note, the Shop teacher was still at Nimitz when I started teaching there, but of course did not remember me in the slightest. Word was that Alzheimer's was kicking in, and he would occasionally be seen wandering the campus during his final year. I don't remember his name, meaning that perhaps my age is finally getting to me).

As some kids raced through projects, making cutting boards and bowls and stools and such, I think I was able to make a shark and a crooked skateboard. I think there was something else, too, but I don't remember what it was. 

Residue

With Elmer's

But I did remember many of the things we were                                                                                                                                                                                                                             supposed to learn, and have used them for various projects here in the house, including a bench that I'm very proud of and shelves in the closets. When I accidentally left my vintage  S.S. Maxwell outside after a barbecue, which was then followed by a light rain, the bridge popped off and I figured that I had enough skill to glue it back on again.

Popped Again!

Not a lot of information is available for the S.S. Maxwell. It was made in Chicago by Regal, and I'm guessing this one to date from the mid '50's. It appears to be solid wood, but I don't know what kind of wood. Basically, it's like the zillion other ukuleles produced in Chicago by Regal, Harmony and others. Initially, I used some Elmer's Wood Glue that I had laying around. My first attempt had the bridge slide a bit when I clamped it, bring the A string too close to the edge of the fretboard, and making the uke a bit of a challenge to play. I took the bridge off to try again, but this time the bridge popped right back off when I was tuning it up. I'm sure that I've had the Elmer's for at least five years, and apparently, glue has a shelf life. Surfing the internet and looking at ukulele repair, I learned that hide glue is what is supposed to be used.

Pencil Marks

Titebond Hide Glue

The hide glue that most luthiers use comes in pellets and has to be melted down in a special burner-far more than my limited patience and ability was ready to handle. Then I found a few websites that refer to Titebond Liquid Hide Glue in their repairs, saying it was much easier to work with and seemed to work about as well.

I just won an auction for an old Silvertone guitar with a broken bridge, and also picked up a Richter Ukulele that lost it's bridge when I was changing it's strings. So since I have a few more instruments that need bridges glued on, I figured that buying the Titebound was a "sound" investment.

Clamped Again!

Another View

I remeasured the bridge placement on the S.S. Maxwell, and after I sanded away all the previous residue, I marked the bridge placement with a pencil and glued the bridge back on.

Leaving the bridge clamped for almost 30 hours seemed to work. I strung it up yesterday, and everything was still attached today, and even staying pretty close to in tune.

If I were a really conscientious ukulele repairman, I'd figure out a way to remove the excess glue. Initially, I had the ukulele clamped up straight, but that caused glue to run down the face and on to my workbench. Using a paper towel, I quickly wiped that up, and put the ukulele on it's back. I used a wet paper towel to clean the excess.

Glued on and ready to play!

Here it is after the repair.

Here's what it sounds like.

Anacapa Ukulele Kanikapila

Anacapa Ukulele

1899 E. Main Street

Ventura CA 93001

When I was younger, roughly from the time I was about 14 or so until well into my 40's, I collected music. Records and then cd's numbered into the thousands. I knew used cd stores all over Los Angeles, and had favorites where I would drop a hundred bucks or so a few times a month.

Now though, all those cd's are boxed up in my garage, and the records never made it here but instead are in my mom's garage. Though I miss the tactile feeling of record shopping and cd shopping, I've adapted well to the internet age, and have found virtually every song that I've ever wanted in the digital format. I've mentioned that in a previous post (2/12/2010), so I won't go into it again. The bottom line is that I don't buy music very much anymore. I pretty much have everything I've ever wanted.

Some of my axes

So a few years ago, when my father-in-law started playing guitar again, and I along with him, I also started playing the ukulele. I know just enough music theory to move some of what I know about guitar onto the uke, which is tuned up a fourth from the guitar and has two less strings to worry about. I'd bang around on my guitar for a while, and then switch to ukulele when my fingers got tired. I had a cheap Santa Rosa that had a tuning machine go awry and my kids then lost the part that came off, then got a slightly better Lanikai LU-21. From there, it was on. Over the last two years, I bought several from both eBay and the Goodwill Auction site. It's a different type of music fix.

Now I own a vintage Regal soprano, which sounds great, an SS Maxwell soprano (most likely a Harmony brand) which sounded pretty good until I accidentally left it outside and the bridge popped off, a Harmony baritone, an island laser concert Fluke that I got off eBay last summer, the Oscar Schmidt OU 26T (see the 12/30/12 post) and now I have a Treeholipee coming, which I'm sure will make it's own post when I get it. 

I visited Anacapa Ukulele on a  recommendation from another local music place which is very friendly, Pulse Drumming, when I was on the hunt for the OU 26T last summer. That was before they moved from McGrath to the Main Street location, and I spoke to Brad the owner. He was great, gave me a bunch of stickers, and had me sign up on the mailing list. I went to one workshop, which was fun, and when they moved to Main Street, I'd walk in and dream about owning the ukes on the wall. 

I was in my dreaming mode when I walked in Friday, and the Laura, the girl working, invited me back for the Kanikapila. A Kanikapila is a ukulele jam session with all level of players, and Anacapa Ukes organizes some sort of meal after, today from Q and Q Hawaiian BBQ, and shaved ice. I was going to bbq burgers, so I bribed the family with shaved ice and brought the Fluke and the OU 26T to jam with.

Set up in the courtyard of the shop was a makeshift stage, and when we walked in a guy was playing his uke. And I mean playing, taking solos that were lead guitar like in quality in a way that I've never been able to figure out. We got our raffle tickets, and found a spot to sit under a tree. I pulled out my uke but felt outgunned when I looked around and saw the Kamaka's and Koalohoa's surrounding my Oscar Schmidtt, but I think I played better then some of them. 

The OU-26T

It was pretty fun, with Brad bringing different people up to play, and all the ukes in the courtyard following along. Anyone could sign up to lead a song. Volunteers would go up, go over the chords (usually only two or three), and then away the group would go. The one guy who could play-I'll get his name and add it later-was playing an electric cordless uke and adding lead lines all over, while Brad was sitting on and playing a cajon, the big wood box drum. The addition of those instruments made the jam sound pretty good. There was an older women who played "Stewball" (Stewball was a racehorse and I wish he were mine/he never drank water, he always drank wine), and another guy who played a couple of Hawaiian songs and had a good voice. Then there was the one chord wonder of "Alley Oop," which I was able to play.

After about an hour, lunch and snow cones were served-by this time I'd lost my girls but my son hung with me. I struck up a conversation with the two Kamakas and the couple who owned them. One was my dream uke, a Kamaka Liliua, a six string tenor that I first saw in a furniture store in Hilo that I really wanted to bring home with me then. They were interested in my Fluke, so we swapped for a brief moment, and then I offered them my son for the uke.

Unfortunately they didn't take him.

I walked about, talking to other people and enjoying a shaved ice. The inventory at Anacapa is small, but there's a pretty good turnover, so I see different instruments every time I'm in, and the staff is so nice that I always want to buy something but don't really need anything. I think I will finally buy one of their t-shirts that next time I'm in.

The raffle came next, and my son was rewarded for sticking around by winning a hand made lei, which he was pretty excited about. He even tried to play a few notes for the last jam, and then things wrapped up.

Two hours well spent on a Sunday. Anacapa Ukulele has two more Kanikapila's planned this summer, on the last Sundays of June and July, and now that my son kind of likes it, I'm sure that I'll make at least one of them.

June 30, 2013 Update

Today was another Kanikapila, and again, it's fun to get out and play ukulele. Only my son went with me this time-the girls have kind of a negative attitude, which brings everybody down, so I just let them be. 

I'm a competent player now, able to follow along with what's happening, and even understanding the patterns that are taking place. They jam Wednesday nights, and I might give it a try one Wednesday. 

July 29, 2013 Update

Yesterday was the last Kanikapila of the summer, and my persistence in attendance was rewarded by winning the drawing! A Kala KA-15S! It's a nice little starter uke, on par with my Lanikai, so since my son has come with me to everyone of these this summer, I gave it to him, and bought a chord chart from the store to go with it. I gave my son the key to all songwriting knowledge, "1, 4, 5", (meaning that if, say, the C was the 1 chord, F would be the 4 chord and G would be the 5. If he played those chords together, he should be able to make a song), which he wrote on the box.

I'm hoping he spends a little time with it and learns a song or two. We'll see.

Next summer I will lead a song! 

Many thanks to Brad and Anacapa Ukulele for putting me on the road to uke stardom.

Oscar Schmidt OU26T

Last April, I was on the Big Island of Hawaii. While shopping in Hilo, I walked into what I thought was a rather unusual establishment, Agasi Furniture and Music. In the back of the furniture store was a music section with a rather good selection of ukulele's. The store wasn't busy, and one of the owners spent a great deal of time talking to me and didn't seem overly troubled when I picked up rather expensive, vintage ukuleles and banged them around.

The standout for me was a used Kamaka 6 string tenor, which I could not hope to afford, even though it was quite a bit less then a new one. Then I picked up an Oscar Schmidt OU26T, a Chinese 6 string tenor which I could afford, and I almost bought it, but decided to check eBay and maybe buy it when I planned on being back in Hilo (we were staying in Kona) sometime before we left. Of course, we never made it back, and it bummed me out the whole flight home.

With the handmade strap
from Anacapa Ukulele

So I surfed eBay, and was about to buy one. Then I noticed that the Oscar Schmidt was available for my credit card bonus points. The majority of those points I earned while I was in Hawaii, so it made sense to use some for something that I really wanted but didn't buy myself.

Six strings-should be easy

When it got to my house, I was totally bummed. It sounded utterly like crap, and I couldn't figure out why. It was strung in some funky way, and I tried tuning the strings in different ways, but nothing worked. Finally, I found some good pictures of the Kamaka online, and noticed that it was strung completely different then mine. A new ukulele shop had opened here in Ventura, Anacapa Ukulele, and I brought the ukulele in so they could have a look at it. Immediately, they figured out the problem. It was strung totally wrong. It wasn't even close, strings were out of order and crossed over one another, as if the person stringing didn't have a clue as to what the uke was supposed to sound like. They recommended I buy a new set and string it again. Anacapa had one set of the 6 strings left, and I bought them and a handmade ukulele strap. I took it all home to string my uke over.

I have some experience with guitar stringing, and wasn't anticipating having any trouble stringing a uke. Six strings, geared enclosed tuning machines, seemed pretty straightforward to me. The first thing was remembering the order of the strings. Some pictures on the internet solved that. Then I noticed that I needed to knot the ends myself. No problem, I found a video on You Tube.

What I didn't know was that nylon strings take forever to stretch out properly. For two weeks, I couldn't keep the uke in tune at all. I kept tuning it and tuning it. The two A strings were a nightmare, trying to get them an octave apart and stay in tune just didn't seem to be happening. Back to Anacapa, who explained to me that it takes about two to three weeks for the strings to stretch out properly. So I kept at it, and sure enough, the strings stayed in tune.

It still sounded like crap.

Initially, I just thought it was my playing, but I'd pick up my old Regal that I bought on the Goodwill Auction site and I wasn't playing that bad. More internet research told me that the wood itself needed to settle, and that could take some time. So I kept on playing it, and after a few months the sound become better. Now it sounds pretty good, actually. I've pulled it out for the first time in about a month, and it's still pretty much in tune, and the sound is getting brighter.

The Oscar Schmidt website says that this is a mahogany tenor size ukulele with a satin finish. I found the finish to be a bit rough. The uke seems a bit on the heavy side as well. Everything else, though, seems reasonably well made, and I especially like the binding on the fretboard. The weight means that I don't feel like I'm going to break it anytime soon.

The main thing about a 6 string uke is that the sound is much fuller, and that's what I appreciated when I first picked one up in Hawaii. The 6 string Kamaka sounded amazing and I seriously thought about plunking down the cash and feeling the wrath of my wife, but couldn't do it. I played around with the 8 string uke, but to my ears, that sounded crowded-and I was playing a $1400 Kamaka, so if I couldn't get that to sound good, I figured the 8 string wasn't going to be for me.

Until such time that I can afford a Kamaka, or I become a much better ukulele player, the Oscar Schmidt fills the niche of the six string. I have it tuned gCEA, with the C string doubled an octave apart and the A string doubled and an octave apart. Unlike the Yamaha Guitalele, which is tuned like a guitar but up a fourth, the OU26T still sounds like a uke.

If you check on eBay, you can find them for around $100, a price that I'd be willing to pay.