Ukulele neck wants a divorce from the body

 I received a Ukulele from

PVMUSICHOUSE that seems like it really does not want to be part of the big picture anymore, and is coming apart from the body right at the heel.

It wants a divorce!

I started by making sure we have a structure in front of the heel, because we will be using a clamp to put pressure there once the glue is applied. Then some sanding:

Sanding so the hide glue has rough area to adhere.

After unclamping and cleaning up the area with some mahogany marker, scraping the dried glue from the edges, this turned out great. 

And I'm an idiot because in my rush, I forgot to take pictures of the final work.

The Gretsch with a broken neck update. Upgrading the Jet JT-250 to a "Jet Engine".

 So we begin, as so we fail:

After bonding the neck and headstock the first time, I unwrapped the rubber tape and to my horror, I noticed the pressures caused it to slip upwards. So in the name of science and luthiery, I re-broke it and started over again. I had to remove the old epoxy with a dremel (carefully) and I knew now that it will never fit together perfectly again. Besides this, the neck broke in such a way that it twisted the treble side upwards, and it would not have gone together perfectly regardless. On top of this, the guitar wasn't wrapped and kept from moving around right after the initial accident, thus pieces of the wood were gone, and either were not picked up after the break occurred, or fell off in transit to the soft case the guitar resides in.

You can see the twist upwards that occurred, now it will need more wood work to correct.

Using gorilla epoxy to hold, and injecting liquidWood to fill in the gaps caused by the uneven break, and the missing wood. Now to let this cure for a week or longer and hope it is straight enough to begin the surgery.

The Jet JT-250 is a beautiful budget guitar. It comes with locking tuners, and a pair of single coil Alnico SS pickup in the neck and bridge. I was able to acquire this for $210 back in December and began to upgrade it right away. I removed the 2 16mm potentiometers and the capacitor that comes with all stock guitars in this price range, and wired in 2 CTS 250k pots with a large 600V 0.047 orange drop.

Notice the capacitor cracking at the leg.

I also added a 6 barrel bridge to hopefully increase the sustain. I've since regretted that choice, and am now looking at a full contact bridge from Musiclily. However, I really wasn't happy with the stock tone from the SS Alnico pickups, and decided let's go with a p90 and a hotrail. Indeed, why not? I ordered the Wilkinson M Series Alnico V Cream P90 soapbar, and the Guyker TL Alnico 5 hot rail.

Wilkinson M Series Cream

Guyker Alnico 5 Hotrail TL

Musiclily Pro 54mm 6-Saddle

Now, this guitar truly rocks.

Love it

All that is left, is to play it.