Larrivee soprano : bridge lifting?

[M!!]

I have bought a few Larrivee ukus from members here and elsewhere with zero issues. they are beautifully made.

however, i noticed the 2 larrivee soprano that were listed on this forum this month and in august, both sellers noticed the bridge lifting.

can someone comment on whether this is an isolated issue, common issue, with this type / brand / period / etc?

 

[spongeuke]

All the bridge lifting events I've had happen involved heat above 100 in the room with the ukuleles tuned.

 

[WhenDogsSing]

I was one who has had this happen to my Larrivee soprano. The instrument was kept in a case with humidifier and was never exposed to heat. Here is a photo of the bridge lifting. I'd like to think this was an isolated instance as all of the Larrivee instruments I have owned have always been constructed with the highest quality workmanship.

 

[M!!]

I was one who has had this happen to my Larrivee soprano. The instrument was kept in a case with humidifier and was never exposed to heat. Here is a photo of the bridge lifting. I'd like to think this was an isolated instance as all of the Larrivee instruments I have owned have always been constructed with the highest quality workmanship.

View attachment 95080

thanks for the photo and knowledge on the matter.
as a matter of fact i bought a tenor and concert Larrivee from WhenDogsSing with the highest confidence and he keeps his ukus in the most pristine condition. but i was very curious on the bridge.

 

[Ukulele Eddie]

The one previously posted for sale was originally mine and it never had an issue while I owned it. But the third owner reported an issue. Not sure when the issue developed.

Having regretted sellling the former, and his price going ever lower, I was was going to buy the one @WhenDogsSing had posted and he noted the issue when packing it up for me.

So, it must be me. ;-)

 

[mingus]

I purchased the Larrivee soprano from Ukulele Eddie. The bridge had lifting on both corners when I opened the box upon arrival.

The uke sounded and played awesome. I assumed the lifting was due to shipping during the heat of the summer since the uke spent over a week in a UPS ground truck!

 

[Michael N.]

Going by that photo suggests that they glue the bridge with PVA/Titebond glue. When I was doing repairs full time I repaired many lifting bridges such as that, usually (but not always) on cheaper end instruments. Whilst that type of glue is perfectly adequate most of the time it is known to suffer from what is known as 'creep'. It is also thermoplastic. Traditional hot hide glue does not suffer from either of these issues. In fact it can take serious heat and will not give way. For hide glue to give way it needs a combination of heat and moisture. For that to happen in normal every day life would require you to subject the instrument to abusive conditions. That's why I use Hide glue exclusively on every part of the build. There are other advantages to it. I'm not stating that bridges glued with PVA are guaranteed to come off, they certainly are not. They are just more likely to have issues over a bridge glued with hide, providing the user has experience with hide glue.
So that lifting bridge will need to be removed and the surface of the soundboard and the gluing surface of the bridge will need to be cleaned of the old glue. If it had been glued with hide it may well be just a matter of squirting in fresh glue and clamping. Much quicker (and cheaper) repair.