Last year I found myself being the go-to guy for old guitars, ukuleles, and the like. Found in the closet or the trash. Fun ! I'm a player too ..

[Ukindoit]

Nice job Ukindoit. It's fun getting these old instruments back in playing condition, isn't it?

Your ukulele, and most ukuleles unless they have bridge pins, does not have a bridgeplate. I think you are talking about the bridge. The bridgeplate is on the underside of the top.

Thanks for clearing that up ! So, what I have been calling the bridgeplate, is the bridge ! Doh ! Just got the Ukulele back, I had left it with the original owners over Easter weekend with the family to see if they could come up with some history on it or at least some kind of age on it. But, it seems to have been an orphan, never been played, just hung around basements and closets for maybe 50 or 60 or 70 years.

 

[Canada Jim]

Thanks for clearing that up ! So, what I have been calling the bridgeplate, is the bridge ! Doh ! Just got the Ukulele back, I had left it with the original owners over Easter weekend with the family to see if they could come up with some history on it or at least some kind of age on it. But, it seems to have been an orphan, never been played, just hung around basements and closets for maybe 50 or 60 or 70 years.

And you can feel proud for having brought it to a usable life.

 

[Peteslp]

What a great find. The pegs may need washers. You could also consider adding some new good but inexpensive tuners. I bout sone for around $30 and put them in a cheap ukulele that then turned into one of my favorites. Have fun.

Here's an alternative to stacking washers on worn out tuners. Maintain the clean look by shortening the screws so they no longer bottom out. Aaron Keim at Beansprout Musical Instruments has a video on YouTube working on a 1920's Martin where he uses a power sander to revive old tuners. (Tried posting a link but there was a problem.) I learned to screw a nut all the way up the threads, use a hack saw to cut off the tip, then unscrew the nut to clean any uneven thread.

I put Graph Tech Tune-a-Lele tuners on my Kailua tenor neck soprano because the originals were beyond salvage. Now it tunes like a charm,

Graph Tech Ratio Tune-a-lele Ukulele Tuners - StewMac

Lightweight and Accurate tuners for your ukulele

www.stewmac.com

What a great find. The pegs may need washers. You could also consider adding some new good but inexpensive tuners. I bout sone for around $30 and put them in a cheap ukulele that then turned into one of my favorites. Have fun.

 

[chris667]

I put Graph Tech Tune-a-Lele tuners on my Kailua tenor neck soprano because the originals were beyond salvage.

A word of warning about those.

I have a pair on a Ken Timms soprano "island" prototype - it had plastic violin gigs that let me down at a gig.

They work ok, but even with pilot holes three of the eight screws at the back sheared off when I was fixing them down. It still works, but it's a disappointment.

I would rather have put my little Aliexpress ones on to be honest. Normally I only use them for really cheap ukes but I can't fault them!


$0.99 per set of four!

https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256805889813527.html?algo_exp_id=83398ab0-28f9-4e00-97f7-42200d97efc6-5&utparam-url=scene%3Asearch%7Cquery_from%3A&gatewayAdapt=glo2usa4itemAdapt