Consider the precious ukulele. So small, so cute, so easy to bring to a party or the beach, creating memories that will last a lifetime.
It’s just as easy to leave an ukulele in an overheated car or in the sun, or overlook it when stumbling around in the dark and kick it or sit on it. All of that can result in damage to the instrument — cracks, a separation of the top and bottom from the sides, a warped neck. In fact, just leaving an ukulele in the closet for long periods will result in damage unless the strings are loosened.
Repairing that ukulele and restoring those memories fall into the hands of people like Ki-lin Reece, who repairs ukuleles and guitars in the garage of his Kailua home. He is one of the most respected independent repair specialists on the island, utilizing a skill that is in increasing demand as the instrument becomes more and more popular and its significance to Hawaiian culture grows.
"People will bring in a Kamaka that they got when they started preschool or whenever it is that they started music lessons," said Reece. "They’ve had it all these years. They’ve saved it, and even if the repair costs exceed the value of the instrument, it’s worth it to them."
Many local guitar shops offer repair services for ukulele, but many people prefer taking their uke to its original maker, where there is a long waiting list.
At Kamaka Ukulele, instrument maker for star performers like Na Hoku Hanohano Award winner Jake Shimabukuro, one has to wait 12 to 18 months for a repair job, said Fred Kamaka, a third-generation co-owner of the business.
The Kakaako-based company has three people at its shop who can do repairs, but one is part time and the other two are busy making new instruments.
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Among some of the shops offering repair services are Harry’s Music Store in Kaimuki (on Facebook or call 735-2866), Dan’s Guitars in McCully (dansguitars.com, 942-2900) and Island Guitars at Ward Warehouse (islandguitars.com, 591-2910). Ki-lin Reece can be reached through his website, krstrings.com.
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They repair only Kamakas and a select few made by contemporaries of Sam Kamaka, who founded the company 98 years ago. "We don’t work on any others because we have way more work than we can handle," Fred Kamaka said. "We have hundreds of ukuleles in line now for repair."
The company gets a large number of broken instruments from schools at the end of every school year, which get priority, Kamaka said. Professionals needing instruments for performances also get special attention, he said.
One of the more unusual repair jobs Kamaka did was on a spruce-top ukulele for Shimabukuro during his hard-rockin’ days. "He was always strumming so hard, and he’d be hitting the top of the ukulele, so underneath the strings ate through the wood," Kamaka said. "He’s changed the way he plays now."
REECE, 39, formerly ran the repair shop for the Ko‘olau Guitar and Ukulele Co., which, like Kamaka, repairs only its own instruments now.
He struck out on his own three years ago, and while he’s been asked to do simple things like restringing a uke, he specializes in restoring vintage instruments.
"Repair has always been my passion," Reece said. "My dad gave me a banjo when I was 13 years old, and the first thing I did was take it apart — I could take everything apart — and try to put it back together. I had a real musical family, so uncles and aunts, when they realized I was interested in this stuff, would just give me instruments and I was pretty much overhauling them."
With an apprenticeship with a California guitar maker under his belt plus more than 20 years of experience working on guitars, ukes and even violins and cellos, Reece can do far more than just an overhaul. One repair job he’s just beginning will involve restoring an old Martin 3K model that looks like it had been smashed against a wall, with about a third of the body missing. Still, the owners hope to keep it as a family heirloom.
"It has a lot of sentimental value for the family, so it’s worth doing," Reece said.
Costs for repairs can vary. Reece sometimes charges several hundred dollars but also has accepted bartered goods and services. Kamaka does not charge more than the cost of a new ukulele, but if the instrument is so far gone that the uke maker considers it beyond repair, you might consider going to Reece.
Reese restored Jack Johnson’s first ukulele, and works regularly on many instruments for artist and musician Doug Tolentino, who performs regularly at the Halekulani.
"I see him maybe every month," Tolentino said. "The one I’m having him repair now is a David Hurd (Kawika) ukulele that had been dropped and cracked and repaired, and now been dropped and crashed and cracked the top. "
Restoring an instrument requires expertise in musical and woodworking skills. Reece plays guitar for the bluegrass band Saloon Pilots in addition to repairing instruments, so he’s familiar with how an instrument can produce a variety of sounds. He’ll try to revive or even improve an instrument’s sound, tweaking the bracing underneath the top of the instrument or making other structural adjustments.
"You can make them a little bit brighter or a little more mellow, or more muted-sounding," he said.
He’s currently building a new top for an instrument that got smashed in shipping, so he had to build a custom frame to hold the curved sides in the correct shape. To build a new top, he’ll find a piece of wood similar to the old top, tapping and running his hands along the wood to judge the density and resonance of the grain.
"That’s part of the fun of it, trying to do everything as specific to every single instrument as you can," he said.
"This instrument," he said, gesturing toward the Martin, "is probably close to 100 years old, and everything that it’s gone through in the course of its life is recorded somewhere in its anatomy. I kind of feel that every instrument has a spirit to it and it should be treated with respect in that way."
Reece also works on the finishes and pays special attention to applying the appropriate finish to an instrument.
"There’s a lot to knowing what’s appropriate historically to do to an instrument, wanting to use the traditional varnishes and lacquers that were used," he said.
A SPECIAL finish is what one can expect from Clay Yoshioka, co-owner of Harry’s Music Store in Kaimuki. He has a cache of special "woodwind" oil, purchased long ago for 25 cents a bottle, that will create a beautiful sheen on just about any type of wood.
"It’s one of my treasures," he said with a twinkle in his eye. "You cannot find this brand anymore."
Yoshioka repairs ukulele in the back of the newly relocated store. He’ll do common repairs himself, such as replacing the bridge or regluing the top or bottom.
"If it’s really coming apart in pieces and they want to save it, I ship it out," he said.
Some instruments have undergone previous repairs that have affected the sound quality, Yoshioka said. An ukulele is held together with an organic, naturally based glue, which over time weakens, especially in Hawaii’s climate. Owners might be tempted to do a self-repair, not realizing the impact that will have.
"You put too much glue on, or one that’s going to stick on there forever, it’s not going to sound (good) sometimes," Yoshioka said.
There’s always some detective work in ukulele repair. Yoshioka was working on a Kamaka that had a little rattle in it. He suspected that a piece of bracing had come loose inside and was lost. But another Kamaka, which had both the top and bottom separating from the sides, had no evidence of that brace.
"Kamaka made it without a middle piece on this model, so it won’t have that rattle," he said.
Repairing the ukulele would take about a week, he said, after which "it’s going to sound good."
