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Didn't fine much in the Uke section of this site so thought I'd ask here. What kind of interesting setups do you use to glue up a Uke bridge? I don't have a clamp that will fit in the tiny sound hole of this little fella and I've got all kinds of clamps. I thought about bolting it through some pearl dots or something but I can't imagine how I would ever get the bolts aligned before the glue dries, if ever!

You can make a simple clamp from bits of wood and a couple of bolts with wing nuts.

Or, as I increasingly do, use hot hide glue and a rubbed joint.

I was wondering about that as well, so you just simply used a rubbed joint on a uke?

These poney deep reach clamps are available at a lot of hardware stores. On some, I've cut material off the back with a hacksaw so they would have more room in the sound hole.

That's how we do it too David. Hope you are doing great too!

Vacuum. Got pony clamps too, and used to use them.

Sadly, the Pony clamps(Jorgensen) are no longer made.
There may be old stock still on shelves, but if you see any and need them, grab em.
They made a great product at a reasonable price.'

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My memory is so good, sometimes I remember things that never happened.

Like Aaron, I made a small vacuum attachment and used the membrane and attachment hardware from LMI. Of course if you don't have vacuum already it's a hefty investment.


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I use vln clamps from the 80/s made by condit mfg. I/ve also gotten clamps for baritone ukes at HF, they are hvy and cheap. You can also make your own using wooden threaded dowels and a 1/2in or 5/8 th inch tap and die for making threaded wooden dowels woodcraft or e bay.

https://www.amazon.com/Wilton-42520-Deep-Reach-C-Clamp-Maximum/dp/B005CZC37G/ref=pd_sim_469_5?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B005CZC37G&pd_rd_r=1867RHVWSNDAXRX9P2PE&pd_rd_w=lPHVK&pd_rd_wg=1p3aA&psc=1&refRID=1867RHVWSNDAXRX9P2PE


Identical casting as the Pony's, but these come with an, "oscillating head"? hmmm...........

If you build a venturi based, its not that bad. But you're right- the parts add up quickly. Still designing my vacuum bed for tops and backs. Its going to be SO COOL!

Whenever it gets done. . . Its still in my head.

A rubbed joint with hot hide glue will work fine. For something as small as a soprano uke another way to do it is to fit a temporary block between the top and back under the bridge(like a violin sound post) and use a large clamp (and cauls) to clamp the whole body. Only moderate pressure is needed for gluing the bridge on the low tension strings of a soprano tuned to standard pitch (21 lbs. total).

Thanks for all the info... Those Pony or Pony clone clamps look like what I'm after.

I had the clamp in the forefront, and I bought the clamp that is installed already at Harbor Freight:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/ruby1638/27289929665/in/album-72157662606115293/

Ed

The HF one works and is cheap but heavy. The pony is much nicer!

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Pat

Just a heads up. I have one of those china versions (upper left) and the casting is fully hard. Cutting or drilling it is untenable with conventional bits.
The Wilton/pony castings cut/drill like butter. Much more practical for my purposes. The lower one is a Pony modified to work in most soprano ukes.


I bet we can get two pages of discussion on a single size C clamp if we try.

I use violin clamps that came from International Violin. They come in different throat lengths.

David Farmer's first pic looks like one of the violin clamps.

I ended up getting these C-Clamps from Stewmab and they barely made the fit, but good enough. It was impossible to get a clamping caul under there so I just squeezed the bracing a bit.