Gretsch Ukulele - Repairing Side Separation

There is a separation of the top and the side on the lower right bout that I'm going to tackle first.  I think it's probably the easiest one to do.  Good luck to me.

I have a seam separation knife that I've put into the separation to open it up a bit more.  The plan is to then get glue into the seam, and clamp it down.

As I open the seam, the very ends of the separation also begin to open.  I suppose this is not a bad thing - I can get glue in there too.  The knife is sharp on one edge and has a taper.  Great for this sort of repair.

My plan is to use this palette knife (aka spat-TOO-luh) to put glue into the seam. 

Yikes.  This is going to be a mess.  I didn't say the plan was going to be a success.

Actually it's not too bad.  I knew there would be some extra glue, but the spat-TOO-luh method worked pretty well.  I was able to get glue on the top edge of the side and the mating edge of the top.  There will be some glue that squeezes out inside the body - but I won't be able to get to it.  At least no one will see it.

Then I clamp up the split.  The Titebond glue I used is water soluble, so it's easy to clean up the glue that squeezes out with a damp cloth.

I used some Lexan cauls on either side of the body.  They may not have been necessary, but I used 'em anyway.  Then I used three mini-cam clamps to clamp it together.  I actually shifted the caul and clamp on the seam side (nearest the camera) a bit more to the edge after this picture was taken.  There's pressure right on the seam now.

Now I wait for the glue to dry.

There are two other top-to-side splits and two cracks yet to repair.