PTOEguy
Well-known member
Last week I was able to visit the Deering Banjo Factory and play a prototype of their new banjo ukulele. Here's a few impressions:
It is built with the Deering Goodtime parts and ethos. It is built from high quality parts, focusing on the quality rather than on adding features. It has an 11 inch diameter pot made of three ply maple like the base model Goodtime banjos. The neck is made of maple with the neck and fingerboard being a single piece of wood (there is no separate fingerboard).
The sound is very mellow for a banjo uke with a lot of sustain. Notes are well defined and it has nice volume. The sound was way more refined than any banjo uke I've played.
Two things to be aware of:
1. If you're expecting a more typical banjo uke sound (brash with little sustain) you will likely have to get it from this with your technique than as a quality of the instrument.
2. the 11 inch pot makes for an unconventional look. It looks very wide for its length - but it didn't feel out of proportion to hold. I expect finding a case may be interesting.
It is built with the Deering Goodtime parts and ethos. It is built from high quality parts, focusing on the quality rather than on adding features. It has an 11 inch diameter pot made of three ply maple like the base model Goodtime banjos. The neck is made of maple with the neck and fingerboard being a single piece of wood (there is no separate fingerboard).
The sound is very mellow for a banjo uke with a lot of sustain. Notes are well defined and it has nice volume. The sound was way more refined than any banjo uke I've played.
Two things to be aware of:
1. If you're expecting a more typical banjo uke sound (brash with little sustain) you will likely have to get it from this with your technique than as a quality of the instrument.
2. the 11 inch pot makes for an unconventional look. It looks very wide for its length - but it didn't feel out of proportion to hold. I expect finding a case may be interesting.