Duke 10 Banjo Ukulele (something new)

SteveZ

Well-known member
Joined
May 20, 2014
Messages
1,568
Reaction score
6
Location
Sumter County, FL
Last month the postman delivered a surprise - a new banjo-uke called the Duke 10. The surprise instrument is a prototype for a new release from the folk who produce The Duke banjo-ukes.

Over the years I've had several banjo-ukes, including one of The Duke folk's first endeavors in the banjo-uke market (the SideKick) and its successor (The Duke). Because of this experience Ed Ackman (the guru of DukeUke.com) in New Zealand asked me for my thoughts about his latest gem, the Duke 10. Ed said he plans to launch this new instrument on Kickstarter.com. How could I resist an opportunity to review a prototype? So, here are those thoughts.

The Duke 10 could be called the bigger brother of The Duke. The "10" indicates an increase in The Duke's drum size from 8 inches to 10 inches. Both are built to tenor ukulele scale. Another difference is in the body construction - the Duke 10 comes with a solid wood body while The Duke has a composite body. Both have a Schatten pickup factory-installed, a unique and handy addition for any banjo-uke. There are some other subtle distinctions between these two instruments, but these are the major ones.

The Duke 10 comes tuned GCEA with Aquila SuperNylgut strings. Being somewhat of a non-traditionalist, I tune my banjo-ukes the same as my tenor banjo, CGDA. So, I removed the high-G string, moved the C string to the #4 slot, installed a low-G Aquila wound string to the now-vacant #3 slot, detuned the E to D and the A string remained as-is. That gave me a "re-entrant C, CGDA" tuning with the similar tone range as low-G GCEA.

After letting the strings stabilize for a couple days, I put the Duke 10 through its paces. The sound is as I would expect from a 10-inch drum - loud and clean. The Aquila strings respond very well with the 10-inch drum, defintely stronger than with the 8-inch drum on most banjo-ukes. Whether one uses a pick (like I usually do) or finger-strums, the Duke 10 projects sound very well without any dullness or tinniness. Chord fingering is easy and the neck is comfortable to the hand. To see and hear a demo made by one of the Duke folk, go to https://youtu.be/UjL5w2ofPYI.

The tenor uke scale and the 10-inch drum are a natural pair. I used to have the Deering Banjo-Uke - a fine instrument - which comes with an 11-inch drum and weighs almost as much as my Deering tenor banjo. As much as I like the Deering banjo-uke, the Duke 10's reduced weight (just over two pounds) and 10-inch drum size make it more comfortable (to me) over longer playing sessions. In addition, being able to "amp up" if/when desired and be mixed when appropriate, thanks to the built-in pickup, is a neat plus.

The Duke 10 is open-backed. Like all open-backed banjos and banjo-ukes, a lot of sound can find itself being muffled by the player's body if the player holds it too close. The Schatten pickup provides an efficient way to compensate for any muffled output, something band members and buskers especially can appreciate. Since I have this too-close bad habit, I took a standard-sized Tone-Gard off a mandolin and tried it on the Duke 10 as an experiment. The Tone-Gard is designed to negate body-dampening effect and is popular with mandolinists. The Tone-Gard fit perfectly and worked like a champ, adding only about 3 ounces to the instrument's weight.

Okay, I like the Duke 10, a lot. No question about it! The Duke folk's decision to use a 10-inch drum was pure genius. While the Duke 10 is not a tenor banjo, it's more like one than any 8-inch banjo-uke I've played, and tenor banjo is the "banjo standard" for this breed of instruments. Band members, buskers and front-porch pickers alike may find the Duke 10 is just what's needed when a banjo sound is desired, especially when one would like to amp/mix the sound. I don't know what the Duke 10's price will be, but Ed Ackman said he hopes to keep it below US$400.

I'm not looking forward to sending the prototype Duke 10 back to New Zealand any time soon. I really need to convince Ed and his folks that I need to do a lot more testing and evaluating, at least through a couple more sets of strings. One should be thorough in whatever one does. Right, Ed?

20170425_073252.jpg 20170425_073130.jpg 20170425_073155.jpg
 
Have one on test myself. Review coming soon. Loved the earlier ones
 
Oops, before I saw this post I posted about it too. I haven't gotten even close to one yet, but if I decide to upgrade from my Duke, this will be the next step. Thanks for the review, it's a very cool banjouke.
The neck of my Duke was too fat and too wide (I'm not used to tenor scales, but I really wanted the Duke) so I had my luthier, Charlie Jirousek, file the neck down thinner to fit my hand, and he made the fretboard narrower by a shade, and put in side marker dots. All for $40. Getting rid of the black paint on the neck made it a lot nicer to play, and my hand hurts a lot less now. I hope Ed will consider making Duke 8" ukes without paint on the necks....the wood in mine is pretty.
 
My Duke needed side markers (should be standard in my opinion) but easy to do myself. Bridge was high as was the nut but a little fettling and it became very responsive. Very lightweight which is ideal. No problem with the painted neck, in fact I like it. Larger drum sounds interesting, but for me it is not all about volume, if the bigger drum gives more sustain I would be very interested.
 
My Duke needed side markers (should be standard in my opinion) but easy to do myself. Bridge was high as was the nut but a little fettling and it became very responsive. Very lightweight which is ideal. No problem with the painted neck, in fact I like it. Larger drum sounds interesting, but for me it is not all about volume, if the bigger drum gives more sustain I would be very interested.

There seems to be more sustain and a more robust sound than the 8-inch banjo-ukes I've played. I did tighten the head as part of my personal adjustments. A properly tightened and balanced head can do wonders for any banjo-like instrument and make the sound more alive.
 
Last edited:
The models shown in the videos have only wood without paint...I suppose that could change in production.

No - the original Duke is painted. The new Duke 10 is unpainted
 
I got to play this new uke at the Minnesota Spring Fling gathering yesterday for a few songs, and I was quite impressed. My previous banjolele experience was limited to trying the Deering at a local music store. The Deering sounded great, but was incredibly heavy, and very uncomfortable to hold. By comparison the Duke 10 was light as a feather and very comfortable, and at least to my ear sounded about as good as the more expensive Deering. The setup was pretty good, but the fret ends were a bit sharp, though that's easily fixed with some sandpaper. A bigger gripe was the lack of side dots as has been mentioned before.

It did feel pretty big though, so I wish I could A-B the Duke 10 next to the Duke 8 to see what you really get with the larger head. If you don't need the volume the 8" head would sure be more convenient.
 
Last edited:
I've got an 8 and the new 10 and will be hoping to contrast the two in my review in a couple of weeks
 
I got to play this new uke at the Minnesota Spring Fling gathering yesterday for a few songs, and I was quite impressed. My previous banjolele experience was limited to trying the Deering at a local music store. The Deering sounded great, but was incredibly heavy, and very uncomfortable to hold. By comparison the Duke 10 was light as a feather and very comfortable, and at least to my ear sounded about as good as the more expensive Deering. The setup was pretty good, but the fret ends were a bit sharp, though that's easily fixed with some sandpaper. A bigger gripe was the lack of side dots as has been mentioned before.

It did feel pretty big though, so I wish I could A-B the Duke 10 next to the Duke 8 to see what you really get with the larger head. If you don't need the volume the 8" head would sure be more convenient.

I have an 8-inch Duke as well. The 10-inch has a better "punch" to it, rounder tone and a better feel. The volume is also higher - even more so once I put a Tone-Gard on it (see photos in Post #1).
 
Does tightening the head give more or less sustain? And would a tone guard help the 8" uke's volume? It's already pretty darn loud, it drowns out most other banjoukes.....
 
Does tightening the head give more or less sustain? And would a tone guard help the 8" uke's volume? It's already pretty darn loud, it drowns out most other banjoukes.....

I don't think there is a Tone-Gard available for an 8-inch drum. It would have to be a custom order. The one I used came off a mandolin and luck had it that the Tone-Gard fit the Duke 10 perfectly.

The Tone-Gard is not solely about volume, but better sound production. As an example, if one sings into a pillow, it's not just volume which is reduced by the pillow's muffling effect. An open back banjo held against one's body is similar, with the body acting like the pillow. I'm impressed with how well the standard Tone-Gard works with the 10-inch drum of the Duke 10.
 
Last edited:
I've got one on order following the universal positive feedback out there. I've always wanted a banjo-uke and this one looks like a cracker. Now.....I wait.
 
I've got one on order following the universal positive feedback out there. I've always wanted a banjo-uke and this one looks like a cracker. Now.....I wait.

The 8" was well worth the wait....
 
Top Bottom