I have an old Maybell by Slingerland and it is lovely. As I travel to far off lands this has been a mainstay as it fits my carry on and is a strong little instrument. Just from its construction it is much more robust than a regular ukulele. As I play banjo as well one of my friends once remarked loudly - "Banjo had a baby!" It is currently on loan to a young person with small fingers who has wanted to start playing. I should add that I modified it by adding Gotoh UPT tuners and it is strung with Aquila reds which gives it great projection.
My other banjo ukulele instrument is a 1924 Gibson tenor jr. It is a small tenor size instrument and I removed the steel strings and put on a set of Aquila reds from a 5 string. I have it tuned as a baritone ukulele with the fifth string used as a re-entrant fourth - so it ends up dGBE. I am looking at some of the baritone strings out there so it can be tuned gCEA but I have yet to research string lengths to find a set that will work. Again this instruments works well with small hands.
My point - as a follow up to the quote above is that old instruments are often great and have a character that I do not find in new ones. To enjoy one you may have to do develop some home grown luthier skills. I delight in taking old and often abandoned instruments and making them sing again.
