Banjo Ukulele Tailpiece Option

I offer the following to help anyone looking for a another banjo uke tailpiece.

Some of the vintage banjo ukes had a shorter version of the venerable Grover Presto known as the Presto Ideal. It is long out of production and goes for $35 to $50 or so on eBay. The first two photos below show a vintage Presto Ideal.


I removed the material shown from a standard repro Presto purchased from Amazon for just $16. This made the tailpiece close to an Ideal.

To go Grover one better I drilled, chamfered and deburred four holes for string passage. Then I put clear sealer on the exposed raw brass.

When closed it appears exactly like an old Presto "Ideal"


Sound and function is great. I always line the underside of a Presto cover with felt. The cover helps hold the south end of the strings during restringing. The knots go between the tabs.

Kevin B said:

I offer the following to help anyone looking for a another banjo uke tailpiece.
...
The knots go between the tabs.

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Looks like a succesful project. Thanks for sharing.

Do you have a photo showing how exactly the knots are held, under the hinged cover, showing a similar view as in your second picture?

Booli said:

Looks like a succesful project. Thanks for sharing.

Do you have a photo showing how exactly the knots are held, under the hinged cover, showing a similar view as in your second picture?

Click to expand...

Here is a photo of a vintage Grover Presto Ideal. Mine is attached the same way. Between the tabs. However. My knots are under tabs.

Kevin B said:

Here is a photo of a vintage Grover Presto Ideal. Mine is attached the same way. Between the tabs. However. My knots are under tabs.

View attachment 76652

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That's Great - thanks for the pic - very clear now.

This helps me with some ideas I have for a modified tailpiece for one of my banjo ukes

I wanted to reach out and thank the original poster for posting this. I wanted to replace the tailpiece on my Gold Tone BUT Banjolele purely for ascetics. I used the Golden Gate new Presto tailpiece and carefully cut the extra material away with a Dremel tool. Now if I can only play as good as my Banjolele looks everything will be great.

This is why the forum is more useful than discord. I love having access to items like this.