Opportunity to Play Banjolele and Uku-bass

So...a local store got in a display of "Luna" ukuleles, with most all of them $199.

Where I live, it is rare to be able to try anything therefore I am limited to on line purchasing.

I am, now, able to compare my pono ATD 2 with something...wow. Hands down, the Pono's sound and playability are night and day different.

I did have some fun with two items:

1. banjolele was so much fun to play! It was pretty low volume, however, and only came in a very small size.
2. ukulele bass: this I plugged in and I love it!
3. 8 string ukulele. This is like the 12 string guitar and it was not impressive.

no baritones to try!


Having fallen in love with banjolele and ukulele bass, I am now determined to grow a new money tree in the backyard and land these two instruments. I will look into various brands and will want a god set up, as I got with the Pono.

The banjolele and uk-bass were both a lot of fun and feel like they would be great "living room concert" instruments and great for recording, too.

So much fun to discover where your love of the ukulele will take you! Concert and tenor banjoleles are available, so down the line, you'll have your pick of sizes!

If you're at all handy, you can build a banjo-'uke for almost nothing. Or this one. Or many other 'uke projects at Indestructables.Com. Build instruments and free yourself from capitalist exploitation and retail markups. I have schemes to build 2- and 3-neck banjo-ukes, nye- heh-heh! I merely need to swamp out my workshop.

You don't have to spend $400-500 on a Kala U-Bass, Rondomusic.com has pretty good bass ukes for around $150 that have been getting good reviews. They sell out fast so you have to keep watch of their site.

Great stuff Martinfan, it's plenty of fun getting to know ukes in all their configurations. Pick up as many as possible and see what their individual strengths and weaknesses are, you've got to touch, feel, listen, and assess as you go.
It can be an extremely long process but an invaluable way to determine what's right for you right now. Over time your tastes may change but you'll be well placed to make a reasonably sound judgement about what's going to work.
Good luck on the journey!

A banjolele is one of those things I occasionally want, and the more videos I watch, the more I want one. But besides not wanting more stuff, I realized that the ones I can buy locally tend to be in need of some adjusting because they are all factory products, which then steers my thoughts toward Deering (might as well get something good!). Luckily, no vendor in Germany seems to carry Deering banjo-ukes currently, though one told me he's considering to carry them. If he does, I'll probably bite; if he doesn't, that's great also.

But yes, I'm strangely fascinated by the banjo-uke, too. I had a similar fascination with the u-bass, but that sort of went away after taking a closer look. I think I like their sound better than the idea of actually playing one.

kohanmike said:

You don't have to spend $400-500 on a Kala U-Bass, Rondomusic.com has pretty good bass ukes for around $150 that have been getting good reviews. They sell out fast so you have to keep watch of their site.

Click to expand...

And here is an Indestructables.Com piece on adapting an UkuBass from a 1/2 or 3/4 size guitar: DIY Ukulele Bass. Order the short scale bass strings (Pahoehoe or Aquila Thundergut) "first because you need them to sort out your nut and bridge setup."

Mivo said:

A banjolele is one of those things I occasionally want, and the more videos I watch, the more I want one.

Click to expand...

It's definitely worth getting one (I made a bargain with a Firefly) - and it might be worth spending a thought or two on a Sidekick BanjoUke even though these are only available in tenor size.

I had a similar fascination with the u-bass, but that sort of went away after taking a closer look. I think I like their sound better than the idea of actually playing one.

Click to expand...

The big "problem" with the UBass family is their standard bass tuning (EADG) which makes it necessary to start from scratch for anybody coming from the ukulele cosmos (GCEA).

Louis0815 said:

The big "problem" with the UBass family is their standard bass tuning (EADG) which makes it necessary to start from scratch for anybody coming from the ukulele cosmos (GCEA).

Click to expand...

But all bass lessons, teachers, books, tabs and especially fretboard patterns are EADG, which made it much easier for me to learn bass.

kohanmike said:

You don't have to spend $400-500 on a Kala U-Bass, Rondomusic.com has pretty good bass ukes for around $150 that have been getting good reviews. They sell out fast so you have to keep watch of their site.

Click to expand...

They are currently out of stock, but I will keep looking.

I have Dean Acoustic - Electric, but I was hoping to trade it in at Guitar Center for u-bass, but the one a few hours from me is out of stock, right now. After playing the uke-bass, I think learning on one will go smoothly and I am determined to get one in standard tuning. I will keep on eye on the for sale board, here, too. Thanks.

Today I recorded "My Creole Belle" with a few tracks...it is a lot of fun. I did a short ukulele solo that came out nicely.

The Magic Fluke bass looks nice, but is up there $ wise. I am open to suggestions!