Tell Me About THIS Banjo Uke ?

Hi, you all came up with tons of information about ksiegals banjo uke, so I thought I would inquire about mine.
I found it in an antique shop 14 years ago and had it as a wall hanger until last year. I cleaned it up, put on new Grover tuners and a set of Aquila strings. That night was my first uke experience, learned a song from YouTube. 16 ukes later, the rest is history.

It has an "8 skin head on a birdseye maple pot. Closed, non-removable back with 16 brackets and hooks (1 hook missing), nickel grommets around the pot (for sound holes ?). There 16 brass frets and four MOP dots on a dark fingerboard, with not much grain pattern. There is a square dowel stick on the neck. There is no name inside or outside.
It came with a green hard canvas case that loads from the bottom end. Any information will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks, Bill

I've seen them like that with the little sound holes on the bucket, but can't remember who made em.

The headstock is "Gibson'ish" but its not. It's a common headstock design. Here are some names that have used the same headstock you can start to research.

Ludwig, Wendell Hall, Spiers, Claughton, Dallas.

Seen them show up like yours every so often on Ebay. I am thinking 1940ish. What I remember them selling for in playable condition is typically over $100, less than $200. The bucket is the unique thing to look for, because it is more uncommon, and tend to appear kind of (tamborine'ish). Like I mentioned, you will see them pop up on ebay every now and then. Yours looks like it is in really nice condition.


Hope that helps get ya started on reserch.

Everything Tudorp said.

I'd only add two things.

That body with grommets is so associated with Gretsch, which used it on their "Clarophone" for many years, that this was the first thing that popped into my head. But, indeed the headstock/neck isn't Gretsch - they used a very distinctive three-point headstock with a pronounced, rounded ridge on the back underside - which no one else did and which is always the Gretsch signature on their banjo ukes. I've seen Clarophone bodies show up in custom or hybrid ukes before - once I saw a conversion made from a Lange neck on a Clarophone body, the whole thing painted white and metallic blue overall. Really neat looking!

All of the above, including Ephiphone, used a similar headstock, but I'd put forward Regal as a strong possibility choice for this headstock in these proportions. Regal was a leading manufacturer of inexpensive plain maple instruments, frequently sold unmarked through jobbers like Tonk Brothers and J Bruegelson NY, and also through department stores.

Still, though, I have NO idea, just clues!

Ah, Gretsch, that's where i seen those gromet sound holes. Gretsch did make allot of banjos for others that didn't carry any name or markings, so that is a posibility, but also like you said, all had a more distinctive headstock.

Here is a Gretcsh pot.

Here is a Gretcsh made pot with no name. Count the J hooks, I think the same as yours. So, yours very well could be a gretcsh made no name, but the headstock I still haven't seen a gretcsh use that head. They had a very unique headstock on their banjos, but a more common "swooped" headstock top you see on allot of entry level no name ukes. But, still could be a gretcsh no name. Posiblely with an un-original neck?

Look where your neck mounts to the pot, and see if it is like this one.



Also look at the hardware, is it the same as yours?

Yes - I always hate the thought that the answer might be "hybrid," but in this case, it's quite possible.

Hi guys, thanks for looking into it for me.
I saw a banjo uke on Ebay awhile back that was listed as "Clarophone", but no mention of Gretsch. It was very similar but was painted white. I can't recall the headstock shape.
I put new strings on last week and found as I was bringing them up to pitch, that it sounds really, really good tuned a step down to Bb. I believe I will leave it there.

Bill

The Clarophone has a different head stock design than yours, as well as not as many J hooks as yours. But again, yours might be a hybred. Many Gretsch ukes are not avertised for sale as Gretsch simply because many are not marked because they were made for different no name brands. Many sellers that just got them in an estate auction, resalers, or inherited them, don't know what they are because of the lack of markings, so it isn't uncommon to find a Gretsch that isn't listed as such.

well - This is getting interesting. Tudorp, you're right - they did build for other manufacturers, and in addition, they had more than one model/size of Clarophone uke available.

Bill - how big is the pot on your uke? With 16 tension hooks, I would have thought that it measures about 8 to 8 1/4. The most common Clarophone on re-sale is the 7" pot with 10 hooks, but occasionally you see others. Here's a nice 8" one with 12 tension hooks: http://www.guitarandbanjo.com/details/5990.html. I'm pretty sure that they offered a third option of 16 hooks on an 8"-8 1/4" pot, which I suspect is what you have.

Here's the annoying thing - the more you look, the more you find. Here's another small pot banjo uke from Jake at Antebellum (who seems to have had more ukes pass through his shop than places that specialize in ukes - which his shop clearly doesn't). It has the 12 hook 8" Clarophone-style pot: http://antebelluminstruments.blogspot.com/2010/08/c1920-gretsch-cowboy-banjo-ukulele.html As you can see - it also has a non-Gretsch neck and headstock - one usually associated with Tonk Brothers and other Chicago-based jobbers and manufacturers.

So - more information, but also now three possibilities:

*This could be a Gretsch Clarophone body hybridized by a previous owner with another maker's neck.
*This could be a Gretsch factory creation built for a jobber/manufacturing firm like J Breugelson, Tonk Brothers or similar, but using their headstock design instead of the Gretsch ridgeback headstock.
*OR, a completely wild and unlikely notion, could another manufacturer(s) be copying the Clarophone style - which was a great seller for Gretsch - to capitalize on the popularity? We know that Regal and Harmony did this kind of thing frequently, but with generic designs, so this seems very unlikely as Clarophone wasn't an expensive instrument and it was also a very recognizable design - so a cheap knock off would be both redundant and risky.

How's that for a definite maybe?

lol.. Information is awesome, but it sure can create more questions than answers sometimes, lol..

Right. We should just stop now before we learn more and are driven completely insane...not a far drive for me, I admit.

Hi, this does have an 8" pot. The pictures on the antebellum site are very similar. The headstock shape is the same, except for the (lips) figure cut into the sides between the strings. Mine does not have any metal neck tensioner piece inside. The neck is only held on by the screw for the tailpiece. The shoe brackets are also the same (hex) as opposed to the shape of the ones on the Gretschs (from Tudorp & John).
Another interesting tid-bit about mine is the arched back. (see picture #4). You can see faint lathe turning marks in it. It is flat on the inside.

Tudorp, I bought a Tu-Ba-Phone pot from Steve at the site where you got the pictures of the Clarophone pot.

Thanks again, both of you, for digging some more.
Bill