Sacrilege or sensible?

Chap

Chap

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As some of you know, I picked up a nice 1930's Maxitone banjolele. I really like it, but the neck is really narrow, I think from both design and that it has shrunk from age.

So, would it be wrong of me to get a new neck made for it, or should I leave it as is?
 
Depends - do you want to play it or have it as a show piece??
 
I think there is a long history of musicians customising their instruments to suit themselves. It's what leads to innovation, lol.
If you're not concerned about resale value, and you're not prescribed to maintain the instruments integrity, I'd say go for it..better an altered instrument that gets played rather than a museum piece that only gets dusted.
 
What do you want to do with it? If you mess with it, it probably loses value. But maybe that's not important to you. And that is totally ok.
 
Get a new neck made if you are going to play it. Keep the original neck in case you sell and the buyer wants to go original.
Nice thing about a banjo is the neck is bolted on.
 
SailingUke said:
Get a new neck made if you are going to play it. Keep the original neck in case you sell and the buyer wants to go original.
Nice thing about a banjo is the neck is bolted on.
Click to expand...

Well, that gave me a "Doh! " moment. :)

I totally spaced on the fact that I could just keep both!
 
I would say keep both, but also get a custom case made that can hold a 'spare' neck. And inside the case document it with dates and possibly reasoning.

Picture a grandchild or great grandchild of yours (or the next owners), sitting at some Antiques Roadshow with the consultant saying "fortunately some smart person got a second neck made up to reduce wear and tear on the original, and at that time documented the dates and everything, with that in mind I think it's worth 5 kazillion dollars"

Of course thanks to inflation, World War 3, and the events of the Robocop trilogy, they will have to make up new amounts like "kazillion" :)
 
whetu said:
I would say keep both, but also get a custom case made that can hold a 'spare' neck. And inside the case document it with dates and possibly reasoning.

Picture a grandchild or great grandchild of yours (or the next owners), sitting at some Antiques Roadshow with the consultant saying "fortunately some smart person got a second neck made up to reduce wear and tear on the original, and at that time documented the dates and everything, with that in mind I think it's worth 5 kazillion dollars"

Of course thanks to inflation, World War 3, and the events of the Robocop trilogy, they will have to make up new amounts like "kazillion" :)
Click to expand...

And a kazillion dollars will buy you a cup of coffee and a donut...no, a cup of coffee and a donut hole...
 
Hey CHap- if you do find someone to make one, let me know. My MayBell is the joy of my life, but her neck is more like a Mandolin than a Uke- I figure that is how they made them back then. I was thinking of asking Mr. Keim what he would charge for such a thing...not sure if he would want to make a neck for someone else's pot (unfortunately easy to find for standard banjo), but boy would I love this thing more with some width to it
 
SailingUke said:
Get a new neck made if you are going to play it. Keep the original neck in case you sell and the buyer wants to go original.
Nice thing about a banjo is the neck is bolted on.
Click to expand...

I second this! I have and old banjolele that I love because the neck is so small. Do what it takes for you to enjoy your instrument.
 
Sensible! Like the others have said, you can always switch the new neck out for the old neck if you ever plan on selling it.
 
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