Converting a mando-banjo to a banjo uke?

After watching "Deliverance" again last night, I dragged my mando-banjo out and regaled my husband with a few licks from "Dueling Banjos."

Anyway, I'm wondering about converting it to a banjo uke.

It was made in the 1920s and I restored it some years ago. Well, I basically bought it as a wall hanger, took it completely apart, scrubbed up all the parts and took it to McCabe's in a box and had them put it back together with a new synthetic head (since the old skin one was cracked).

I know that you can't normally just put nylon strings on a guitar made for steel because of tension differences and wood thicknesses, but it has a drum head top and 20 clamp thingees that can be loosened with a drum tuning key to adjust the tension if needed.

But it's set up for loop-end steel mando strings at the bottom end. What kind of strings can I use? I see Aquila makes nylgut banjo strings, but how do they attach?

It's 13-1/2" from the nut to the bridge (~same as a mandolin), overall length is 23-1/2", the body (drum head) is 10" across. It's rather loud as is, so I think it'd probably do well as a banjo uke.

New nut (4 notches), new bridge (ditto). Use Aquila soprano strings and simply tie a loop on the end. Use alternate tuners. 13.5 inches is comfortably soprano uke scale - I've just finished my 3rd banjo uke and all have 13.5 inch scale.

Keep the old bits so it can be converted back.

This is the first I've heard of a Mando-Banjo...
...are they popular? If yes, why not consider selling it and putting the $$$ towards a Banjo-Uke? Yours is a nice looking instrument, so possibly it would sell well, and you could avoid the headache of converting it.

These WERE popular in the teens, but as banjo orchestras went out of fashion, so did thee little guys.

They have moved on eBay recently in the $200-350 range, and though its not a fancy instrument, Avalon is a William Lange instrument. I do think its worth more as a banjo-mandolin than as a banjo-uke.

But, if you want to try it, the conversion is easy; just do as the Professor suggests. The only thing I would add is that you want more tension on the head and tailpiece, not less, to ensure that the nylon strings have the punch the need to work. Also - use a 1/2" two-footed bridge with the smallest feet possible - Grover non-tipped with the little ebony support in the middle is also quite good for the job. The three foot bridges are for steel strings and they stink for nylon strings. You'll also want to sand it down to get the low action that's so much more desirable to play with on a banjo uke. I tape my sandpaper to the floor and move the bridge, feet down, back and forth. Most of my bridges are no higher than 3/8s of an inch.

Enjoy!

They're pretty common. In fact if you search for ukulele banjo on ebay you find loads of them. Usually described as 'rare 8 string ukulele banjo' or similar.

I've got one I bought in Prague in the 80s it's a really tatty old piece of crap but i have been wondering if I might be possible to make it into a useable ukulele instead!

Hmmm, actually now that I look closely, this is not a Lange Avalon, but a Slingerland-built Avalon. Henry Stadlmeyer & Co. owned the Avalon name and jobbed out construction to a couple of companies. Very nice instrument!

I have now converted 2 mando-banjos to banjo ukes. All the previous comments are valid - the nut slots and the bridge need attention to get the action right. One other recommendation - take the strings to the tuners on one side of the headstock only and remove the other tuner set. If the tuners on the instruments I converted were not under tension they rattled and buzzed badly. This leaves four holes - they can be filled with plugs or just left....I use one to attach a strap (these things are heavy mothers ater playing a conventional uke!)

Thanks for all the advice, everyone!

I've ordered a set of soprano Aquilas for it. (All my ukes are tenors, so that's all the strings I have on hand.) At this point I think I'm just going to try to "kluge" them on to see how it sounds with nylon strings before I try doing anything else.

Jnobianchi, it has a 3/4" three-foot bridge on it now. As far as tension on the head, I do have one of those drum head tuning wrenches. How would you add more tension on the tailpiece?

Scorpex, you are so right about it being a heavy mother! This one's 5 lbs. without the "pot" (backplate?) screwed on. The screwhole came off the pot at some point and I just taped it into the pot so I wouldn't lose it. My husband says he could fix that with some JB Weld.

I also have one that has been converted.The original tuners were removed and four friction tuners put on. The unused holes are filled with black painted dowels that are press fit, so they can easily be removed if you wanted to convert back to a mandolin banjo. The bridge is a Grover No-Tip and it is strung with Aquila banjo uke strings.

I think the 10" head gives it a more banjo sound than a uke sound. Kind of tubby for a banjo uke. I have not tried tightening the head very much yet. That could change the character all together.

Bill

KamakOzzie said:

...and it is strung with Aquila banjo uke strings.

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Do they have loop ends by any chance?

none of them do, you tie the loop yourself.

Yes, ditch the monster 3/4 bridge and go with a two footed half inch Grover, the no tip mentioned is a good choice.

Hmmm - re: tailpiece, it adjusts just like any of the tension hook nuts, with the socket wrench. If you don't see a nut at the bottom of it, it's probably got a mandolin tailpiece, which can't be adjusted. In which case, no worries!

Here's the naked tailpiece close up. The nut toward the top looks to me like it just has something to do with holding it on. Is the one closer to the body/wood one for a tension adjustment or is that just a spacer over the washer thingee?

I'd say that string holder doubles as a tension hook for the skin.

Sven said:

I'd say that string holder doubles as a tension hook for the skin.

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It looks that way, Sven, but it doesn't hold any strong tension against the bezel. It only exists to keep the strings taut and adjust their angle with regard to the bridge. The tailpiece is chromed tin and would bend/distort quickly once serious tension were applied. You sometimes find them twisted and blown where owners tried to press them into the role of tension hook. It's actually hard to get them to tighten that far, which should be enough to warn the owner, but if a person tries hard enough, they can do it!

A couple of things:

As you can see, the hole that it's supposed to anchor in the tailpiece has been gouged out. Tailpiece shoe would normally be firmly secured into the wood about a half-inch lower than it is. It looks like a previous owner sunk a hole in the chrome cladding; an expeditious solution, but one that limits how much you can adjust/tighten.

The washer against the body would not have been there - but needs to be with the current arrangement. The tailpiece shoe would normally just sit against the wood of the pot.

The nut that keeps the tailpiece taut is at the bottom of the screw. Its a (gulp) hex nut, used, no doubt because the previous owner's banjo wrench probably couldn't tighten that high up for hitting the bottom of the tailpiece screw due to the shoe being relocated further up toward the top of the pot. Be very careful when tightening that nut, and always use a box spanner or wrench - NEVER pliers, which will slip, scratch the metal, and gouge the wood. You might try replacing it with the same type of banjo nut that's at the bottom of each tension hook if you can find a box spanner or banjo wrench that can go that high up a screw.

You should have no trouble playing, but you will find adjusting the angle with string tension in play is very difficult. To make tailpiece adjustments, its probably easiest to loosen the strings entirely, tighten or loosen to where you want to be, then re-tune.

itsme said:

Do they have loop ends by any chance?

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No, the tailpiece has been changed on mine. This is on three of my banjo ukes. I got this one and another with this on already and bought one for my Stella which had none at all when gifted to me.

http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Bridges,_tailpieces/Banjo_tailpieces/Nashville_Banjo_Tailpiece.html

I just don't use the center hole. You should be able to use your current dowel screw (that is in the gouged out hole) without removing it.