Banjo Uke ?

I just finished watching a George Formby documentary and I have a question. I have never played a banjo Uke. I assume the bridge is not attached to the sound head (whatever it is called). When replacing strings, how do you know where to place the bridge? I assume if the bridge is placed in the wrong spot that tuning will be off, or not?

Change strings one at a time. Putting the bridge back in the right place is not a big deal. You can rough it in by measuring from the nut to the 12th fret. Then measure the same distance from the 12th fret to where the bridge should go. You can fine tune it with a tuner.

Aaron Keim (maker of Beansprout Banjo Ukes) told me he marks the bridge position on the head with a pencil. They move around quite easily, both out of and back into proper position.

What happens if the bridge is placed in the wrong spot? Also, how does one 'tune' the head? How do you know it needs tuning? Thanks

I use the pencil method described above. Even when I took all the strings off to make a frailing scoop, the pencil method worked fine.

BWright said:

I use the pencil method described above. Even when I took all the strings off to make a frailing scoop, the pencil method worked fine.

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What is a frailing scoop?

You don't really need to worry about a frailing scoop unless you plan on "frailing", or playing in the clawhammer style. You can certainly frail without it, also. I frail on my banjo and have no intention of scooping the fretboard.

To tune the head, you just take an appropriately sized socket wrench and tighten the bolts (besides the one holding the tailpiece on). You do quarter turns and move diagonally as to keep the tension the same all across the head. It's pretty easy.

If the bridge is in the wrong spot, your intonation will be wrong. This is a good video that explains how to put your bridge in the right place. It's for a true 5-string banjo, but it will work the same for a banjo-ukulele.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o3GPARmX0C0&feature=related

The difference between setting the bridge on a 5 string banjo and a banjo uke is the fact that they are tuning the bridge on the 5 string for the 1st 4 strings. hi-low. They are disregarding the 5th (hi) string intonation since it is primarily played open as a drone string. Not fretted
Not so on a ukulele. You will be fretting the 4th string.