New banjo uke... and it was free!!

arashi_nero

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Last week, the library where we host our uke club asked me to call a guy who was asking about the club. When I called the guy, he told me he had a banjo uke he had just fixed up and wanted to sell it for $30. I told him I would take it and the wife said for that price, I had no reason not to buy it.

Well, I went today to pick it up and the guys said the skin was ripped and he felt bad selling it and just gave it to me. I offered to pay anyway, but he wouldn't take my money.

After I got home, I looked up the brand here on UU and it has mixed reviews. The uke is a vintage Dixie cast aluminum. Now I guess I have uke older than my dad's soprano. I just wish I could find out exactly when this uke was made. Sounds like Dixie ukes were made between 1930 and the late 1950s. Anyway, I pulled it apart and cleaned it up and it is in really good shape for a nearly 70 year old uke.

Now comes the question part. Where would I buy a new skin for the uke? Also, I noticed there are "banjo uke" strings on eBay. Do you have to buy special strings for the uke or is regular soprano strings just fine?

I will post up pics tomorrow!
 
I tried the wound C on my banjo ukes...for about two weeks, until I noticed what the wound string was doing to my fingernails. I switched back quick. YMMV.
 
Free banjo uke! Awesome! :D

Some makers like Aquila do strings specifically for banjo ukes, but normal ones work fine too. You just have to be careful about the length: the string length on standard size soprano banjo ukuleles is longer than on standard size soprano wooden ukuleles, because of the extra length from the bridge to the tailpiece. Yours is vintage so it might not have a standard size. In any case, best to measure. I had a couple of Fremont Blackline A strings snap at me because of this, one even causing my finger to bleed! :(

Have fun with your new uke! Looking forward to see the pictures!
 
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You asked about a skin for the head.....I can provide you with one. I buy them a dozen at a time. It's strange that by the each they are about half the price of a dozen. I buy them for $7.50 each. You soak 'em in hot water--towel dry them, put them on and work down the metal ring over the rim and the new skin. when they dry, they tighten up nicely. Let me know if you want one &.50 and probably $2.00 for the large flat mailer package.
 
I bought a head for my Dixie at Elderly Instruments. It came with diagrams and instructions for replacing the head. Cost quite a bit more than what is being offerred above though.
 
thank you everyone for the feedback. i can't wait to get this thing back into working shape and rock out!

ukeeku, thank you for the link to your tutorial. i think i am going to try doing this myself. my setup is a little different. there's a ring inside the head, but i think i can work around that.

chap, i actually had a wound c on my os tenor when i first bought it and didn't really care for it. however, i now have a wound low g on my 8-string and am ok with that for now.

lalou, i will definitely be careful of how i put the strings on. whoever put the last set on did an aweful job. the strings felt like martins and didn't really work for this instrument. i think i'm going to try standard aquila strings to get a little more tension but i'll be watchful. the place where the strings are tied seem a little different than most banjo ukes, tho.

phil, i checked the intonation as it was and it seemed ok. i guess we'll see when i replace the head. either way, it's a good looking instrument. very shiny for an instrument that is 60-70 years old.

thecraftedcow, i will send you a pm as soon as i'm done with this post.

pics are below. first pic is when i first brought it home, had rip in head, really dusty, and smelled like old cigarette smoke. the second and third pics are the uke cleaned and shined up a bit.

one question, of those who know anything about the dixie ukes, are the red painted ones rare? most of the pics i've seen online were wither black painted where mine is red or they had no paint at all. i only saw a couple pics of a red uke like mine.

banjo uke 1.jpgbanjo uke 2.jpgbanjo uke 3.jpg
 
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