New Uke, Old Uke

jglover

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So about two weeks ago while cleaning out some junk from storage, I came across my father in law's old banjo uke. A Truetone banjo ukulele model 5DC9502. About all I've been able to find online is Truetone was the house brand of Western Auto harware/auto supply stores....so basically a hardware store ukulele. The friction tuners are in bad shape but tightening the screws helped them hold a bit. Tuning and intonation are awful, the bridge is in the wrong place, the strings could be 25+ years old....but it still sort of plays and it got me interested in the uke again.......

So, I ended up with a Cordoba 20TM-CE. Nice ukulele, lovely tone and the pick up was a nice feature, but the reach was just too long for me. I ended up returning it and looking for a concert size with a pick up. My local music store had a really nice Ohana CK35-CE, solid mahogany with a cutaway and a pre-amp, so it *almost* came home with me but then I played an Islander MSC-4. Wow, the sound of the Islander was just, at least to my ears, light years ahead of the Ohanas in the same price range. I also played a Mainland (don't remember the model but it was a mango concert) and tone wise it was up there with the Islander but what sold me on the Islander was the wider fretboard. It just felt much more comfortable than any others I tried.

Bottom line is now I have two new to me ukes, an Islander MSC-4 and an unknown banjo uke. Now if I could just find some info on how to actually set up that banjo uke, as I'm guessing a trip to the repair shop would be more than it is worth! :)

John
 
Aloha John,
Welcome to the UU and our forums and I am glad that banjo brought you back into playing the uke again....congrats on the new Islander and have fun ...happy strummings
 
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Welcome to the forum John. You could also post some questions at
Uke Tech Support
I found this info about Western Auto Supplies and the name Truetone
http://www.trademarkia.com/truetone-72207542.html

Why was Western Auto Supply in the instrument business??? As far as I can tell, It looks like Kay may have actually made the Truetone line.
 
Welcome to the forum John. You could also post some questions at
Uke Tech Support
I found this info about Western Auto Supplies and the name Truetone
http://www.trademarkia.com/truetone-72207542.html

Why was Western Auto Supply in the instrument business??? As far as I can tell, It looks like Kay may have actually made the Truetone line.

I wondered the same thing about Western Auto. But as i think back on growing up in small town southern Illinois, often times Western Auto was basically your equivalent of Walmart or Kmart. They had just about everything except groceries, so maybe musical instruments was a part of their service to everyone policy.

I found the same info as you did on Truetone and there was another reference that indicated they may have also been manufactured by Harmony instruments as well. In any event it is going to be fun trying to get this banjo uke back up and into playing condition.
 
Hi! You say that the bridge is in the wrong place on the banjo-uke and the intonation is all out - I'm just checking that you realise that the bridge is a floating bridge - moveable - just move it so that when you fret the 12th fret, it plays the octave from the open string - to get the intonation right on all of the strings, you may find that the bridge actually looks wonky, but that's ok.... it's like that on mine....
 
Congrats. What Sears did, Western Auto tried to do. Slide bridge so that it's the same distance from the 12th fret as the 12th fret is from the nut. Lots of parts available to fix that old banjo uke up. good luck.
 
Welcome to UU John, as Phil has said "What Sears did, Western Auto tried to do." And Harmony out of Chicago would put any name you wanted on the instruments if you ordered 1000.
 
Thanks everyone for the welcomes. @barefootgypsy, yep, I saw the bridge was a floater and did adjust it back, as both you and Phil indicated. the bridge is wonky, it has some fairly deep and wide grooves in it from the strings, not sure if that is the problem or not. It may just need a new bridge. The tailpiece that holds the strings is what definitely looks out of whack. It seems quite high and is crooked. The adjustment nut looks a bit rusty and I've not tried to do anything with adjust that yet.

I've found Grover StaTites online for about $15 so replacing the friction tuners should be no big deal and I'll bet I can find a generic bridge as well that will work....add a new set of strings and I should be in business in a week or so.

BTW, the Islander is just fine............:)

John
 
Hi John, welcome to UU! Any chance you can post a picture of your banjo ukulele? You can find banjo uke bridges at this link
http://www.ukuleleworld.com/home.php?cat=41

I'm sure other places carry them too. The only issue with modern Grover tuners is that the shaft that goes through the headstock will be thicker than the original, so you will have to either 1) widen the hole in the headstock or 2) get a set of Ping brand tuners which should drop in. I replace the washer on the top of the headstock which comes with the Ping tuners with a flat stainless steel washer (the one that comes with it is meant to be countersunk into the headstock). Either option, you will be happy with the results.
 
Good luck with your banjo-uke project! Real tinker-toys, they are! I love mine. Oh - and welcome to the Forum! I forgot to say! :D
 
Thanks everyone! I had seen the Ping tuners but didn't realize there was a difference between them and the Grovers, thanks for the heads up. I'll see about getting some pictures up tomorrow evening, it's getting late around here at the moment. :(

John
 
Post pix!

What a great project! Keep us all posted.

And please take lots of pictures!!!! We want to see what's going on. :)
 
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