Banjo Uke Resto Questions

oldetymey

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Had my eye on a soprano banjo uke at the local junk shop here awhile back. It appeared to need alot of work, and at 125 bucks seemed to be a little pricey for a no name fixer upper. I ended up passing on it, and it sold eventually. I figured it wasnt meant to be, and forgot about it. So yesterday Im at my folks for thanksgiving, and go figure an older friend of the family who heard about my uke playing is there and presents me with another soprano banjo uke! It is also in rough shape, Ive had it out in my shop, and cleaned all the rust off the hooks, and shined up all the chrome. It has no name on the headstock, and the finish is flaking off it. I put a spare set of aquilas on it and Im waiting for it to stretch in. the bridge will need replaced, and I think the head is original and very very old, but appears to be in good shape. This wasnt a gift however, he said I could test drive it, see if it was worth my time, and if I kept it hed like 75 bucks for it. Considering the poor condition of the one I saw for 125, Id say thats a fair price, this is at least playable. The sound though is pretty poor. and Im wondering if I messed something up head tension-wise taking it apart to clean the hardware, or if the ancient head is to blame, or it just is what it is as an old cheapo uke.......any thought on proper adjustment of a banjo uke would be appreciated. Ive placed the bridge where it would be on my regular soprano uke, and the tuning sounds good, but the banjo has more frets 17 to be exact, while being the same overall length as my regular uke....is that normal? no experience with a banjo uke at all as you can tell. I can say it sounds better muted (with a sock rolled up between the back of the head and the bar in back) then unmuted which sounds......uncontrolled, harsh, and echoey...with intonation issues in some spots... would be the best way to describe it....could this be a string choice factor as well? Thanks!
 
I have also discovered that this uke responds better to a soft touch....I usually hit my uke pretty hard just by style, and this one plays better the easier I hit it, as opposed to my mainland which is sort of a masochist in that regard :)
 
Even $75 seems a bit high for a no name, poor condition, little soprano ukulele. Does it have a closed back with f holes, or is it just open back? If just open and needing what it does, it sounds more like a $45 instrument than the asking price. Because of the overtones behind the bridge and tailpiece, a small piece of foam rubber or even cotton kills them, and allows only the nut to bridge tones to be heard. It really does not have to be struck hard for the sound to come out. There is a vast difference in sound by where you pick. At the neck/body joint or even more forward toward the nut is the most mellow sound. Going toward the bridge can really wake it up. If you are intrigued by the banjo ukulele sound, watch the banjo mandolin postings on e-Bay or Craig's List. Prices are much lower than for anything with the name ukulele attached to it.
 
I have allot of experience with old banjos and banjoles. I have restored a few. They are a much different sound as you probably know, and the sound of them lend themselves to a particular style of play and music. I find they don't sound good for many styles of music other than rag time, old school stuff like George Formbly type of playing. Head tension can certainly cause issues, but much of it is due to bridge height. If you try to lower the action, as many like to do, you can only get away with a little lowing with a banjole. They are by nature a bit higher action. If you lower it by lowering the bridge, you and you get the strings too close to the head, you loose allot of sustain, and volume. You have to find that sweet spot. The bridge needs to be placed at the same measurment as any uke, using the 12th fret as the reference point. Measure from the nut, to the 12th fret. This very same measurment from the 12th fret to the bridge is where it need to be on the head. I have a thread on restoration, and modification of a no name (made by Harmony whom made many no names in that era). I wanted a lower, more playable action, but wanted to maintain a correct string to head height to maintain sustain and volume. My old uke, like many of those did not have a separate fretboard. The frets were cut right into the neck. I pulled all the frets, made a rosewood fretboard with a slightly modified scale, and laminated the new fretboard over the neck and the old fret slots. What this did, was not lower the strings closer to the fretboard, which also would have lowered the strings to the head, but it raised the fretboard up closer to the strings the thickness of the rosewood, without changing the distance of the strings to the head. It resulted in maintaining sustain and volume, but made the fretboard much more player friendly. I also replaced the old wood (I think rosewood) nut, to bone. Which is much more dense than the wood nut. I believe the wood nut absorbed much of the vibration, rather than letting the strings ring out off the skin. It resulted in a much brighter tone, and not so muddy. It resulted in a very nice playing "no name" vintage banjole. It wasn't perfect, I don't think those will ever be perfect, but it sure made a world of difference, and resulted in a fun playable vintage banjole. I named my old banjo "Bango", so if you do a search for "bango" you will bring up a couple threads I started on that project a couple years ago. I had to sell Bango, and some other ukes due to rising medical bills at that time, and I really miss it. But, the point is, you can take one of those ukes, and make them very playable, and fun.. I am doing another one I recently got soon. When you get a new bridge, I like to use the ones made from ebony, with bone saddles graphed in. You can get those at any place that sells banjo parts.

As far as price. $75 if it is at least complete, is not too bad of a price. I see them pop up on ebay in pretty bad condition, but complete go for about that. Missing parts much less. Playable, I have seen them sell for between $100-$150.
 
Sounds like it should have been a freebie in that shape...
...but now that you've cleaned-her-up, the owner should be able to get $50 on eBay for it :D
 
Sounds like it should have been a freebie in that shape...
...but now that you've cleaned-her-up, the owner should be able to get $50 on eBay for it :D

Ha, I thought of that Paul. Hes a nice old man with a very limited income, I dont have any problem making him some extra cash with a little elbow grease if it comes to that. It wont though, Im going to split the difference and offer him 60, and Im quite sure hell be happy to take it....
 
Tudorp-

Thanks very much for all the information, Ive been messing with it today and really made some good progress with it, I got a banjo bridge, and sanded the feet down to what I felt was playable, the string spacing isnt perfect but its close. I left the action on the higher side, and adjusted the bridge very slightly. The result is much improved. I discovered as well it plays alot better if you strum closer to the neck joint (thanks craftedcow!) Overall I think its worth the money to at least mess with. So Im going to offer 60 and see where that goes. Id say the strings are a solid 1/2 inch to 5/8 off the head, and that height maintains a fine playability on the fretboard. I didnt get a new nut for it as there was nothing available off the shelf that was even sort of close I think Ill check stew mac, and see what I can modify to fit. Youre right though its not perfect, but playable and fun. I learned a little bit of dueling banjos, and Im annoying the crap out of my wife with it, so thats worth the 60 right there.
 
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The necks are pretty narrow. Odds are you won't find one off the shelf to fit exactly, but ready made nuts as you need for them are hard to find. Just find a piece of blank bone and carve yourself one with a dremel to get the right size, then jeweler file for the slots. If you have any trouble finding a blank, let me know and I can send ya a piece to carve yourself one. Or, if you'd rather, just take a measurement of the width, height, and thickness, and I'll carve ya out one. Then, all you'll have to do is fine tune the nut slots. For $60 for one that is pretty complete, ya can't go wrong. Thats a good deal, IMHO even at $75. I see them go in pretty rough shape on ebay for around $75, so you'll be fine..
 
Another alternative for a nut is Corian. It comes in a wide range of colours. If you tell me the colour and the dimensions I can cut one for you. If you tell me the height as being
1/8th of an inch higher than the height of the first fret as from the bottom of the nut trench, and I can measure down 1/16th of an inch and cut the nut slots to fit the strings. Low G or High G? I have a precision scroll saw which cuts straight and smooth. I make nuts - bridges and tail pieces,
 
Much thanks to both of you for that offer. Im sure Ill be able to source
Something though. Everyday this thing sounds a little better now. Its nice when
Little tweaks pay off. My offer was accepted so this little booger is officially mine now
Nice early xmas gift. Im liking it alot!
 
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