Ring the Banjar! (NUD!)

river_driver

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Scored a Morgan Monroe soprano banjo uke yesterday!

morganmonroe_banjouke.jpg

Found it hanging in one of my favorite local music shops. Used, but apparently untouched by the previous owner. Priced to sell fast, and the fellow took my Yamaha Guitalele in trade, so I got a hell of a deal on it!

It desperately need new strings though - I think these are the original stock strings, and they're crap. Going to try Aquillas, even though I hate 'em on my wood ukes (prefer brown Worths) - I think the brightness of the Aquillas will really make this instrument sing.

String question though: even though this is a soprano, the distance from the tailpiece to the peghead is more like a concert. I'm assuming I can use concert strings on it - it's built like a brick sh!thouse, with the chunkiest neck I've ever seen on a uke, and I think it'll handle the tension just fine. But can anyone with this or a similar uke enlighten me on the wisdom of doing this though?
 
Scored a Morgan Monroe soprano banjo uke yesterday!

View attachment 51238

Found it hanging in one of my favorite local music shops. Used, but apparently untouched by the previous owner. Priced to sell fast, and the fellow took my Yamaha Guitalele in trade, so I got a hell of a deal on it!

It desperately need new strings though - I think these are the original stock strings, and they're crap. Going to try Aquillas, even though I hate 'em on my wood ukes (prefer brown Worths) - I think the brightness of the Aquillas will really make this instrument sing.

String question though: even though this is a soprano, the distance from the tailpiece to the peghead is more like a concert. I'm assuming I can use concert strings on it - it's built like a brick sh!thouse, with the chunkiest neck I've ever seen on a uke, and I think it'll handle the tension just fine. But can anyone with this or a similar uke enlighten me on the wisdom of doing this though?

Concert strings should be no problem at all. I actually string my sopranos with concert strings, usually. In fact, I string my mahogany soprano with "heavy" gage fluorocarbon strings that are higher tension than most tenor strings! I like a little firmness in my strings and I also get better intonation up the neck with the higher tension.

John
 
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