Old Sovereign Banjolele

As some of you may recall, last year I fixed up an old banjolele for a friend and posted about it here. More recently I was contacted by a woman in her mid-seventies living in Oregon state.She had found her mother's old Sovereign banjolele and wanted to get it back to a playable state. She found my posts here on the restoration of banolele #1 and wrote me to ask some questions. She isn't all that tech savvy, so was unable to share some pics of it, so based on her description I helped her the best I could. After a couple of months she threw in the towel and asked if I would like to take ownership of it. I said I'd be over the moon to do so, and she sent it to me. I received it yesterday. It's really in pretty good condition, just missing some hardware and possibly in need of a new head.Its worst fault is the neglect and build up of grime from years of dwelling in the back of a closet. Last night I took it apart and cleaned it up. It took over three hours and lots of elbow grease on the metal parts. The fretboard was a dusty brown and very dry looking. I took my Petros fingerboard oil and followed the instructions by wiping on the oil with a paper towel. I came back five minutes later to wipe off the excess only to find there was none. I repeated that three times and then dispensed with the paper towel, instead squeezing drops directly onto the fingerboard and spreading them with my finger. I've now done that three times and it is still soaking it up, although now I can see the oil is not absorbing as rapidly in between the fret wires, but is still getting sucked up around the fret wires. The board has gone from dusty brown to a deep an lustrous black. Ebony? Is it possible to over do it with the oil? I've got the whole instrument in a case now with two humidifiers. I'm going to leave it in there for at least a week and top off the water daily. Other than the grunge and dry fretboard, it's missing a single j-hook, which it can live without for the time being, and its nut and bridge, both of which can be easily fabricated. I'm torn between keeping it--she did give it to me--and fixing it up and returning it to her. It does hold sentimental value to her, although she's not a player herself, nor is anyone else in her immediate family.




Here it is after last night's work (the hardware is drying on a towel after much cleaning). You can click the image to see an enlargement. Sorry for the lousy camera phone quality. It looks a little green. It's not. From what I've read online the Sovereign banjolele, or banjouke, was produced by Oscar Schmidt Co. until Harmony bought the rights to those names from them in 1939. I'm uncertain of the year of manufacture of this particular instrument, but I'd guess mid to late thirties. But it could be older.

Veeeeery nice. Thanks for sharing

Thanks Phil! As an aside to the group, I'm thinking now I should have humidified the instrument first and oiled the fretboard second. Hopefully all that oil I applied doesn't keep the fretboard from absorbing the moisture. I suspect it will, though!

Matt Clara said:

The fretboard was a dusty brown and very dry looking. I took my Petros fingerboard oil and followed the instructions by wiping on the oil with a paper towel. I came back five minutes later to wipe off the excess only to find there was none. I repeated that three times and then dispensed with the paper towel, instead squeezing drops directly onto the fingerboard and spreading them with my finger. I've now done that three times and it is still soaking it up, although now I can see the oil is not absorbing as rapidly in between the fret wires, but is still getting sucked up around the fret wires.

Click to expand...

I have a cheapo uke with a fretboard that I have oiled twice and it still looks grey and dry. I'm going to try this!

Certainly send her pics and offer it back to her on long term ownership, that it comes back to you. when she is done with it.
Although it has sentimental value to her, she may appreciate it more if it's being used and loved than stuck in the back of a closet.
h