Loft find

fire3

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Hi all I wonder if you can help. I recently found a ukelele in my loft, it's made by John Grey and sons of London. It has no other marks on it apart from a serial number which is G3856 which is stamped on he rear of the neck. It's. A 4 string.

Any idea how ok it is and is it worth much?
Kind regards

Adam

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Wow, what a clean, sweet looking vintage John Grey & Sons banjo uke. Great find, congrats. You may also get an idea on selling price by periodically checking ebay UK. Perhaps one of our members know of a uke shop in the UK that specializes in banjo ukes.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_o...w=john+gray+and+sons+banjo+ukulele&_sacat=619

Hmmm, John Grey just a brand name according to this: Barnett Samuel & Sons
Barnett Samuel & Sons started making Banjos in London in the late nineteenth century and the range came to include Banjoleles. In 1928 Barnett Samuel was renamed The Decca Gramophone Co. Ltd, (as they had previously founded Decca as a portable gramophone arm and this was now the biggest part of the business) as part of a lot of corporate manuvering. In 1932 as it no longer fitted the company profile, the Banjo making arm was sold on to Rose Morris Co. (see above).

The main brand for Barnett Samuel Banjos (and post takeover Rose Morris Banjos), was John Grey & Sons. The name itself is a probably fiction as there is no records of a John Grey ever being involved, never mind his son. The John Grey & Son name was sometimes used in conjunction with Dulcetta too before the take over and I have also seen instruments just branded Dulcetta. To really confuse the issue, Barnett Samuel also produced a large range of instrument they branded Dulcet or sometimes B.S. Dulcet and this range included Banjos and Banjoleles. This may have been a result of Barnett Samuel using different factories to make different ranges but I'm not sure? However Dulcets are not Dulcettas nor are they John Grey & Son and use of the Dulcet name does not appear to have survived the takeover.

At some point a deal was signed with Roy Smeck, the American vaudeville artist, (who also had a deal with Harmony), and a range of Roy Smeck endorsed John Grey Banjoleles was produced
 
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Hi all I wonder if you can help. I recently found a ukelele in my loft, it's made by John Grey and sons of London. It has no other marks on it apart from a serial number which is G3856 which is stamped on he rear of the neck. It's. A 4 string.

Any idea how ok it is and is it worth much?
Kind regards

Adam

View attachment 63545View attachment 63546View attachment 63547

Hello Adam

I purchased an old Savana Banjolele last year and did a bit of research on it at the time. Rose, Morris & Co. Ltd made the Savana brand and later bought out the company of John Grey & Son. Check out the following link - it makes a good read.
http://www.whitetreeaz.com/vintage/brit2.htm

Cost? - now that is an hard one. You may have to try and research the exact one you have. Off the top of my head id say between £50 to £100, but it all depends as ever on what someone wants to pay, whats the condition, etc etc
I paid £60 for my Savana 8 string banjolele - it needs attention, but its in fairly good nick for an instrument of nearly 100 years old. Hope this helps.

Craig
 
Are the 8 string Savana's not banjo mandolins rather than ukulele banjos? I have just bought a Dulcet 4 string ukulele banjo which arrived today and a Savana like yours - awaiting its delivery -but with 8 steel strings I thought it was a banjo mandolin rather than a banjo uke, and tuned in pairs to mandolin tuning? All quite confusing really, but I will eventually get it right I hope!
 
I suppose you can call it/tune it whatever/however you want...try not to worry about it.
 
Are the 8 string Savana's not banjo mandolins rather than ukulele banjos? I have just bought a Dulcet 4 string ukulele banjo which arrived today and a Savana like yours - awaiting its delivery -but with 8 steel strings I thought it was a banjo mandolin rather than a banjo uke, and tuned in pairs to mandolin tuning? All quite confusing really, but I will eventually get it right I hope!

Well - all the reseach i did on it pointed to Banjolele - take a look on google link:

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=8...OBhAfhvYHABQ&ved=0CHQQsAQ4Cg&biw=1024&bih=648

And theres one on ebay at the minute

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Vintage-Rare-SAVANA-8-String-BANJOLELE-BANJO-AG-G26-/370987724323
 
What ebay sellers claim an item is and what it really is are often two different things. Obviously it doesn't matter in the big scheme, as long as you are happy with it. But from sources a bit more reliable than eBay I gleaned the info that the instruments with 8 paired strings are not banjo ukes, and never started life as banjo ukes, but are in fact banjo mandolins and are meant to be tuned as mandolins.

Some people turn them into 8 string banjo ukes and string them with nylon but obviously have to make a few adjustments to tuning pegs etc to do this. There is a thread on Banjo Hangout about the older banjo mandolins and how a lot of them have been "converted" to "banjo ukes" in this way.

Anyway, its academic. If you like it, great, hope you enjoy playing it. Was just interested in some facts about these old instruments, that's all.
 
What ebay sellers claim an item is and what it really is are often two different things.

Mate - i would not base my knowledge of the instrument just purely on what sellers put on ebay, i only put that link on as an example. I did post the other link on as well.
Theres additional info on the following link also - all points to Banjolele.
http://theukuleleblog.blogspot.co.uk/2011/08/barnes-mullins-bowley-ukulele.html

Its quite a feat sometimes trying to find the history of vintage items, but also can prove very interesting and absorbing. Also VERY frustrating at times lol
Anyway, its an interesting subject and i hope my small input has added to this thread.
Happy strumming :)
 
Well, even experts in their fields disagree with one another at times, so I guess we can agree to disagree :). Its all about being pleased with your "find" and being able to enjoy it, really. The rest is interesting but not enough to get worked up about!
I know these older banjo-type instruments are often relatively inexpensive, but I do wish I knew how to set the little things up properly - the little Dulcet (a John Grey name from the 20s /30s) I have just acquired seems quite sound but needs tightening up and probably some decent strings, although how to go about selecting those is a bit of a mystery! The Savana has not arrived yet-expecting it early next week. With its 8 paired, metal strings I am fairly sure its a banjo mandolin, but will be able to check further once its actually here.

I think this may be the start of BAS.......related to UAS and GAS...........:(
 
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