Baritone Banjo Ukulele

BashfulPuppet

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For the past few years I been wanting a baritone banjo ukulele but have found the few out there to be either to expensive or not really what I as looking for.

Basically what I wanted was a tenor banjo with a ukulele scale and width neck.

So, I decided to buy an inexpensive tenor banjo and then make a new neck for it.

The tenor banjo was a Recording King Dirty 30s which provided the rim, head, and all the hardware. It cost $140. The neck I built out of spanish cedar and granadilo and it cost about $100 after the additional purchase of nut, frets, tuners, and hanger bolts. So for less than $300.00 I now have a Baritone Ukulele that's like Ive been wanting.

Below are some pictures of the completed uke.

IMG_1103.jpgIMG_8025.jpgIMG_8503.jpgIMG_9005.jpg
 
For the past few years I been wanting a baritone banjo ukulele but have found the few out there to be either to expensive or not really what I as looking for.

Basically what I wanted was a tenor banjo with a ukulele scale and width neck.

So, I decided to buy an inexpensive tenor banjo and then make a new neck for it.

The tenor banjo was a Recording King Dirty 30s which provided the rim, head, and all the hardware. It cost $140. The neck I built out of spanish cedar and granadilo and it cost about $100 after the additional purchase of nut, frets, tuners, and hanger bolts. So for less than $300.00 I now have a Baritone Ukulele that's like Ive been wanting.

Below are some pictures of the completed uke.

View attachment 114829View attachment 114830View attachment 114831View attachment 114832

Nicely done.
 
Thank you, John. I don’t mind saying that there was a lot of stress leading up to some parts of the neck build. I’d never built a neck before and cutting the scarf joint was a real knuckle biter for me.

The fret markers were a move to reduce the amount tools I needed to buy. Standard drill bits work fine if you’re drilling all the way through. I also thought it was clever to get the marker visible on both the side and the top. Not my idea but still clever.

I wish I’d designed the head stock to let be get the slots closer to the nut. It would have made it easier to make the ramps so that the strings wouldn’t touch them. Just an asthetic thing.
 
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It’s been several months since I built the Baritone Banjo Uke and I’m finally getting around to recording a sample of how it sounds. Here’s a short clawhammer arrangement of me playing “This Is My Father’s World.”
 
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I wish I’d designed the head stock to let be get the slots closer to the nut. It would have made it easier to make the ramps so that the strings wouldn’t touch them. Just an asthetic thing.

Jon,
Congratulations!
As they say, “Don't sweat the small stuff ! ”.
Ganged tuners on short ukulele headstocks leave very little room for optimal approach angles. You've done some lovely work with this instrument.... and it sounds as good as it looks.
 
Nice! I really like those side markers! You did a nice job with that neck!
 
Thank you to both Sequoia and Capt. Janeway. I really appreciate your taking the time to look and listen to my humble creation.

If I were doing the side markers again I would do something to make the 12th fret standout from the others. Not sure what I’d do but I’d make the effort to make the marker visually different.
 
How about just a dark center in the light wood on 12? I'm not sure you'd have enough space for maybe two tiny dowels marking from the side. I think the contrasting wood in center of the light would do it
 
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