I've been wanting to find a ukulele banjo that sounds similar to those old-timey banjo ukes. You know the like, very tinny, almost a metallic sound. The problem is all the banjo ukes I've tried have a much fuller and boomier sound. Here's a video showcasing this fairly well, comparing a new Kmise and a vintage Gibson banjo uke: https://youtu.be/cQet44ssVmU?t=332
I personally much prefer the latter. I've owned two banjo ukes so far. A horrible Harley Benton which I thankfully were able to sell quite quickly, and the Gold Tone Little Gem which is decent enough quality but does have that fuller sound that I don't really fancy. So my question is, what actually makes the banjo uke sound more tinny like the Gibson in the video? Is it the strings? Open or closed back? The material of the banjo head? A resonator? Or is it the build of the instrument overall?
I've been trying to test different strings on the Gold Tone Little Gem, but unfortunately anything else than Aquilas or similarly thick strings tend to snap when I try to put them on so I haven't been able to test properly yet. I also took off the back of the Little Gem which seemed to brighten the tone a bit but I'm not fully convinced.
If the answer is the build of the instrument overall, I might just have to go for a more expensive banjo uke that simply has the kind of sound I want. I've seen that the Gold Tone DLX Banjolele seems to have that kind of tinny sound I like. Other similar but cheaper banjo ukes seem to be the Ozark 2037 and the Barned & Mullins UBJ1, but I cannot for the life of me find any reviews or videos of them. If anyone has any info on these or other suggestions it would be very much appreciated.
I personally much prefer the latter. I've owned two banjo ukes so far. A horrible Harley Benton which I thankfully were able to sell quite quickly, and the Gold Tone Little Gem which is decent enough quality but does have that fuller sound that I don't really fancy. So my question is, what actually makes the banjo uke sound more tinny like the Gibson in the video? Is it the strings? Open or closed back? The material of the banjo head? A resonator? Or is it the build of the instrument overall?
I've been trying to test different strings on the Gold Tone Little Gem, but unfortunately anything else than Aquilas or similarly thick strings tend to snap when I try to put them on so I haven't been able to test properly yet. I also took off the back of the Little Gem which seemed to brighten the tone a bit but I'm not fully convinced.
If the answer is the build of the instrument overall, I might just have to go for a more expensive banjo uke that simply has the kind of sound I want. I've seen that the Gold Tone DLX Banjolele seems to have that kind of tinny sound I like. Other similar but cheaper banjo ukes seem to be the Ozark 2037 and the Barned & Mullins UBJ1, but I cannot for the life of me find any reviews or videos of them. If anyone has any info on these or other suggestions it would be very much appreciated.