Banjo Uke - Is a new skin going to fix the problem

I picked up a banjo uke during an expedition to the flea market.

The pegs where either broke or missing and it had no bridge.

I threw a new grover bridge and a set of grover friction pegs (they suck) and a set of aquila banjo uke stings on there.

It sounds horrible, really muddy.

when I had it apart I found that the skin was fused to the finish. someone thought it a good idea to shellac the instrument.

I'm considering taking it apart again and throwing a new skin on but am I going to get any real change in sound?

I wiped the neck down with alcohol and 0000 steel wool and got the shellac off. I'm considering cleaning the entire body off and dyeing the instrument a funky color and doing a polish on it. It's a solid piece of birds eye maple so any quality finish will be a huge improvement to the thickly brushed on shellac. I just don't want to go through the work without some promise of a better sound.
It's a no name, probably harmony. Head stock is a close match to a Roy Schmeck uke that I have.

If it was like mine, then YES it will make a difference
http://ukeeku.com/2010/10/22/banjo-ukulele-head-replacement/

Hope it all works out. feel free to contact me for help. I have done a few like this and the traditional hook and rim head replacements.

In theory, unquestionably!

There are before photos

Here are a few with the bridge, strings and new grover tuners.

Look at the neck and body colors, that's after about 5 minutes with the alcohol. The body should clean up nice.
Not sure what color I'd like to make it or how to clean up the hardware.

It needs a little setup, strings a tad high and pop out of the bridge.

I'll try order the skin today and tear this thing apart.

Name

I found that it is a veneer, (couldn't see the seams). So it's apart.

I'm wondering what kind of finish is safe for the skin?

What skin are you getting? The synthetic ones are bulletproof so it is a matter of influencing the sound by applying finish.

mjgreenwood said:

I found that it is a veneer, (couldn't see the seams). So it's apart.

I'm wondering what kind of finish is safe for the skin?

View attachment 42147View attachment 42148

Click to expand...

Skins....

I am trying to decide that ask I type.

I haven't even looked into synthetic... maybe I should.

As far as finish, I'm not sure what will work. Obviously the shellac is a no-no, due to it fusing to the skin.

So I'm open to suggestions. I'm trying to figure out if the alcohol was enough to remove the shellac to apply another finish. I'll probably hit it with some 300+ paper before I do anything. (I'm a tad afraid to dye it without sanding, I think the color may not apply evenly).

suggestions?

Not sure how to do a non-standard synthetic head. This is 7.5", I was going to by a 12-14" and gut it after it was mounted.

Did it!

Ok so the new skin is on.
I watched a half dozen videos on this and it's looks a whole lot easier in the videos....

I picked up a "thin" calf head 16" so I had a ton of room.
This is what I did,

• soaked the skin for ten minutes
• placed the flesh hoop on notch to neck.
• folded the skin up evenly
• put on the tension hoop

With the two layers of skin going through the hoop, it would not fit.
We're talking between 1/16 to 1/8th. Maybe the drum swelled.

I squeezed out the head, tried a number of folding techniques tried pulling it tight all the way around. it just would not go on.

I ended up doing a "no-no" and re-soaking the head, draping it, flesh hook and then just barley getting the tension ring on and capturing my progress with the banjo's hooks.

at about 3/4 the way done I took the uke over to my large vise (with cauls) and pressing it on a half inch at a time. That worked (I would never want to be forced to place a instrument in a vice again).

The vice didn't cause any damage, unfortunately during my first couple of attempts to get the tension hoop on I dinged up the back side of the drum pretty good.... still looks way nicer then when I got it.

It still sounds fairly muddy but I'll give it a few days to completely dry out and let the new stings and head stretch. Maybe when the head has a bit more tension it will brighten up.

I also need to sand about 1/16 off the bridge to lower the action a tad. I'll post a pic soon.