Old family banjo uke -- can it be saved?

jaredg

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Hi, all! I only caught the ukulele bug a 6 months ago when I got my first proper instrument (a Pono tenor). But the passion has inspired me to see if I can bring back to life an old banjo uke that once (in college?) belonged to my grandfather, passed on to my father as a child, and then to me. Somehow despite the fact that it was mostly in the care of children for the better part of a half century, the bridge and drum survive. But not one of the pegs. It has a brass resonator and a skin drum and cheap plastic friction pegs that are likely not original to the instrument (and one of them broken).

Any advice about where/how to get new pegs for this instrument? I know it is not a fancy thing, but I have been fascinated by it since I was a kid and would love to hear how it sounds.IMG_7230.jpgIMG_7232.jpg
 
Ordinary violin pegs will do. Or a set of inexpensive friction pegs from Stew mac.
The broken pegs may very well be the original “Ivoroid” friction pegs from the maker. Honestly, I wouldn’t put much money into it.
 
Oh I didn’t know about peg heads. The site describes them as challenging to install though and I am very much a rookie
 
And it looks like you may need a tail piece but I think, from the looks of it, it might be worth saving.
See Stew Mac or a local luthier who will tell you what it will cost to restore.
 
It may be the photo but those frets look pretty banged up.i it's going to take some work to get it back together.
 
It may be the photo but those frets look pretty banged up.i it's going to take some work to get it back together.

I confess to not being a good judge. Back when I was a kid I had it strung up with classical guitar strings and it "played" to my uninformed ears ok. Here are a couple of pics of the frets.

IMG_7236.jpg
IMG_7235.jpg
 
As with many of the inexpensive banjo ukes of the time (My Stella being a good example), the frets are right into the neck - no separate fretboard. My Stella is fine up to the 5th fret; beyond that, uh, no.

As to tuners, those probably are the originals. You can either replace them with violin pegs, as previously suggested, or just get a set of Grover friction tuners. I'm not a friction tuner fan, but the Stella has the original ~1920 Champion friction tuners, and once I learned about adjusting them (tighten the screw, but not too much!), they work fine.

Don't put a lot of money into it, just get it playable again, and enjoy!

And buy a new ukulele, for what you were thinking about putting into this one.


-Kurt​
 
As with many of the inexpensive banjo ukes of the time (My Stella being a good example), the frets are right into the neck - no separate fretboard. My Stella is fine up to the 5th fret; beyond that, uh, no.

As to tuners, those probably are the originals. You can either replace them with violin pegs, as previously suggested, or just get a set of Grover friction tuners. I'm not a friction tuner fan, but the Stella has the original ~1920 Champion friction tuners, and once I learned about adjusting them (tighten the screw, but not too much!), they work fine.

Don't put a lot of money into it, just get it playable again, and enjoy!

And buy a new ukulele, for what you were thinking about putting into this one.


-Kurt​

Thanks, Kurt, and all, for your suggestions! I will definitely be buying a new uke to go with my Pono tenor, and I agree about not putting much work or money into this old guy, which was no doubt a bargain basement item even in the 20s or 30s when it was new. I really appreciate it and am happy to be here
 
Thanks, Kurt, and all, for your suggestions! I will definitely be buying a new uke to go with my Pono tenor, and I agree about not putting much work or money into this old guy, which was no doubt a bargain basement item even in the 20s or 30s when it was new. I really appreciate it and am happy to be here

Here's the thread about my old stella... which was $30 from a pawn shop in Auburn, NY around 1979... I bought it as wall art, not knowing I had a playable instrument.

https://forum.ukuleleunderground.com/showthread.php?39367-Unknown-banjo-uke-ever-seen-one-like-this&highlight=Stella
 
Yes, it's perfectly and easily restorable into playing condition. You even still have all the brackets, the bridge and a tightened vellum!

The easiest bit is cleaning it all up and sourcing some strings. For cleaning, use some mild soap water on a damp cloth, and finish off with a tiny bit of natural furniture wood wax. For strings, get some banjo ukulele strings or as an alternative some concert sized set - you'll need that bit of extra length to go all the way to the tailpiece. Classical guitar strings are too big and therefore too tight on these instruments.

The harder bit is sourcing a tailpiece and the missing peg. Some luthiers have them lying around, so it might be rewarding to ask around. A plus is that they'll probably have the right patina or mojo. If you order new ones, StewMac is a good choice, but I used to order them from ukuleleworld - can't find it anymore. I would go for a very plain tailpiece, and I would stick to the original violin pegs - pegheds are a bit pricey for this, unless you really want to play it a lot. I certainly wouldn't stick geared tuners on it.

Set-up is relatively easy on banjo ukuleles - you can fiddle with all kinds of parameters. If the action's too high, drop the pressure on the vellum a bit by loosening the brackets, or put in a slightly lower replacement bridge. If it's too low, you can guess what to do. I think the neck on your instrument is attached with dowels, but if it's done with screws, you can even adjust the neck tilt simply with a screwdriver.

As an aside, it looks like a 'Winner' banjo uke, made by Oscar Schmidt in NJ in the 1920s: sharp three-pointed crown, 10 rim brackets (most had either 8 or 12). Jake Wildwood certainly appreciates his Winner!

Have fun!
 
I have a similar one I got from an elderly neighbor. My tuners were also very bad, but a set of Ping 2698 tuners dropped right in and worked fine (using the original washers on the front, not the wider Ping bushings). In the end, even with new strings, it didn't sound or play that well, and the killer was that the nut width was a tiny 31mm, making it difficult (for me) to play. Worth a try, but as said above, I wouldn't put much into it.

https://www.ebay.com/p/691116702?ii...MIlJGeoNmI6QIVAYbICh025QEbEAQYASABEgKZX_D_BwE
 
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Yes, it's perfectly and easily restorable into playing condition. You even still have all the brackets, the bridge and a tightened vellum!

The easiest bit is cleaning it all up and sourcing some strings. For cleaning, use some mild soap water on a damp cloth, and finish off with a tiny bit of natural furniture wood wax. For strings, get some banjo ukulele strings or as an alternative some concert sized set - you'll need that bit of extra length to go all the way to the tailpiece. Classical guitar strings are too big and therefore too tight on these instruments.

The harder bit is sourcing a tailpiece and the missing peg. Some luthiers have them lying around, so it might be rewarding to ask around. A plus is that they'll probably have the right patina or mojo. If you order new ones, StewMac is a good choice, but I used to order them from ukuleleworld - can't find it anymore. I would go for a very plain tailpiece, and I would stick to the original violin pegs - pegheds are a bit pricey for this, unless you really want to play it a lot. I certainly wouldn't stick geared tuners on it.

Set-up is relatively easy on banjo ukuleles - you can fiddle with all kinds of parameters. If the action's too high, drop the pressure on the vellum a bit by loosening the brackets, or put in a slightly lower replacement bridge. If it's too low, you can guess what to do. I think the neck on your instrument is attached with dowels, but if it's done with screws, you can even adjust the neck tilt simply with a screwdriver.

As an aside, it looks like a 'Winner' banjo uke, made by Oscar Schmidt in NJ in the 1920s: sharp three-pointed crown, 10 rim brackets (most had either 8 or 12). Jake Wildwood certainly appreciates his Winner!

Have fun!

Thank you for all this information! One quick question regarding the tailpiece: this instrument has, in place of a proper tailpiece, four holes drilled into the metal (see pics below), into which the strings were tied. Could that be replaced with a proper tailpiece, do you think?

IMG_7237.jpg

IMG_7239.jpg
 
It certainly could work, as long as there are nu burrs in those holes. All the tailpiece does is retaining the string knots, nothing more.

Although it should work without a seperate tailpiece, I see the small hole that is meant as an anchor for one - if you could source a very plain one, with a metal lip that goes around the banjo's edge, it would be complete again...
 
As has been noted, the tail-piece appears to be missing, so I'd sort that first, probably just with a temporary loop of stiff wire to tie the strings to, then string it with three strings, using the existing pegs, and see what it sounds like. The skin may well need re-tensioning, hopefully it won't split. If all goes well, which it may do, then an investment in replacement pegs etc. can be considered ;)

Good luck!
:music:
 
Good point kypfer, you might want to moisten the vellum a bit first, top and back. These things are strong, but they can split if they're tensioned when dried out.
 
Anything can be saved, but if you wind up replacing all the parts, what will you have when you're finished? You should be able to replace the pegs and the skin. The metal and wooden parts can probably be cleaned up enough to make it look good. Keep us informed about your progress.
 
Thank you for all this information! One quick question regarding the tailpiece: this instrument has, in place of a proper tailpiece, four holes drilled into the metal (see pics below), into which the strings were tied. Could that be replaced with a proper tailpiece, do you think?

View attachment 126685

View attachment 126686

If the uke was designed for a separate tailpiece, there would be a hole drilled into the bottom flange at a point precisely opposite the neck attachment screw.

Since there is no hole there, you would either have to drill one to accommodate a tailpiece bolt that is needed to use a separate tailpiece, or forgo the tailpiece and use the holes drilled into the tensioning hoop to anchor the strings instead.
 
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