c.1920 Happy Spookin' Banjo Ukulele

Here's a fun banjo-uke I fixed up just in time for Halloween last year! It has a print of one of Bonnie's card designs on the skin head (not original, but salvaged from a c.1920s tenor banjo) which reads, "Happy Spookin!"

The hooligan-feline is no one but our own Mr. Terrapin Aurora Borealis.

New holly nut. Headstock shape is reminiscent of old Buckbee-built banjos and the rim design is similar to older banjo-mandolins... spunover only on the bottom side, leaving the head to rest on a thin raised section of the maple rim.

Ebony fretboard (and frets) cleaned up nicely, as did all of the hardware. The rim, aside from a few discolored areas from bad tarnish, turned out super-shiny.

The neck on this guy was probably stained maple.

Plenty of hooks to keep that head tension going. If you click on the photo to enlarge it you might be able to see the "CGDA" penciled in on the head. In the head's previous life, this was written right under the bridge on its former tenor-banjo owner.

I've installed some new tuners. This would have originally had ebony pegs, as the holes were tapered and sized for them and had the remains of a couple in them.

Heel's nice and tight.

How about that pumpkin?

Missing green things, too?

Headstock again.

Here you can see the massive profile of the neck: it's big and thick and reassuring, very much like an old mandolin neck. I'm pretty sure the builder intended it to accept gut or steel strings and still stay afloat. There's no evidence on the frets that steel was ever used, however.

Rim detail.

Tailpiece is original. Typical for the age, it's got the extra 5th slot. You'll see the same type used on banjo mandolins and tenors, too.

Here's a good shot of the maple interior of the rim.

And a more natural-light view of the screenprint.