c.1930 Unmarked Banjo Ukulele

Here's a rough-around-the edges fellow with everything in the right place: great tone and great playability. Except for one hook and the tailpiece, it's all-original, too. The vintage Grover bridge is from my parts box and I've recut it for uke string spacing... which unfortunately most banjo-ukes lack because the manufacturers simply use stock bridges with narrow tenor banjo spacing (I recut all my bridges for better spacing when I set banjos up).

Old warrior of a head: I've patched it at the 10 o'clock position where there were two tiny holes. It's quite stable and at good tension. I hate to throw away an old head for no reasons... they have "that sound."

Headstock is nice with nice fancy Champion pegs. New plastic nut -- which I rarely use, because I favor wood or bone, but I had one handy that was almost the right size for cutting down.

Nice old thin two-foot maple bridge gives plenty of power.

The 16th fret is missing along with a bit of fretboard. The rest isn't going anywhere, but I couldn't decide whether to replace this bit or just leave it. For playing it's nice because the 15th fret is a natural place to leave off... for looks... I figured leaving it doesn't harm this player's banjolele's appearance.

Ebony or dyed pearwood board. Can't remember. I'm leaning towards dyed.

Side view. Finish isn't in bad shape for being so thoroughly rusty and grimy when it got here.

Tuners polished up well and function nicely. The 3-piece neck looks good, too.

Heel. Rim has some nice inlay bands.

This hardware was really, really gross when it came in. Very tarnished, grungy, and not at all desirable. It's shaped up pretty well. I like the significant nuts on these hooks.

Back view. Resonator plate.

Tuners again.

The resonator backplate is in the worst shape: the lamination is missing on the left edge and it's coming up a little bit on the inside lip in the same place. Nevertheless, it hardly matters, as the backplate does its job of pushing the sound out the sides just fine. I actually prefer this uke as an open-back anyhow -- it has a great banjo-ey old-time sound, not piercing, not too tubby, but not quiet either. It has an ebony or "ebonized" rim foot, too, so with the resonator off it looks hot to trot as well.

Side.

New end bolt and tailpiece. Ironically, I've knotted on the no-knot!