1930s Harmony-made 8" Banjo Ukulele

This is a customer's banjo uke and it's a relatively plain one. It was made by Harmony in the late '20s or early '30s (I have essentially the same uke but with a 7" rim) and has the bigger, nicer, 8" rim diameter that gives these openback instruments more of an "old-time banjo" sound to them. The rim has no tonering, too, which mellows-it-up as well.

Work included the usual for an instrument of this spec -- a fret level/dress, tuner swap-out (it had some replacements on it that were okay, but these older freebies from my parts-bin are better), fitting of a bridge, setup, and bolt-reinforcement for the neck joint. It's playing on-the-dot with 1/16" action at the 12th fret, a straight neck, and strung-up with Martin fluorocarbon strings.

The original skin head has several locations where it's been repaired in the past. That says to me not to crank it tight when setting it up.

The neck is one-piece maple and the fretboard is ebonized mystery-wood. The dots are pearl and the neck has a slim, C-shaped profile and 1 1/4" nut width. It has a 14" scale.

The bit of foam under the dowel mutes overtone ring a little bit. Note that I've added a bolt in-between the rosewood shims for the original neck brace. This makes sure that the neck stays-put despite weather changes and moving-around. I try to avoid having to trust knocked-in, wedge-style neck braces if I can help it.

The rim is multi-ply maple with a birdseye-maple veneer.