1930s Slingerland MayBell Soprano Banjo Ukulele

This is yet another iteration of the classic Slingerland-style banjo uke. I even have a Concertone-branded version in the shop concurrently! Compared to the no-frills Concertone, this MayBell has a little more bling by way of an original gold paintjob (now green-gold from age), ebonized-mapled fretboard, and big hoop tonering. As a result, it's a little louder and brighter off-the-bat but also a little heavier, too.

Work included a fret level/dress, replacement bridge, side dots install, cleaning, and good setup. I also added a neck-bolt reinforcement into the heel in addition to its regular, adjustable neck brace. The neck is straight, it plays on-the-dot with 1/16" action at the 12th fret, and it's all-original except for an older replacement nut and the bridge which is an old one from my bins. The strings appear to be fluorocarbon and are older but still going strong.

Specs are: 13 7/8" scale, 1 3/16" nut width, 1" string spacing at the nut, 1 1/2" spacing at the bridge, 6 7/8" head, 2 3/4" side depth. The neck has a flat fretboard and a medium, V-shaped rear profile.

Woods are: maple neck (painted), maple fretboard (ebonized), and ply-maple rim.

The fretboard has pearl-dot markers.

The original friction pegs work just fine, though I'll always suggest upgrading to Gotoh UPTs on any old uke as a major lifestyle update.

The foam damps the head just a little bit to remove some of the "ping" from the hoop tonering.