1920s Unmarked "California Style" Banjo Ukulele
This little banjolele is just about as rustic as it gets for a mass-produced model from the time. It has the "inline" rim design which is tightened-up via screws and a ring that presses the head down over a small, raised ridge/tonering on the interior of the rim. This means it's lightweight and has no hooks to gouge your arms. That's the "California style" design -- which is a term I've gleaned from several period catalogs advertising this style of banjo-uke.
I got this in trade via my buddy Patsy, who included it with a number of down-on-their-luck creatures. I let it hang on my wall for a couple years before finally getting tired of seeing it in a depressed state. It has a poplar(?) rim with mahogany veneer on the outside and the neck is actually oak. The top edge of the rim has some thin, black-painted veneer but a good 1/3 of it had fallen-off so I just painted that section black to match.
It has a newer bone nut and replacement tuners and bridge, but it's otherwise original. These little ukes are kind of bang-clangy and very folksy, so they're best-suited to aggressive strumming and "chuck-chuck" chord-chopping for backing songs or melodies played on other instruments.
Like many cheaply-made banjo-ukes from the time, the neck is asymmetrical but at it's thankfully free of the warp and twist that so many ukes of this style have.
Repairs included: a fret level/dress, additional bolt-reinforcement for the neck/rim joint, a new rosewood bridge, side dots install, parts-bin guitar-style tuners at the headstock, a downpressure bar for the strings at the headstock, general cleaning, and setup.
Setup notes: it plays perfectly with 1/16" action at the 12th fret and a straight neck. It's wearing older Aquila Nylgut strings that sound just fine and give it a bit more of a spanky tone.
Condition notes: missing veneer on the top edge of the rim, plenty of uswear, and a general funkiness about its cut and build.
I got this in trade via my buddy Patsy, who included it with a number of down-on-their-luck creatures. I let it hang on my wall for a couple years before finally getting tired of seeing it in a depressed state. It has a poplar(?) rim with mahogany veneer on the outside and the neck is actually oak. The top edge of the rim has some thin, black-painted veneer but a good 1/3 of it had fallen-off so I just painted that section black to match.
It has a newer bone nut and replacement tuners and bridge, but it's otherwise original. These little ukes are kind of bang-clangy and very folksy, so they're best-suited to aggressive strumming and "chuck-chuck" chord-chopping for backing songs or melodies played on other instruments.
Like many cheaply-made banjo-ukes from the time, the neck is asymmetrical but at it's thankfully free of the warp and twist that so many ukes of this style have.
Repairs included: a fret level/dress, additional bolt-reinforcement for the neck/rim joint, a new rosewood bridge, side dots install, parts-bin guitar-style tuners at the headstock, a downpressure bar for the strings at the headstock, general cleaning, and setup.
Setup notes: it plays perfectly with 1/16" action at the 12th fret and a straight neck. It's wearing older Aquila Nylgut strings that sound just fine and give it a bit more of a spanky tone.
Scale length: 13 1/4"
Nut width: 1 1/4"
String spacing at nut: 15/16"
String spacing at bridge: 1 1/2"
Head diameter: 5 5/8"
Rim diameter: 7"
Rim diameter: 7"
Rim depth: 2 1/16"
Rim material: poplar(?) core w/mahogany veneer
Neck wood: oak
Fretboard: none, frets in surface of neck
Bridge: new rosewood
Neck feel: slim-med C rear, flat board
Condition notes: missing veneer on the top edge of the rim, plenty of uswear, and a general funkiness about its cut and build.
The foam pad is to damp overtones so the sound is cleaner.
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