1920s Slingerland MayBell Resonator Banjo Ukulele
First of all -- please excuse my "woofing" the mic in the video -- this guy's a loud little thing.
Slingerland banjo-ukes like these are "home" to me because in the past I worked on so many of them. During the height of the recent uke craze, I was buying these in scads off of eBay and fixing them up for resale. These days it's hard to buy them at a price that makes sense to fix and then sell, so I haven't been working on them so much except to fix-up for customers. I used to buy them a lot because they're sturdy, practical, look good, sound good, and are popular with my customers. Plus they say "MayBell" on the headstock!
While this one's finish is a little grungy, I think it's a great example of the type because it has the usual hoop-style tonering and a resonator. The resonator gives the instrument a bit more punch and it also helps to clean-up the tone, too. That lets it get away with a little less overtone-damping behind the head so you can "play it on 11" in the jam without sounding like rocks-in-a-box.
After repair work, this guy plays fast and easy and it has an out-front, choppy, direct sound to it. The resonator and outside of the rim are covered in birdseye maple veneer which gives a nice look.
Repairs included: a fret level/dress, side dots install, replacement (banjo-style, geared 4:1) tuners at the headstock, new bridge, neck bolt reinforcement, cleaning, and setup.
Setup notes: action is spot-on at 1/16" at the 12th fret, strung with D'Addario fluorocarbon strings. The neck is straight.
Condition notes: it's a bit grungy all over even after cleaning. There's definite signs of lots of loving play throughout. The original skin head has one tiny puncture that someone repaired in the past with what looks like a dot of epoxy -- it works! I'm pretty sure the hook/nuts and tailpiece are replacements, but they're the right types, at least, and look good. The nut is an older synthetic replacement and the bridge is new, too.
Slingerland banjo-ukes like these are "home" to me because in the past I worked on so many of them. During the height of the recent uke craze, I was buying these in scads off of eBay and fixing them up for resale. These days it's hard to buy them at a price that makes sense to fix and then sell, so I haven't been working on them so much except to fix-up for customers. I used to buy them a lot because they're sturdy, practical, look good, sound good, and are popular with my customers. Plus they say "MayBell" on the headstock!
While this one's finish is a little grungy, I think it's a great example of the type because it has the usual hoop-style tonering and a resonator. The resonator gives the instrument a bit more punch and it also helps to clean-up the tone, too. That lets it get away with a little less overtone-damping behind the head so you can "play it on 11" in the jam without sounding like rocks-in-a-box.
After repair work, this guy plays fast and easy and it has an out-front, choppy, direct sound to it. The resonator and outside of the rim are covered in birdseye maple veneer which gives a nice look.
Repairs included: a fret level/dress, side dots install, replacement (banjo-style, geared 4:1) tuners at the headstock, new bridge, neck bolt reinforcement, cleaning, and setup.
Setup notes: action is spot-on at 1/16" at the 12th fret, strung with D'Addario fluorocarbon strings. The neck is straight.
Scale length: 13 1/8"
Nut width: 1 1/4"
String spacing at nut: 15/16"
String spacing at bridge: 1 5/16"
Head diameter: 6 7/8"
Resonator diameter: 8 3/4"
Resonator diameter: 8 3/4"
Rim depth: 3 3/8"
Rim material: ply maple, hoop tonering
Neck wood: seems like poplar
Fretboard: ruddy-looking rosewood, I think? or gum?
Bridge: ebony/maple 5/8"
Neck feel: slim-to-medium C-shape, flat board
Condition notes: it's a bit grungy all over even after cleaning. There's definite signs of lots of loving play throughout. The original skin head has one tiny puncture that someone repaired in the past with what looks like a dot of epoxy -- it works! I'm pretty sure the hook/nuts and tailpiece are replacements, but they're the right types, at least, and look good. The nut is an older synthetic replacement and the bridge is new, too.
The resonator was lacking its original central post/sleeve mount, so I replaced that with a longer vintage screw/bolt into the dowel. The "feet" that hold the resonator away from the rim were also missing, so I replaced those with a couple of "risers" mounted on the rim's bottom, instead. I have to do this a lot on old banjo-ukes because these are pieces that fall-off quite often as the instrument ages.
Having proper 4:1 geared pegs on this instrument is so nice.
Some of the ply edges of the resonator's veneer shows a little sprung-ness that was repaired in the past and is stable.
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