My first banjo uke

This was a custom build around a 9-1/8″ metal clad pot that I had bought a couple of years ago from someone.  I put a new calfskin head on it from Smakula Fretted Instruments.  I had never mounted a skin head but it was not as hard as I had feared.  The combination of animal parts, music, tension and water reminded me of rehairing violin bows, which I retired from doing some years ago because it was so hard, but putting on the skin was quite quick and easy.  I am planning to try one on one of my upcoming 12″ banjos this fall and hope to offer them as an option in the future.  The customer wanted a 15.5″ scale with a 1.5″ nut width, cherry and ebony and aged or relic nickel to match the old pot.  He did a fine job aging the hardware, and found pre-aged Gotoh tuners, again from SFI, since it is not feasible to use the aging chemicals on a fully assembled tuner.  It was a fun project for me and I hope the customer will like it.  I didn’t record a video of this instrument because I have no knowledge of how to play a ukulele.  P9100010.jpgP9100011.jpgP9100012.jpgP9100013.jpg

One thought on “My first banjo uke

  1. Paul Tully says:

    If you can play a guitar you should have no problem demoing a uke. It’s sort of like removing the two low strings and putting a capo at the 5th fret.

    Like

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