k1banjo - Posted - 11/19/2011:  20:19:40

I just bought my wife a Slingerland Maybelle banjo uke and need some advice.  Here are my questions.

It came with old steel strings.  Are steel or nylgut strings recommeded?

What is the preferred tuning for playing OT (i.e. A, D, and G songs)?

Are there resources for full chords and strum techniques for Old Time?

I sure would appreciate any advice.  Thanks for your time.

Marc Nerenberg - Posted - 11/19/2011:  20:34:00

I can only comment intelligently on one aspect: the strings. I have an old banjo uke that has been converted into a tiny five string. It was fairly unplayable for years with steel strings on it. I changed it to Nylgut last year (minstrel guage) and it's a completely different instrument: an absolute delight to play. I strongly recommend conversion to Nylgut (or, at least, nylon).

Here are  a couple of attached videos showing how it sounds today. (I have no recordings of how it sounded with steel - it didn't sound good enough to bother recording.)

Edited by - Marc Nerenberg on 11/19/2011 20:37:20

VIDEO: The Fox - Marc Nerenberg (click to view)

VIDEO: Times Ain't Nothin' Like They Used To Be - Live - On a "Peanut" banjo - Marc Nerenberg (click to view)

dustyelmer - Posted - 11/19/2011:  20:35:36

if'n it was me, i'd just throw some Aquila strings on it. definitely no steel. as far as tuning goes, i usually use gCEA, but the "old" tuning of aDF#B is good too. i find gCEA to be more versatile, but that's just my opinion. chords are pretty easy to find online. a good example of banjo-uke used in an old-time setting is the Brad Leftwich & the Humdingers album "the Humdingers" in which Linda Higginbotham plays some great uke.

tdennis - Posted - 11/19/2011:  20:48:56

Banjo ukes sound their absolute best w/ skin head & nylgut  strings.  They  can be tuned in several  different ways :  (most books will be written for these tunings, GCEA, ADF#B).  However there is also FBbDG & several others on the following link.                                                                                     get-tuned.com/online_ukulele_tuner.php.  What is the size of your MayBell & does it have a resonator ?

Edited by - tdennis on 11/19/2011 20:49:20

Jim Yates - Posted - 11/19/2011:  20:52:30

I have a Slingerland May Bell that I keep strung with Aquilas in gCEA.  It's a real cannon.  The first night I got it I played one tune on it at a gig.  It was a trio and the song had the banjo uke, a National resophonic guitar and a fiddle.  Even with a pair of socks stuffed between the dowel stick and the head, I had no trouble being heard.  Does your wife's have a resonator?

May Bell banjolele by Slingerland

k1banjo - Posted - 11/20/2011:  05:16:25

Thanks so much for the info. This is an openback banjo uke. I am not sure if it has the original tailpiece or not as it has balled steel strings rather than loops. Therefore, I am not sure if I can put nylon strings on this tailpiece without it cutting them. Also it is a 15 fret banjo uke. Thanks again for the help - I really appreciate it.

Fathand - Posted - 11/20/2011:  06:43:59

I have a skin head on my Dixie Banjo uke,  I ordered the Aquila banjo uke strings and they sounded fabulous.  Only problem was , the 3rd string is wound and the winding broke at the 2nd fret.  Not sure if I have a sharp fret there that caused that problem.

I tie knots in the end of the strings to replace the balls.

elderly.com/accessories/items/ANBU.htm

whyteman - Posted - 11/20/2011:  07:12:57

I've aways wanted a banjo uke as an additional rhthym instrument. Well, we have an old Orpheum tenor banjo that's been nothing but trouble although it's beautiful to behold. Last week I restrung it with Nylagut and I've tuned it for regular "G" or "standard C" tuning as I'm so familiar with those chord shapes for obvious reasons.

Presto! Now that the strings have settled in, I have have a wonderful, loud, chording instrument that sounds like a banjo uke without having such a "cramped up" feeling. The closer to the bridge I strum, the "ukier" the sound becomes.

Don

Fathand - Posted - 11/20/2011:  08:31:20

Try a capo about the 5th fret. Should be even closer to the uke feel.

George Flink - Posted - 11/20/2011:  09:00:56

Aquilla #28u are all nylgut, no wound strings and work great for me.

whyteman - Posted - 11/20/2011:  09:49:33

Thank you, Fathand. Will do!

Don

minstrelmike - Posted - 11/20/2011:  10:00:41

Some info on uke chords for guitarists.

moxcey.net/mike/minstrel/speci...itar.html

metascrawl - Posted - 11/20/2011:  10:40:48

I just bought a 20's Keech banjo uke as a christmas/birthday present for a friend. It was a cheap instrument at the time so the tone isn't great, but it's very well preserved and set up, and signed by the man himself. It has a resonator and it sure is loud!

Sorry, I'm not answering your questions, I'm just going on about myself! Anyway, I tend to tune my uke GCEG. That way you can frail it as you would a five string banjo in open G (although it's open C of course). I use the reentrant forth string as the thumb string, although it's tuned a fifth above the tonic rather than an octave, and if the tune calls for that missing forth string, well I just sort of fudge it.

oldwoodchuckb - Posted - 11/20/2011:  12:34:56

For a Soprano uke I always bought La Bella uke strings. They worked jes'fine and never snapped. I can't remember how I tuned them now as I went to a baritone which was the same as the top four guitar strings before long.

I currently have a tenor banjo which is often tuned to 0pen G (GBDG) and enjoy using it as a uke. I prefer banjo tunings now as I don't play guitar at all these days.

cb56 - Posted - 11/20/2011:  18:21:14

You can use regular nylgut uke strings on it with no wound 3rd. It doesn't have to be the banjo uke strings with the wound 3rd. That's what I do with mine tune gCEA. If you drop the 1st string down to G you can transfer most of you banjo clawhammer tunes to the banjo uke. As long as the melody doesn't need the low 4th string.

There is a guy over at ukulele underground that collects slingerland Maybell banjo ukes. Might be good to go over there and glean some info from him.

btw, there is alot of clawhammer uke info on the net. Here's a good place to start.

ezfolk.com/uke/Tutorials/Clawh...mmer.html

Edited by - cb56 on 11/20/2011 18:24:33

weetmans - Posted - 11/21/2011:  07:49:08

Unless your wife is going to play it with a pick, you should definitely go for nylon or nylgut strings.  Steel strings on a uke are definitely "nail-shredders", and ladies tend to be even fussier about their nails than banjo pickers!  Nylgut are, IMO, the best, but plain nylon are nearly as good.  GHS and Rotosound are about the cheapest. I've used both and they are fine. For OT I prefer the top string tuned to B, which means that fingering a "guitar" G chord gives you a D. However, most people I play with play mostly D tunes, so that may have biased me a bit. 

gailg64 - Posted - 11/21/2011:  13:53:47

My husband & I (we both play 5 string & try to stay out of each other's way) have done a lot of tinkering with our 1917 Vega Little Wonder tenor. It lay lonely in a closet for a long time, but in the last 8 to 10 years, we have evolved a system that works pretty well.

 We mainly tune it like a baritone uke (so that guitar chord shapes work & visiting uke players can pick it up). Though we have had both nylgut and steel strings on it,  steel strings have the most "old-78" sound. The nylguts, as you say, do make it sound like a banjo uke -- which can be a good thing. A tenor banjo with nylon strings has a mellow sound that blends nicely in a stringband.

With steel strings & a plastic pick/plectrum, (and a bunch of bread-bag stuffing for the sake of everyone's sanity) you can really get a funky old Georgia/Alabama/Miss./Tennessee stringband sound.  Tunes such as Rocky Pallet, Hell Broke Loose in Ga., Bibb County Hoedown, Tallapossa Bound, Allen Brothers Rag, Hy Patitian, Mississippi Breakdown,Forks of the Kaney, most hillbilly rags & other tunes of that "flavor" sound very cool with a tenor banjo. We just play it like a banjo-uke but with some sliding of closed chords, but there's a whole lot that can be done & still steer clear of/ be supportive of the other instruments. There's a YouTube video of the superb Georgia fiddler/banjo player/pianist Mick McKinney doing a little tenor banjo demo (but on a 5-string!) Google Mick's name or MoonshineV to find it.

​G

quote:

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Originally posted by whyteman

I've aways wanted a banjo uke as an additional rhthym instrument. Well, we have an old Orpheum tenor banjo that's been nothing but trouble although it's beautiful to behold. Last week I restrung it with Nylagut and I've tuned it for regular "G" or "standard C" tuning as I'm so familiar with those chord shapes for obvious reasons.



Presto! Now that the strings have settled in, I have have a wonderful, loud, chording instrument that sounds like a banjo uke without having such a "cramped up" feeling. The closer to the bridge I strum, the "ukier" the sound becomes.



Don

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whyteman - Posted - 11/21/2011:  14:05:24

I could not find the McKinney video, Gail. I'll keep trying.

gailg64 - Posted - 11/22/2011:  07:04:05

Oops, sorry, it's not so easy to find. Sharon (moonshineV) has it simply labelled as j"ug band banjo". Mick's playing a 5 string with the 5th unlatched but it's actually  tenor/plectrum chordal style. Here's the URL: youtube.com/user/moonsh...CK8ZGnmOFM

quote:

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Originally posted by whyteman

I could not find the McKinney video, Gail. I'll keep trying.

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