|
Please note this is an archived topic, so it is locked and unable to be replied to. You may, however, start a new topic and refer to this topic with a link: http://www.banjohangout.org/archive/252827
Kevin B - Posted - 01/02/2013: 06:28:24
Building a Banjo Ukulele
My main banjos are five string banjos. I’ve played the five string since 1976. However, having learned that my grandmother played the banjo ukulele (In church, revival meetings and at home) in the 20’s and 30’s I was moved to add that to my arsenal (I have always liked some of the old twenties songs and depression era songs).
I ordered a cheap ukulele to see if I could pick up playing uke. Then I bought a twenties banjo uke off Ebay that was almost a toy. I planned to sacrifice the neck but it turned out to be a very playable instrument.
Wanting a better banjo uke I ordered an import which was backordered multiple times. While waiting for the other I built a rim. Once I realized this was a viable rim I canceled the import order.
With the new custom rim in hand I set out to build a banjo ukulele. Here is the result:
I had a scrap of flexible hardwood plywood. I ripped it to the same height as my soprano uke. The plywood has two layers oriented vertical and a paper-thin layer oriented horizontally. I found a piece of PVC pipe roughly 6 9/16” OD. Then wrapping one layer of the plywood around I sanded the end until I had a tight fairly flush joint. I used three staples at the joint to hold that layer together (I drove them in below the surface). Then I followed the same procedure, wrapped a second layer around the first, and glued that layer with Titebond. Next I used six hose clamps to make two clamping bands to hold it all together (all I had but you can get a single 9” clamp). I clamped it for up for 48 hours. Next unclamped the rim and pushed the PVC out with relative ease.
I ordered the hardware kit from Mainland Ukulele. It had the 8” head, stretcher band, some hooks, lugs and a tailpiece.
The friction tuners went to my Schoenhut Ebay banjo uke. I did not like the tailpiece and did not use it. I ordered more lugs and hooks off Ebay to make my uke a 12-hook unit.
Next for neck attachment hardware I bought hanger bolts that used a 10-32 machine thread, a length of 10-32 stainless steel threaded rod and SS washers, nuts and etc. Later I got an SS acorn nut for the upper bolt, For tailpiece attachment I drilled and tapped a metric banjo lug to 10-32.
Longer SS metric hex bolts were employed to go thru my heavy rim for mounting the 12 lugs.
Waldron Musical Instruments provided a high quality, concert scale, mahogany banjo ukulele neck blank. The main machining was done. It was ready for peghead drilling, any overlay and fretboard attachment. waldronmusic.com/index.php
The heel was profiled by tracing the rime and tension hoop onto the heel area. I roughed the radius in with a handheld sanding drum (2”) from Craftsman. Then I constructed a sanding block of the exact radius as my rim (I really used the same material. While at it I found some PVC that had the right radius for the peg head too. The fretboard came from Waldron too and it is dead on accurate.
The heel cap, PH overlay and fretboard were glued on and profiled.
The rim was stained to approximate the final color intended for the neck. All staining for the banjo was done with Fieblings alcohol based leather dye. Stewart MacDonald Color tone sanding sealer and instrument lacquer (all aerosol) was used for finishing of the neck and rim.
Note, the tone hoop is a brass plated steel ring from Hobby Lobby that is a perfect 8” in diameter and was less than $2. It acts as a bearing to keep the head off the rim and increase the vibrating surface. An alternative approach would have been to bevel the top of the rim.
The inlay on the heel, fretboard and peghead was completed.
Next, I fretted the neck and put the banjo together. I carved a bone nut. Ultimately I settled on a two foot Grover bridge (1/2") not shown.
The resonator was made from a 1/3 sheet of 1/8” plywood from the Home Depot bargain bin. I finished it like the rest of the banjo. I consider threaded in serts in the rim, magnets and etc. to mount the resonator. Ultimately I cross drilled a ¼” coupling nut for the threaded rod to go thru. One side of the ¼” thread serves as a setscrew location to hold the nut in the center of the coordinator rod. The other side receives the center mount resonator bolt. The resonator gap (space) is accomplished with self-adhesive felt pads.
The friction tuners came from Windworld at $1.80 each windworld.com/products-page/ha...on-tuner/ and have leather Washers that I punched out and put between them and the neck. The reddish buttons came from Ebay.
It all fits nicely in a $35 hard-shell “A” style mandolin case.
The banjo is sturdy, sounds great and is easy to play. This was a very rewarding project that helps me to get in touch with my family history and my grandmother. She played banjo 50 years before me.
My thanks to Kevin Waldron for his patience when I asked him many questions about the feasibility of this project.
Edited by - Kevin B on 01/02/2013 07:42:18
mike gregory - Posted - 01/02/2013: 13:38:35
Your workmanship puts the "GEE!!" in "Genius".
Lazy cuss that I an, I just tacked some P.E.T.E. plastic to a salad bowl, and shrunk it tight with my moustache dryer.
I ain't sayin' my gal is uggedly, I'm just saying I'd shore like to dance in the moonlight with yours.
Edited by - mike gregory on 01/02/2013 13:42:50
 Concert Size salad bowl Uke |
Terms of Use | Privacy Policy | Privacy Consent (EU/GDPR Only)
Copyright 2026 Banjo Hangout. All Rights Reserved.
