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Banjolele!!


spinynorman
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Or Ukelele Banjo.

I've recently inherited the two that my father owned. The oldest he acquired during WWII in exchange for a Luger pistol. The plate on the headstock says "Down South" "J. T. C. - L" "British Manufacture". Unfortunately my mother kept it in a cupboard that was flooded, and some of the chromed back plate and the tailpiece is coroded and rusted. It's playable, but I think cosmetically it's beyond hope, which is a shame.

The other is newer, a label on the headstock says "John Grey & Sons, London" and on the back "RM Made in England".

I used to play the older one when I was about 14, until I got a guitar. I know there's been a revival of interest in the uke, but how about its banjo-like cousin?











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One of the lads in my uke band plays these. There's a huge uke scene around Merseyside, but save our Mikey the Banjolele is mostly the standby of elderly George Formby lovers. Shame really as I absolutely love the things! It's great how you can properly feel them resonate when you're strumming B)

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Yes, the Formby connection is a problem. But I used the newer one of my father's on a version of Clapton's "Motherless Child", and it works really well.

I'm having a problem with strings, I don't like Nylgut, I need to find some good old fashioned nylon.

Edited by spinynorman
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I found out about this band when I saw The Cat Empire on their last UK tour (on which these videos were shot) and was amazed to see a banjolele being played!

They are well worth checking out as their music is fantastic and the lyrics are an amazing mix of humour and the slightly macabre

http://youtu.be/FwHJuIswYQs

[media]http://youtu.be/-JN4qM3P03c[/media]

Edited by BruceBass3901
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Very nice! Quite George Formby :D I like the back on the first one - lovely detail on it.

Banjolele revival? I'm not so sure. I think they would lose one of the big selling points of ukuleles, in that they wouldn't be cheap enough. I could be wrong, however. I would like to be wrong. I love quirky instruments like the banjolele :D

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  • 1 month later...

[quote name='spinynorman' timestamp='1389736926' post='2337446']
I've recently inherited the two that my father owned. The oldest he acquired during WWII in exchange for a Luger pistol.
[/quote]

With slightly more imaginative use of the Luger pistol, he could have had it for free.

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[quote name='leftybassman392' timestamp='1389868737' post='2338777']
I've recently acquired a banjolin from a cousin - does that count?
[/quote]

You can of course restring and retune the banjolin into uke tuning and make an even bigger racket (there are uke groups that ban banjoleles). If you do that then don't bother tuning the bottom G an octave up but put octave strings on both the G and the C. Ideally you 'll need to get the nut recut as well.

Steve

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I used to play in a ukulele band in the UK, one guy insisted on using his banjolele. It was bloody loud and just drowned out everyone else. We eventually 'educated' him and once the volume came down, it was actually quite good. It really came into it's own when we launched into a skiffle set....

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