I like repurposing stuff. I’m working on a Slingerland banjo uke (with a 6 3/4” rim) that was missing a tone ring and flesh hoop. It just so happened to work out that a bucket handle I had was 1/8” diameter and fit nicely after bending it to shape. Had a piece of wire I used for the flesh hoop. Haven’t brought the head up to full tension yet but sure it’ll work out. Going to string it with the Aquila fifths tuning strings for soprano uke as a melody banjo conversion.
That's really cool. It feels rewarding to come up with ideas like that. It will be fun to hear it in action. I'll have to check out those strings. I'm curious how they would work on a ukulele.
Also, I've decided to try to use standard wooden peg tuners on my build, but also avoid fine tuners. I've heard that's difficult, especially withe the E string, but I an going to give it a try.
That’s what I’ve usually heard as well. At most times I’ve seen fine tuners on at least the E, sometimes the A. As much as I like tradition, geared pegs make things so much better (especially when dealing with steel strung instruments, not so much the issue with nylon-strung ones). One reason I went with them for my fiddle (plus liking the look, and not being sure if the ash, given the age, was sturdy enough to handle friction pegs without fear of causing cracks between the pegs (like I’ve seen on old fiddles at times). I recently looked at an old one (marked 1860 and 1870 through either sound hole) that had really neat (and very old) geared tuners added with red, white, and blue celluloid buttons (“clown barf” flat picks is what it reminded me of). I’m thinking it was a Hopf copy but can’t quite remember as I looked at close to 50 fiddles that evening. All I came home with was the banjo uke for the time being.
They’re made by Golden Gate (with small oval metal buttons). They’re usually about $21 for a set of 6. They’re nicer now than they were as the worm gear posts weren’t solid (like two fingers), but now they are with nylon bushings. The shaft diameter is 1/4”. They can be used either on a solid peghead or a slotted one as they have two string holes drilled. I cut the shafts down to length for my fiddle just below the bottom of the top hole. Do you have a reamer to fit the friction pegs?
EVERYTHING LOOKS GREAT, MY DEAREST BEST FRIEND & BROTHER OF BROTHERS!!! THANK YOU FOR SHARING!!! CAN'T WAIT TILL YOU PLAY IT!!!❤😊❤
WOULD STILL LOVE TO HEAR YOU PLAY (& SING) "AMAZING GRACE" ON IT!!!
very nice indeed
the endpin is great
Thank you.
I like repurposing stuff. I’m working on a Slingerland banjo uke (with a 6 3/4” rim) that was missing a tone ring and flesh hoop. It just so happened to work out that a bucket handle I had was 1/8” diameter and fit nicely after bending it to shape. Had a piece of wire I used for the flesh hoop. Haven’t brought the head up to full tension yet but sure it’ll work out. Going to string it with the Aquila fifths tuning strings for soprano uke as a melody banjo conversion.
That's really cool. It feels rewarding to come up with ideas like that. It will be fun to hear it in action.
I'll have to check out those strings. I'm curious how they would work on a ukulele.
Also, I've decided to try to use standard wooden peg tuners on my build, but also avoid fine tuners. I've heard that's difficult, especially withe the E string, but I an going to give it a try.
That’s what I’ve usually heard as well. At most times I’ve seen fine tuners on at least the E, sometimes the A. As much as I like tradition, geared pegs make things so much better (especially when dealing with steel strung instruments, not so much the issue with nylon-strung ones). One reason I went with them for my fiddle (plus liking the look, and not being sure if the ash, given the age, was sturdy enough to handle friction pegs without fear of causing cracks between the pegs (like I’ve seen on old fiddles at times). I recently looked at an old one (marked 1860 and 1870 through either sound hole) that had really neat (and very old) geared tuners added with red, white, and blue celluloid buttons (“clown barf” flat picks is what it reminded me of). I’m thinking it was a Hopf copy but can’t quite remember as I looked at close to 50 fiddles that evening. All I came home with was the banjo uke for the time being.
@@NoahCline what kind of geared tuners did you use? I'm not confident the ones I bought are going to work.
They’re made by Golden Gate (with small oval metal buttons). They’re usually about $21 for a set of 6. They’re nicer now than they were as the worm gear posts weren’t solid (like two fingers), but now they are with nylon bushings. The shaft diameter is 1/4”. They can be used either on a solid peghead or a slotted one as they have two string holes drilled. I cut the shafts down to length for my fiddle just below the bottom of the top hole.
Do you have a reamer to fit the friction pegs?