Vintage Banjo Ukulele Buying Tips - part 1

I recently had an inkling to share some tips for buying vintage banjo ukuleles.  It's a subject that I admittedly don't know a lot about it, so instead of trying to push forward on my own, I asked for some help from banjo uke guru John Bianchi.  In addition to knowing almost EVERYTHING about old banjo ukes, John is a very fine player.  Thanks John for being awesome and passing along all this buying advice!  This is the first of a two part article.  Click here for part 2 where John breaks down all the different makes and models of banjo ukes!

Check out his blog here.

Check out his Youtube here.

The Banjo Ukulele:

Tips for Buying Vintage

By John Bianchi

If you’re new to playing the banjo ukulele, you may hear more experienced players
recommend vintage banjo ukes as having a different sound and feel than the current
generation of the hybrid instruments. And while its true that vintage ukes have the
potential to be great instruments, it can be daunting to approach buying one. But,
there are a few tips that can help you make the right choice when considering a
vintage banjo ukulele.

Interview w/ Jake Wildwood of Antebellum Instruments

"They don't make 'em like they used to".  It's an old cliché that rings particularly true with Jake Wildwood of Antebellum Instruments.  Jake spends his days fixing up and reviving pre-WWII instruments out of his family's Rochester, Vermont store.  He certainly picked a good name!  The word "antebellum" is a Latin phrase that literally means "before the war".

On the Antebellum Instruments site, you can check out what Jake is currently working on via his running blog (something that I spend WAY too much time looking at).  You also have the opportunity to buy one of these pieces of musical history - ukuleles, banjos, guitars, mandolins, etc. 

There is a group of people in this world that are absolutely fascinating to me - people who have stories and anecdotes to pass along to you...people who seem like they've done it all....people who are just plain interesting.  From my brief correspondence with Jake, I would have to put him in this category.  I enjoyed every bit of his responses to my questions and I hope you will too!

Revamping your old ukulele tuning machines

Some of us just really love vintage ukuleles!  I get a big kick out of playing an instrument that is 50+ years old.  But one of the problems that I've encountered in my collection of vintage ukes is that often the tuning machines aren't functioning properly.  The usual culprit is years and years of sitting idly in someone's attic, closet, garage, etc.  To make matters worse, today's standard tuning machines are often to big to fit the little holes drilled into the ukes of yesteryear.

Replacing those old tuning machines can be done, but it can be quite an arduous task.  A tapered reamer (like this one offered by Grizzly) is a handy tool to have for widening up those holes a bit...and it's a much

Vintage Harmony ukulele repair project

 I went with my wife and daughter to the antique store yesterday and stumbled upon this vintage Harmony soprano ukulele.  A little info about the harmony company taken from easyukulele.com

The Harmony Ukulele Company went out of business in 1975. Their name, however, is a familiar site to anyone who plays the ukulele. For the greater part of the 20th Century, this name was synonymous with ukuleles for most people. They made both traditional

Old Macdonald ukulele chords

Old Macdonald

Alright, so it's not the most exciting song of all 

time, but it's a good beginner ukulele song. 

C             F     C     C   G7  C
Old MacDonald had A farm, E-i-E-i-o
    C               F        C       C   G7  C
And on this farm he had some chicks, e-i-e-i-o
       C
With a chick, chick here and a chick, chick there
C
Here a chick, there a chick, everywhere a chick, chick
C             F     C     C   G7  C
Old MacDonald had A farm, E-i-E-i-o