Improving your banjo ukulele tone: put a sock in it!

If your banjo ukulele tone has too much sustain and sounds muddy, here's an idea to help clean up the sound.  This little trick is nothing new...it's been used for years, but a lot of people don't know about it.

All you really need is an old sock that's getting ready to head towards the trash.  It might be a bit easier for us guys to locate an old sock (or 10) in the drawer.  My wife always trashes her socks as soon as they develop a hole or two...whereas mine generally have 5 or 6 before I toss 'em.  It's a guy thing, right?



You could also use a piece of foam or a cloth.  Here's whatcha need to do...

Banjo Ukulele buying tips

The "unofficial" banjo ukulele week continues here with some more buying tips for ya.  Earlier this week, John Bianchi listed off some very informative vintage banjo uke buying tips.  Today, a little more modern take on it with some very helpful advice from Steve Roberts of The Banjo Ukulele Forum.

Thanks Steve for passing this info along!

Banjo Ukulele Buying Tips

by Steve Roberts

Here are some things to watch for:

Ukulele Acoustics - a guide to tonewoods

Every ukulele has a slightly different sound.  This principle even applies to two ukuleles built with the same materials and to the same specifications.  In this case, the differences may be very subtle, but nonetheless, there are differences.
Side note: this is the reason that I hate it when someone says, "I don't like this particular brand or that particular company".  I've heard Gibson and Martin ukes (two very respected companies) that I LOVED...and have also heard ukes from both of them that disappointed me.

While there are a lot of things that can affect the acoustics of your ukulele, the tonewood is central to how it