Thursday 8 May 2014

4 Ludwig "Wendell Hall" Banjo Ukes!!!

At present I have 4 of these brilliant ukes, and when i looked at them i thought it'd make an interesting post.

There are 4 of them, and each one different. You know that the "crown cut" models had lots of variations in the finish, and the "Wendell Hall" (from now on i shall name WH, as it'll save me about 1000 words!)
had a few subtle distinctions.

They seemed to have different models of tuning pegs used too. Black or White Grover pegs, Eltons, again in different colours. Probably some decent geared pegs went on too.

And the band of inlay around the bottom of the resonator. Ive seen Black & Cream lines. The transfer seems to be the same pattern around the pot, and the peghead decal is the same with the gold writing.

Now on the back of the resonators there are a few that pop up with a lovely transfer on the back of the resonator, or is it inlaid?. The polished up American Walnut looks fantastic as it is.
On one of these ukes i had stripped down the old cracked finish and french polished the back. It looks stunning!


Starting 1st Left,
Sunburst finish, with white Grovers. It had been badly set up.

2nd, My own instrument. i am the second owner, it was bought from new in Chicago. Then after the war it was packed away in excellent condition. Fitted with Black tuners which are the same as on some of the Gibsons, not the common Grovers, but another style. Has a white stripe round the resonator.

3rd, A uke restored by me. it was in terrible shape when i bought it, and it still shows signs of heavy use.
I thought it was like a blank canvas as i had to strip it so far back. so i decided to give it a bit of a custom finish. Obviously gold plated, which i did myself. it looks very good in the flesh. New tuners fitted as it had very battered white Eltons on it. And a Black stripe round it. I'm hoping to get a transfer for the resonator too. The wood was finished with many coats of Tru-oil giving it that great finish, which i prefer.

4th, Another restored by myself. This one is in excellent condition, apart from a tiny bit of transfer missing, it looks perfect. All original chrome, apart from the armrest which has been re-plated.
Black Elton tuners, and a Black stripe round the pot. A fantastic sounding uke!
1st to 4th Left to Right.

4th is closest to camera

My own uke on the Right, notice the different nuts too


Dark woodstain "Sunburst" on the right, and the White stripes

See these 2 have the Black stripe round the pot.