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John Croft, Glan Tanat, Llanyblodwel, Oswestry, Shropshire, SY10 8NQ, England. Tel: (44) 01691 - 828850.
E-Mail: theukuleleman@hotmail.com
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Contrary to popular opinion, Alvin Keech did not invent this instrument when he first patented his ‘Banjulele-Banjo’, for a similar hybrid instrument had been previously developed by James Bollander in San Francisco, and it is he that we should rightly applaud as being the ‘inventor’ of the Banjo Uke. However, what the Keech brothers did was to produce a better made instrument and market it extremely effectively. The ‘Keech Banjulele-Banjo’ was s a well made instrument that was fairly cheap to buy, and its development was responsible for massively popularising the Banjo Uke.
Gibson’s first entry into this market was only partially successful, and sales of their ‘Trapdoor’ Banjos and Banjo Ukes were unspectacular. Guy Hart realised that Gibson needed to produce instruments that would be able to capture their share of the ever expanding Banjo market, and he therefore got the company to completely redesign their entire Banjo range including their Banjo Ukes, and in 1925 the new instruments were launched. Gibson initially introduced three styles of Banjo Uke and three styles of Ukulele. Their Banjo Ukes consisted of the UB-1, the UB-2, and the UB-3. The UB-1 was the smallest and cheapest of the range, with a six inch diameter hoop and ten tension hooks. It had a wooden flatplate resonator and an ebonised fingerboard and retailed at $10. The UB-2 was very similar but it had an eight inch diameter hoop, early models had twelve tension hooks (though this was increased to fourteen after about two years), and a flatplate resonator. It had seventeen frets and an ebonised fingerboard on which were mother of pearl position marker dots at the 5th, 7th, 10th, and 13th frets, together with a pair at the 12th fret. This pattern of dots was to last only a very short time and was replaced by dots at the fifth, seventh, and tenth frets only. It also had a metal Truss Rod mechanism to allow easy adjustment of the neck. It retailed for $17.50. The UB-3 was almost identical in construction except that right from its introduction it had fourteen tension hooks but, initially, just fourteen frets. In other respects it varied only cosmetically from the UB-2. It had diamond shaped inlays on the fingerboard at the 5th, 7th, 10th, and 12th frets and ‘The Gibson’ in mother of pearl in the middle of the peghead together with a ‘fleur-de-lis’ pattern underneath., and a small piece of inlay right at the tip of the peghead. This inlay pattern on the peghead lasted only a short time, and was replaced by the words ‘The Gibson’ at the top of the peghead together with a ‘four diamond’ mother of pearl inlay in he centre of the peghead. This peghead pattern then became the norm for the UB-3. It also had white ivoroid binding on the neck and a sunburst finish to the neck, body, and resonator. The UB-3 retailed at $25.00. NEXT
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