John Croft, Glan Tanat, Llanyblodwel, Oswestry, Shropshire, SY10 8NQ, England. Tel: (44) 01691 - 828850.
E-Mail: theukuleleman@hotmail.com

ALL ABOUT BANJO-UKES.

The structure of the hoop varies a great deal. Simple hoops are made from one piece of wood, bent into a circle and joined together. On cheaper instruments the hoop is very thin. Next we have ‘laminated’ hoops which consist of a piece of wood bent round three, four, or five times to create a hoop about half an inch thick. These laminations are best viewed from directly above or below the hoop, neither place being easy to view. Laminated hoops are very strong and don’t usually warp very much, but they are prone to splitting between the laminations if the wood dries out. Next we have ‘block’ hoops, which are made from blocks of wood put together in layers (like bricks in a wall) and constructed in a ‘circle’. The hoop is then spun on a lathe to produce the end product, and wooden ‘pins’ are often inserted vertically down through drilled holes in the wall of the hoop as an extra protection against warping. Both sorts of hoop (especially the ‘block’ hoops) can be ‘veneered’ with a thin layer of wood attached to both sides (and sometimes to the top and the bottom) as a cosmetic exercise to hide the joints in the blocks. Gibson Banjo Ukes are interesting in that the UB-5’s and UB-4’s always had laminated hoops and the six inch diameter hoop in the UB-1 always had a laminated block hoop. However, the UB-2 and UB-3 were made with both types of hoop. You can often tell the type of hoop that a Gibson UB-2 or UB-3 has by looking closely at the side of the hoop. The veneer over the block hoops is susceptible to splitting, and lifting away from the wood beneath. Sometimes you can see two faint parallel ridges running around the outside of the hoop which indicates where, over the years, the blocks have moved in relation to each other.Metal hoops usually come in one of three sorts. Firstly there is the plated brass ‘spinning’; secondly there is the metal ‘casting’, and thirdly there is the metal ‘pressing’. Contrary to popular opinion, all Ludwig Banjo Uke hoops were pressings, stamped out by a large machine with considerable force. The evidence are the numerous (and very faint) vertical lines seen on the inside of a Ludwig hoop, which were formed during the pressing process. Castings were rarely used because of the complicated initial work needed before the casting can be made, which added considerably to the expense of production. Some metal hoops are reinforced with wooden hoops inside them, and some wooden hoops are reinforced with an ‘underspinning’ of metal.

Finally, let’s look at ‘Resonators’. Some instruments are ‘open backed’ and have no resonator at all. The purpose of a resonator is to amplify the sound and make the instrument louder. Many smaller, cheaper Banjo Ukes have the back of the hoop completely enclosed. Sometimes, there may be ‘f’ holes cut out of the resonator to allow some of the sound out and to add decoration. A simple but attractive type of resonator is the ‘flat back’ type which Gibsons had on their UB-1, UB-2, and UB-3. Here, a flat disc of wood is held parallel to the back of the hoop by brass spacers, and attached by four screws. The diameter of the resonator is the same as that of the hoop. Larger instruments have ‘extended resonators’, where the diameter of the resonator is about three inches or so greater than that of the hoop. These may be attached by a variety of means such as a central screw into a the perch pole itself; a central screw into a bracket on the perch pole; screwed directly onto the flange; attached to the flange by screws which thread into mounts that are fixed around the inside wall of the resonator; clips that rotate and lock the resonator onto the flange - and many other variations. Resonators can be beautifully polished and decorated with transfers, binding, and inlay patterns of many sorts. They are normally convex from the outside, but some English Abbott’s were made concave, and these sit beautifully over expanding middle aged tummies!!!

Well, that’s enough from me. I could have said a lot more and included lots about Tailpieces, Tone Rings, Bridges, Strings, and Vellums, but we’ll save all that for another time. I hope that you’ve enjoyed this article. HOME