Exploring 100 year old (your) ukes

[EDW]

Here's one from the 20"s. I couldn't resist the look of this one... "Glee Club" logo ( a range of different instruments by Regal, through Bruno and Sons), gorgeous flamey mahogany and creamy binding all around.
It sounds loud and percussive - perfect for boating down the river with my Sweety, or serenading her at her college dorm window.... "Shine on, shine on harvest moon...."
(images by Jake Wildwood)

Really lovely figure in that wood. Nice looking instrument!

 

[pondweed]

Windsor Mandolin No 4. Probably 1922? Someone had moved the pot round 90 degrees but the pot was warped there and the neck didn't fit, so I've just put it back to where it used to be and put a brass plate behind the two wood screws to hold it all a little better. I've got some cut down (halved) LH and RH tuner strips so I've just used the 2nd and third rows for 4 fluorocarbons, which are presently sitting in the best of the 8 original nut slots. Now much more hand room in first few frets. No evidence of fret board wear, but the frets are a little 'cut' from the steel strings. I've just dressed them down and it all plays wonderfully. Just need to screw down the frame which holds the vellum; I can use some fibre washers to set the string height as I dont have tonnes of different bridges. Remarkable how quite the strings bed in on a banjo ukulele. I wonder why?

 

[spongeuke]

This is only 80 years old but has had a rough life.

 

[John Colter]

This is only 80 years old but has had a rough life.

You have the technology, you can rebuild it!