The Gibson
Gibson made several models of banjo ukulele and there is a bit of difficulty in the terminology of the transitional models. The models are basically : Trapdoor, UB-1, UB-2,UB-3, UB-4, UB-5. There was a variation on the ub-2 that had a flanged resonator called the UB-2 deluxe, and similarly the UB-3 can be found with a flanged resonator that was always included with the UB4 and UB5. Gibson banjo ukes had archtop rims with the exception of the UB-4 and UB-5 which were equipped with a 1/4" brass tone ring that was placed on the outer edge of the rim. The archtop design tapered up towards the interior of the playing edge and was rounded off on both edges of the rim. (The flat top rim style was the opposite of this and tapered upward from the interior of the rim to the outer edge) To my understanding none of the Gibson line ever had a flat top design.
Trapdoor
The Gibson Banjo Uke line started with the "trapdoor" model that had a hinged back that could be opened to increase the volume and possibly to put a wadded cloth inside to effectively mute the banjo if needed. This works quite well on this model. It had a larger head (larger than 8") and is not generally thought of as being a great sounding uke compared to the rest of the Gibson line. I have never heard one but can imagine from hearing other larger rimmed banjo ukes that it has a muddy sound in comparison. This might have been overcome with a different bridge design if you have one of these and are looking to improve on the tone. A wider stanced bridge similar to a banjolin bridge, or mandolin bridge might prove effective to cut down on the boomy muddy quality when strumming chords. (again, this is my own speculation and please write me if I am off base). The trapdoor model can be found with extensive m.o.p. inlays and they are quite collectible regardless of their tone.
The Gibson logo
Often painted gold in script, or stenciled on in script as "The Gibson", this was the standard logo for the Gibson guitar company until 1930 (some say 1937). There are plenty of examples of the Gibson banjo uke line with "Gibson" written and they are presumably later models from the 1930s and 40s.
Gibson Banjo Ukulele Bridges
The original bridges varied, but were often a blocky sort of solid maple bridge with a raised rail for the strings to saddle on. These bridges sound excellent and should not be tossed if you happen to get one with a used instrument. I've bought and sold nine Gibson banjo ukes in various models and six of them included these excellent bridges. I often see Gibson Ukes up for auction with this style of bridge, but cannot assume that Gibson made them since they can be seen on many other ukes as well. They might be Waverly, or one of the other accessory companies that existed back then. If you know of a catalog that includes these please let me know and if you scan that page I will gladly post it on this blog.
Gibson Rims
Gibson made two basic styles of rims (pots). A blocked style similar to an igloo that often have veneer on the exterior as well as interior. These were great rims when the glue has held together and to my ear have an equal quality of sound to the second type of rim which is strip laminated horizontally. Both types of Gibson rim are prone to glue failure regardless of model number. Often, it is only the interior veneer that seperates. On the strip laminated rims they often separate in the middle of the rim near the resonator screw holes. They can often be re-glued with modern glues such as cyanoacrylate (krazy glue). These types of glue are available in very thin formulas and can flow to seperated areas deep within a banjo rim and hold extremely well. I've glued many Gibsons this way and thus far have not ever seen one separate after the restoration. this type of glue can be stained over, but will protect the wood from stain if not cleaned after repairs. It might be very well worth the effort to re-glue a Gibson rim in order to preserve it's value, but it can be replaced with a modern rim of identical dimensions too. They were glued with a hide glue that often crystallized and became quite weak.
The UB-1
One of the smallest banjo ukes ever mass produced, they have a shorter scale similar to a soprano ukulele and might possibly be one of the greatest sounding instruments of the whole banjo ukulele family. The tone of these 6" ukes is very unique and actually in many ways sounds distant almost as if it's being played through a vintage microphone. They should never be underestimated for volume either and can belt out over a Dixie band easily when used with a felt pick and higher tension strings. The ub-1 had a flat plywood resonator. As far as it's rarity, I would not consider it terribly rare since there are almost always more than one up for auction and for sale in the used market. They had slight variations in design during production and I believe were the second banjo uke design produced by Gibson, and the last ever produced in numbers. They have no serial number and it would seem that when destined for export Gibson stamped "made in u.s.a." on the back of the peghead. To my knowledge, all UB-1 Gibsons were equipped with black buttoned Grover spring loaded tuners. The UB1 had a neck that was bolted on to the rim and there was no dowel like almost every other banjo uke in existence. This was made possible by the fact that the rims were quite thick and sturdy and the string tension (gut or nylon) would have no chance of distorting the shape of the rim. I would imagine that steel strings would possibly generate enough tension to do this, but they really would suffer from the use of steel strings. I have often wondered if the lack of a dowel in the UB-1 might be the reason it has such a mysterious wonderful sound.
I have to add that anyone starting out on the banjo uke, or seriously studying it would gladly appreciate what the ub-1 has to offer. It might be my "desert island" uke so to speak, If had to pick one. They are great players and should be played regardless of condition, be it mint or trashed. They are convincing when plucked, picked, strummed, brush stroked, fan stroked and split stroked. I guess it's obvious as to how fond of these I am and I share this fondness with many other players.
The only drawback I can imagine about the UB-1 is that if you have large hands, you are a bit out of luck with this model. The fingers will jam up above the first 5 frets. It could be possible to attach a longer scale neck, and still enjoy the unique quality of the UB-1. Prices tend to be near the $200-700 range for the UB-1. There are many for sale that need extensive repairs such as veneer gluing on the rim, de-rusting, new skin, new or restored tuners, fret work, cosmetic repairs and finish repair. The UB-1 was featured in an episode of "pawn stars" and given a surprising value of $1000. This was probably an inflated price for dramatic effect, and the "restored" instrument appears to have been valued at that price complete with the rust that it had when found. There seem to be plenty of UB-1 Gibsons out there, and paying ridiculous prices for them is not really necessary. Many are in mint condition and need nothing but a fresh set of strings. Below, a clean example of a UB-1
Gibson made several models of banjo ukulele and there is a bit of difficulty in the terminology of the transitional models. The models are basically : Trapdoor, UB-1, UB-2,UB-3, UB-4, UB-5. There was a variation on the ub-2 that had a flanged resonator called the UB-2 deluxe, and similarly the UB-3 can be found with a flanged resonator that was always included with the UB4 and UB5. Gibson banjo ukes had archtop rims with the exception of the UB-4 and UB-5 which were equipped with a 1/4" brass tone ring that was placed on the outer edge of the rim. The archtop design tapered up towards the interior of the playing edge and was rounded off on both edges of the rim. (The flat top rim style was the opposite of this and tapered upward from the interior of the rim to the outer edge) To my understanding none of the Gibson line ever had a flat top design.
Trapdoor
The Gibson Banjo Uke line started with the "trapdoor" model that had a hinged back that could be opened to increase the volume and possibly to put a wadded cloth inside to effectively mute the banjo if needed. This works quite well on this model. It had a larger head (larger than 8") and is not generally thought of as being a great sounding uke compared to the rest of the Gibson line. I have never heard one but can imagine from hearing other larger rimmed banjo ukes that it has a muddy sound in comparison. This might have been overcome with a different bridge design if you have one of these and are looking to improve on the tone. A wider stanced bridge similar to a banjolin bridge, or mandolin bridge might prove effective to cut down on the boomy muddy quality when strumming chords. (again, this is my own speculation and please write me if I am off base). The trapdoor model can be found with extensive m.o.p. inlays and they are quite collectible regardless of their tone.
The Gibson logo
Often painted gold in script, or stenciled on in script as "The Gibson", this was the standard logo for the Gibson guitar company until 1930 (some say 1937). There are plenty of examples of the Gibson banjo uke line with "Gibson" written and they are presumably later models from the 1930s and 40s.
Gibson Banjo Ukulele Bridges
The original bridges varied, but were often a blocky sort of solid maple bridge with a raised rail for the strings to saddle on. These bridges sound excellent and should not be tossed if you happen to get one with a used instrument. I've bought and sold nine Gibson banjo ukes in various models and six of them included these excellent bridges. I often see Gibson Ukes up for auction with this style of bridge, but cannot assume that Gibson made them since they can be seen on many other ukes as well. They might be Waverly, or one of the other accessory companies that existed back then. If you know of a catalog that includes these please let me know and if you scan that page I will gladly post it on this blog.
Gibson Rims
Gibson made two basic styles of rims (pots). A blocked style similar to an igloo that often have veneer on the exterior as well as interior. These were great rims when the glue has held together and to my ear have an equal quality of sound to the second type of rim which is strip laminated horizontally. Both types of Gibson rim are prone to glue failure regardless of model number. Often, it is only the interior veneer that seperates. On the strip laminated rims they often separate in the middle of the rim near the resonator screw holes. They can often be re-glued with modern glues such as cyanoacrylate (krazy glue). These types of glue are available in very thin formulas and can flow to seperated areas deep within a banjo rim and hold extremely well. I've glued many Gibsons this way and thus far have not ever seen one separate after the restoration. this type of glue can be stained over, but will protect the wood from stain if not cleaned after repairs. It might be very well worth the effort to re-glue a Gibson rim in order to preserve it's value, but it can be replaced with a modern rim of identical dimensions too. They were glued with a hide glue that often crystallized and became quite weak.
The UB-1
One of the smallest banjo ukes ever mass produced, they have a shorter scale similar to a soprano ukulele and might possibly be one of the greatest sounding instruments of the whole banjo ukulele family. The tone of these 6" ukes is very unique and actually in many ways sounds distant almost as if it's being played through a vintage microphone. They should never be underestimated for volume either and can belt out over a Dixie band easily when used with a felt pick and higher tension strings. The ub-1 had a flat plywood resonator. As far as it's rarity, I would not consider it terribly rare since there are almost always more than one up for auction and for sale in the used market. They had slight variations in design during production and I believe were the second banjo uke design produced by Gibson, and the last ever produced in numbers. They have no serial number and it would seem that when destined for export Gibson stamped "made in u.s.a." on the back of the peghead. To my knowledge, all UB-1 Gibsons were equipped with black buttoned Grover spring loaded tuners. The UB1 had a neck that was bolted on to the rim and there was no dowel like almost every other banjo uke in existence. This was made possible by the fact that the rims were quite thick and sturdy and the string tension (gut or nylon) would have no chance of distorting the shape of the rim. I would imagine that steel strings would possibly generate enough tension to do this, but they really would suffer from the use of steel strings. I have often wondered if the lack of a dowel in the UB-1 might be the reason it has such a mysterious wonderful sound.
I have to add that anyone starting out on the banjo uke, or seriously studying it would gladly appreciate what the ub-1 has to offer. It might be my "desert island" uke so to speak, If had to pick one. They are great players and should be played regardless of condition, be it mint or trashed. They are convincing when plucked, picked, strummed, brush stroked, fan stroked and split stroked. I guess it's obvious as to how fond of these I am and I share this fondness with many other players.
The only drawback I can imagine about the UB-1 is that if you have large hands, you are a bit out of luck with this model. The fingers will jam up above the first 5 frets. It could be possible to attach a longer scale neck, and still enjoy the unique quality of the UB-1. Prices tend to be near the $200-700 range for the UB-1. There are many for sale that need extensive repairs such as veneer gluing on the rim, de-rusting, new skin, new or restored tuners, fret work, cosmetic repairs and finish repair. The UB-1 was featured in an episode of "pawn stars" and given a surprising value of $1000. This was probably an inflated price for dramatic effect, and the "restored" instrument appears to have been valued at that price complete with the rust that it had when found. There seem to be plenty of UB-1 Gibsons out there, and paying ridiculous prices for them is not really necessary. Many are in mint condition and need nothing but a fresh set of strings. Below, a clean example of a UB-1
No comments:
Post a Comment