For Sale
Avalon banjo ukulele. These can be seen with various labels or inlays and fret board designs. This one has the typical star and two nail holes on the dowel where the Henry Stadlmair Company of New York City would have put their label. I've seen them with "vernon" or "the vernon" on labels there as well as Bruno. They seem to have been designed by one original maker and distributed or manufactured by several companies along the way. I have heard them called Lange and Stewart too. I'm not sure anybody really knows who made them, but they are very well made banjo ukes and the finishing is a cut above many of the mass produced banjo ukes.
They have a laminated 7" laminated rim that has an "arched top" style meaning that it curves up to the inner curve of the rim. These also feature 8 brackets per side which is quite a bit for 7" rims. Most have 5 or 6. The tension ring is thick and made of solid brass and is grooved.
It has 16 frets so the range on the high string goes from open A to high C#. This uke has a rather wide fret board and would be excellent for players with larger hands that find the banjo uke cramped. I have seen this model of the Avalon converted into a picollo banjo with plenty of room left over for the four strings. I put a "no knot" tail piece on that is low profile like the original "Bell brand" tail piece would have been. Also, these came with pegs like a violin and I installed my own tuners that are modified and similar to mainland tuners and have nickel plated solid brass bushings to seat the tuner buttons. see picture below
I have refinished this uke in a deep brown with a hint of red. It is has 5 thin coats of semi gloss (not matte) lacquer. the bridge is my own design for this uke and is made of maple, black walnut and with a blood wood saddle for the strings. the skin is a medium weight calf by Jeff Menzies.
This one has a nice clear sound with ample volume. It is very suitable for picking and plucking with the string spacing being so liberal. Some of the hooks have rust and will be de-rusted and polish during the week of the auction. All hardware except the tailpiece is original.
The original violin style pegs will be included in the auction and can be used if preferred. There are no dot inlays on the fret board but it has fret markers inlayed on the side of the 3,5,7,10,12th frets.
Please email me with any questions and the pictures enlarge to full size if you click on them. For some reason if I have cropped a few of picture they won't enlarge to full size. Try using: control + on your keyboard. Use control - to reduce size.
thanks for looking!
Avalon banjo ukulele. These can be seen with various labels or inlays and fret board designs. This one has the typical star and two nail holes on the dowel where the Henry Stadlmair Company of New York City would have put their label. I've seen them with "vernon" or "the vernon" on labels there as well as Bruno. They seem to have been designed by one original maker and distributed or manufactured by several companies along the way. I have heard them called Lange and Stewart too. I'm not sure anybody really knows who made them, but they are very well made banjo ukes and the finishing is a cut above many of the mass produced banjo ukes.
They have a laminated 7" laminated rim that has an "arched top" style meaning that it curves up to the inner curve of the rim. These also feature 8 brackets per side which is quite a bit for 7" rims. Most have 5 or 6. The tension ring is thick and made of solid brass and is grooved.
It has 16 frets so the range on the high string goes from open A to high C#. This uke has a rather wide fret board and would be excellent for players with larger hands that find the banjo uke cramped. I have seen this model of the Avalon converted into a picollo banjo with plenty of room left over for the four strings. I put a "no knot" tail piece on that is low profile like the original "Bell brand" tail piece would have been. Also, these came with pegs like a violin and I installed my own tuners that are modified and similar to mainland tuners and have nickel plated solid brass bushings to seat the tuner buttons. see picture below
I have refinished this uke in a deep brown with a hint of red. It is has 5 thin coats of semi gloss (not matte) lacquer. the bridge is my own design for this uke and is made of maple, black walnut and with a blood wood saddle for the strings. the skin is a medium weight calf by Jeff Menzies.
This one has a nice clear sound with ample volume. It is very suitable for picking and plucking with the string spacing being so liberal. Some of the hooks have rust and will be de-rusted and polish during the week of the auction. All hardware except the tailpiece is original.
The original violin style pegs will be included in the auction and can be used if preferred. There are no dot inlays on the fret board but it has fret markers inlayed on the side of the 3,5,7,10,12th frets.
Please email me with any questions and the pictures enlarge to full size if you click on them. For some reason if I have cropped a few of picture they won't enlarge to full size. Try using: control + on your keyboard. Use control - to reduce size.
thanks for looking!
1 comment:
Hi - I LOVE that you have created this blog. I'm a banjo uke addict myself.
On this instrument: Avalon was built by Lange here in New York specifically for Harry Stahdlmeyer music - if the instrument has an Avalon inlay in the head and a Stahdlmeyer metal plate on the dowel, than its an Avalon. However, Lange built the same model - virtually identical, for S.S. Stewart (strictly a contractor, not a maker at this point) with the star in the headstock. They also made Brunos (with head inlay) and some Vernons (with a metal nameplate on the headstock) for Bruno NY, and also built this same model for department stores with no name on them or with a nameplate on the dowel. Certainly looks like there was a nameplate from the pinholes on the dowel.
So what you've got here is certainly a Lange, I believe built for Stewart, but could have been built for and sold by someone else.
Cheers,
john
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