Sunny side of the banjolele

I acquired another instrument for my collection this week. My dad had this banjolele lying around, but he is not sure where it came from originally. He passed it onto me as they are trying to clear out some of the stuff cluttering their apartment.

The best known exponent of this instrument is probably George Formby who was a big star in the 1930's and 1940's. Some people may think he played a ukulele, but I think he used the banjo version more. It really is like a miniature banjo, but tuned like a ukulele. This one has banjo-style tuners which are not great at holding position. I had to re-thread the strings to get them to stay in tune better. There is no maker's mark to give a clue to where it is from or how old it is, but it does not have much sign of wear from use, but the metal parts are a little rusty.

I thought I would play a song to demonstrate the sound. It definitely has that banjo song and may be louder than a ukulele of similar size.

It is a fun little instrument to give me a different sound to play with.

Rock on!