Repairing an Awesome Vintage Keech Banjolele - A Unique Banjo x Ukelele Fret Job & set-up

Welcome to Crimson Guitars kzbin.info... and Ben's home workshop. In this video Ben is repairing a Banjolele for a friend. This includes a bit of deconstruction, a fret crown and polish, reconstruction and restringing. Even the banjolele case needs some care and attention.
Chapters:
0:00 Introduction
1:39 Taking a look at the Banjolele
2:15 Strings off
2:52 Fret Rocker to check fret height
3:53 Problems with fret levelling
4:07 Let’s deconstruct this thing
5:12 Fret Levelling
7:50 Repairing damaged inlays
9:26 Fret Rubbers are multi-functional
9:59 Fret Crowning
11:43 Fret Polishing
12:32 Fretboard Cleaner & Restorative
14:19 Reassembly
15:30 Re-stringing & tuning
18:17 Fixing the nut and bridge
23:42 repairing the case
26:23 Bye
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Stay tuned and stay awesome!
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[@shawncharton9416]

That is an actual banjulele brought to England by the Keech brothers shortly after it was invented by John Bolander in 1916. Every Keech banjulele is signed by Alvin Keech on the back. The Keechs are usually credited with inventing the instrument which is why the term "banjolele" has stuck but what they actually did is take the instrument to England starting the English banjo uke craze (which was then flamed by George Formby). Banjulele is really their brand name.

[@CrimsonCustomGuitars]

Thank you, it's so cool to learn about the history of an instrument - Talitha

[@shawncharton9416]

@@CrimsonCustomGuitars the last two numbers of the serial number are the year it was made.

[@RockStarOscarStern634]

@@CrimsonCustomGuitars Either way it takes Standard Ukulele Strings

[@xoxollin]

great banjolele buildoff 2021 go

[@BarryRowlingsonBaz]

I think the abbreviation GBBO has already been taken though...

[@sinocte]

I would still love to see your take on an electric mandolin! I think you could do something pretty fantastic with that.

[@cx1uk]

I’d vote for that!! Or a 12 string electric! 🤔🤔🤔🤔

[@harrisonandrew]

Crimson Guitars meets BBC’s ‘The Repair Shop’ - love both btw. 👍

[@tomcartmill401]

Hey Ben, that was the best episode so far, less talk and great workmanship. With consideration for the original look. Thanks Tom

[@ac3jamie]

A series where you try to bring back old/unique guitars to life, that were past the point where a repair would normally be attempted would be a fun watch!

[@corybrockel8881]

Agreed! I'd definitely watch that series!

[@MrSongwriter2]

Good to see repairs not new builds for a change

[@cx1uk]

Really enjoyable and satisfying to watch. Would be happy to see more unusual instruments from time to time. Also, think I need to look at the nut slot on my classical as the ‘dull’ sound your strings had which was clearer after you worked on the nut slots is very familiar. 👍🏻

[@atakdragonfly1675]

Ben is not just a luthier. He's good with metal... Can work with lathes, and weld. he's an all round engineer. Most luthiers can NOT do, ALL that stuff. I know a few that won't even bother with the chisel sharpening, saw maintenance, etc... Very inventive and more importantly--Artistically creative. Mad scientist... Like me. I can relate to it all.

[@Grummash]

Please do more restoration/repair videos.... you made this old banjolele look good and sound good... and that was a joy! 👏👏👏

[@alexschmidt8214]

I really enjoyed that Ben, somthing rather different and would definately like to see more. Hope the short break helped, you and Talitha certainly deserve some time off. Take it easy.

[@markusheitmann]

Would love to see bens take on a instrument like this

[@robertprichard3236]

Always love it when you work on different instruments tools. Really makes for a enjoyable break

[@mulgerbill]

It's wonderful to see you back to your best Ben, the GGBO took way too much out of you and it was starting to show. I could definitely stand to see more of these sort of jobs, repairs to someones well loved but tired pride and joy are just as important a part of the craft as creating something new and amazing.

[@lyellw571]

The arc of this channel is entertaining to follow. So fitting that this is the next video after the recent ambition

[@joeetheridge1471]

Nice change to see a repair on a beautiful vintage instrument, good way to recharge your design batteries 🔋👍

[@timothy4664]

I enjoy the odd repair videos. They are a nice switch up

[@cx1uk]

I started playing the guitar on a Ukelele-Banjo. Still have dreams of playing like George Formby… Well I go window cleaning… 😘

[@ianthomson9363]

That's how I started too! It eventually led to a 28 year career of playing bass with up to four bands at a time and being in the house band & anyone else who needed a bass player 5 or 6 nights a week.

[@robmaley6149]

I repaired a 1930s banjolele a couple of years back, they're lovely little instruments to work on. Fantastic video as always, love watching these 'unusual' ones too. Keep up the amazing work and thank you for sharing it with us👍🪕

[@petedazer3381]

Thanks for sharing, that was extremely therapeutic to watch. I realize as busy as you must be, constantly filming for our benefit must be exhausting!

[@vendiblesquire]

As a person who owns a banjolele I need this video haha

[@ChrisWilliams-cb9kt]

Excellent, that’s another winter project for me and my old Grey’s banjolele 👍

[@luketallant3571]

Oh hell yes, repairs and especially oddities are awesome!!

[@drewlaws983]

Really enjoyed that Ben! Always had a soft spot for a banjolele. Good to see something different. Keep up the good work.👍

[@jamesperrin3762]

Definitely like more restorations please Ben.

[@kellymanas6133]

Got a kick out of how it made you smile everytime you played with it. We uke players always say it is impossible to not smile when you have a uke in your hand...

[@jchristie254]

I really enjoyed this, a great change of pace.

[@ricandes]

Nice change of pace, Ben. It's good to change things up once in a while.😀👍

[@davet3681]

Nice to see different instruments getting the Ben Crowe treatment. I did wherever notice an issue when you resembled the Banjulele. The inner round piece of wood was put in the opposite way round to the way you took it out. The stained edge ( maybe rounded ) should face the skin and not the back. Sorry I notice things like that. Glad to be of service.

[@AnagramAutoclassics]

I really must find my banjolele and sort out the frets. Thanks for the nudge, Ben.

[@TomPetersonRefuseReuse]

These types of videos are my favorite. Love the repair on something that some guitar guys might call "junk". Cute and fun little instrument there.

[@daviddean5267]

Good to see you working on the king of string instruments, the mighty ukulele/banjolele. Have you thought about doing an electric uke as a project?

[@dennisneo1608]

Come on. Let's not get ridiculous.

[@ManNamedEd]

FUN Video!!! You are truly a master at your craft!!

[@dalgguitars]

Just gotta say, new strings. thanks for the videos!!!!

[@marcialavine1272]

I love those! I need one, yesterday!

[@Swordsmanjan]

Love these. Please do more when the opportunity arises.

[@chriscutress1702]

Enjoyed the repair videos. A nice addition to the collection.

[@JptDesignStudio]

Awesome! Really enjoyed it Ben

[@ianthomson9363]

A very nice sympathetic repair of a very nice instrument. I think even Suzie from The Repair Shop would approve of the case repair!

[@corybrockel8881]

Great work Ben! It sounds 100% better! Yes I would love to see more repairs and odd instruments, please do more! I would like to see you do the neck reset on this interesting instrument, aswell! Keep up the great work, Ben!!

[@SeaDogJak]

Awesome job Ben, would love to see more like this :)

[@rauschguitars]

Before you did the work on the nut and saddle I just thought it sounds like a typical banjo. The difference afterwards is huge!

[@ebandcamp]

Sounds so much better !

[@HENRYCOGIS]

That was fun! I've run across modern day kits for these while researching cigarbix guitars,

[@omicron22]

Time to do a banjolele build!

[@wls64]

yes, more repairs please

[@1337million]

I suppose this video is as good as any to mention that your voice makes my banjo resonate on it's stand

[@Benisasecret]

As an amateur banjo luthier who watches these vids for tips and inspiration I thoroughly loved this one!!! ;-) Nice work

[@stevenbugg6442]

Thoroughly enjoyed this one! 👍

[@mikejenkins5725]

Really enjoyed.

[@sgsax]

Amazing how such a relatively small amount of work can improve the intonation and resonance so much. It was even obvious to my untrained ears. Fixing the case brings me back to my days of working in the music shop. Cleaned up and fixed a lot of band instrument cases. Mostly with hot glue though, we didn't do hand stitching. 😁 Thanks for sharing!

[@davidmolina3520]

Yes, definitely! More oddball repairs. Sometimes deviating from the norm, is very very good. 🎶

[@BoneheadGuitars]

This was a fun departure from recent concentrations.

[@patrickwilliams3108]

Ben- Great video, quite a bit of fun, and a change of pace. In one of your GGBO vids this year you mentioned that you were rethinking what material you would put in your subsequent videos. I believe you said, "I am here to teach, after all". Well, yes, and some content like that (and like this video) is always appreciated. But we can get teaching and repair work in lots of different places. You, however, offer us something I do not see every day: you teach us to question the form of the instrument, to think so far out of the box that the box can no longer be seen. You teach the creative process. I hope sincerely that this does not get lost.

[@arlyon]

Fantastic video. I actually bought the exact same model last night, so this is perfect viewing. 😄

[@CrimsonCustomGuitars]

Hope you enjoy it!

[@SemeshkoV]

Nice video and tutoring style also.

[@jaungiga]

Lol, that little sped-up scale at 19:04 sounded like someone trying to play Mediterranean Sundance

[@scottiecasey9312]

Ben I been waiting on this video.

[@Kipperbob]

That's a bit cooler than the tiny toy shop guitar I spent way too much time trying to intonate earlier, ended up needing to move the bridge and tighten up slipping tuners, but hey, if it helps a child fall in love with guitar I'll throw in a couple of free pentatonic licks when I give it back.

[@martinlouden9005]

I was totally expecting you to show us your little stick of Blackpool rock!

[@dondavidson9619]

That was cool viewing

[@atakdragonfly1675]

I'd also love to see more unorthodox instruments. My OCD was really sizzling there. Ben, thank you for finally cleaning and wiping down that case. For a minute I thought you were going to stitch it and leave it... and call it vintage patina..

[@wattiewatt]

Very interesting vid. It was sounding really rather good for one of those things, and yes, they always have lousy action. I can't believe they have all settled over 100years to the same massive action - must have been made that way. I think you've just motivated me to dress the frets on two similar ones I have. Expensive ones go back to the luthier for tlc, but £20 ones I'll work on.

[@guywren4801]

Turned out nice again

[@archloy]

Nice to see other instruments Ben ! You can also make traditional string instr, or somethink like futuristic electric violin ;)

[@Furtheronmusic]

Interesting job.

[@bobvines00]

Ben, please show more "regular" instrument repairs too, not just repairs of "unusual" instruments. I'm sure that you've had to replace missing wood from the broken "wing" of a headstock before, so by adding in videos of different types of repairs I think the added type(s) of videos would be interesting.

[@devaojasmantra2038]

More of this for sure

[@paulrobertson7980]

Cool, I was gifted a banjolele, been messing with it

[@nevada150]

Nice one Ben, more please. Keith.

[@EnemyBikeCo]

I'm in the US. I didn't know what a cult following banjolele and banjolin had untill I started doing instrument repair at a flea market. I almost constantly have one of these in the shop.

[@ArturBrzozowski444]

Ben smiling on a miniature is a good sign I hope You and Talitha are charging mental batteries and doing something fun soon! Maybe fun for you though, it's too hot for coming in hot 🔥

[@smubblie]

Ah! I've got an 8 string mandolele (??) that was my old grandfathers. He had it in the goldfields in Western Australia. It was sat in his shed with 1/2 the strings on it, warping and racking to hell over the years. Have been desperate to restore it.

[@WonkyBass]

I’m working on a Keech banjolele at the moment so came here looking for tips. I offer a couple of comments. Tone ring upside down. At 4:19 you take out the tone ring with the flat surface upwards. This appears to be a wooden hoop (metal on the one here) and had the unfinished edge upwards. At 14:39 when putting the tone ring/hoop back in you consider which way it should go before fitting it upside down with the unfinished edge downwards. The smoothed and rounded edge should be pressing against the “drum” head to give a proper bearing edge while the flat part should be against the screwed rear resonator plate. Action can be lowered by adjusting the head. Ukuleles and “banjulele banjos” (as embossed on the Keech headstock in front of me) do have higher actions than guitars but the Keech you worked had the drum head height set too high and this compromised the action. The metal head tension ring on your instrument was higher than the fingerboard and obstructed your straight-edge at 4:01, preventing you from fret levelling without further disassembly. The tension ring on the Keech here is 2mm below the fingerboard so no obstruction. The head height and head tension are adjusted by the 6 tension hooks and six resonator screws working in tandem, which lowers the head and therefore the action. To be fair, you did say at 19:38 that you did not want to lower the hoop mechanism (hooks) because of tension concerns but tightening the rear resonator screws tensioned the head when you reassembled. The head is near transparent and you can see the upside down tension ring unfinished bearing surface through it at the same time stamp.

[@mykhough6614]

I was once asked if I could make a "banjolele" playable. It turned out to be a small banjo body grafted on to a 3/4 size Spanish guitar neck! 😒 I cleaned it up and gave it back. It now serves as a stage prop and has been hired out at least twice! At least it's making money. 😆

[@grahammcfarlain9938]

Hey Ben, I am a huge fan of your videos and would love to see you make a custom hollow body mandolin

[@graham6229]

That's a lovely little instrument. Ben, take a break from videos for a while. Too many too often and you are wearing yourself out.

[@reecefuller89]

So cool, a banjo uke. Sea of Thieves vibes Also Nebula 😁

[@briw4647]

While I love your guitar builds, I would love to see more repair videos. How you would go about repairing head breaks/ cracks, loose tops etc etc

[@moogoomoogoo5990]

Love repairs. Love strange.

[@markgordon4368]

Shimming the neck it a simple activity angling it back with some veneer works wonders for the action, after time the whole instrument curls up under sting pressure, also nugut strings would make an insane difference to the tone, loved this but was shouting at my phone 📱👌

[@tobiasboh3370]

Don't beat yourself up too much about the GGBO, I really enjoyed being along for the journey

[@jipes]

Nice fix, would bevfun to see old National resonator on the bench

[@bluesingmusic3443]

One would have to go back to the days of the great European Guild Halls, to find craftsmanship like that. My grandson has a ukulele, wish you'd have thrown out the numbers, for 1st fret action, 12th fret action, relief, etc. (I'm kidding about the numbers, etc. He actually has a ukulele, it's hanging on the wall behind me. He's touched it twice, in the last year. He still considers himself a drummer.)

[@shaggymannnn]

dude, lets build the sickest ukulele ever!!

[@RockStarOscarStern634]

A Plastic head would help & also Geared Tuners. I once tried N719 Strings for Low G Tuning

[@carter9449]

Would have loved to see the process in fixing the neck, I have an old banjo laying around that needs the neck reangled too

[@karabarkdull2929]

I saw a guitar for sale it was round and it was acoustic it had a moon shape carved into it I thought it was very interesting

[@Timoteo53575]

Whatta fun l'il project, and it makes a relaxin' VID. Of course I hadda do some research, and these can be pricey small devices on the "Reverb" site. Thanks!

[@chrisbaldwin5170]

Ben you should try and get on that British restoration show

[@graemecollin]

The preferred instrument of the legendary George Formby ...

[@RuthlessMojo]

I have a banjo mandolin that belonged to my grandfather. It is over 100 years old.

[@PsychoticFlubber]

I would love to see if you have any tips for repairing acoustic guitar "belly bulge" at the bridge. This seems to be a very common issue, and I have found myself sanding down bridge saddles to compensate. Thank you for the fun banjelele demonstration!

[@Aracore]

Now build one! I'm sure that all through this repair you were itching to do so. and I KNOW you have had a lot of requests to build a ukelele... may as well throw a stone at that particular pair of birds.

[@mattomon1045]

Mr Ben What about the tuners. In the letter stated that me thing was wrong with turners. I'm glad you took some time off to reconnect.

[@stu-j]

Your crowning files are just fantastic Ben! I've been using the shaped Z file things but I've never been very happy with the job they do. Trying to find the correct size for the frets your doing. ( for me its prsl big frets to daft small vintage tele frets) so i bought one of your traditional crowning files and I tell you what for 20 quid its fast to use a d I don't have to find a different size oh man I love it. Why didn't I buy one ages ago? Any news on the more affordable nut slotting files Ben? She will divorce me if I spend that much on files lol she is thr boss 9f the pennies.

[@stevencommon]

Would love to see a théorbe being refurbished ;-)

[@patwicker1358]

I like repairs. Also, would the intonation be in the same place as on a guitar?

[@zachfinnie288]

Hey Ben please do another 21 string I would really love to hear what a 14 string sounds like. And I'd honestly be interested in purchasing it if the price was right.

[@Atherax]

Benjolele