Jolli Joe The UK Uke

There have been a couple of Banjoleles on the "if one comes up at a reasonable, (read bargain), price" and one of them was the "Jolli Joe the UK Uke" all metal British made Banjolele from the 1920's, These are almost always painted blue, (apart from if the paint flakes off or the varnish "yellows" and turns them green), and anecdotally they are not suppose to sound that great, but to my mind they look very distinctive and interesting, plus I have always wanted to find out more about who actually made them? Now the one coming to Ukulele Corner is a bit more beat up than I would have liked, (and a bit more beat up than I remember when I bid on it!) The obvious problems apart from the flakey paint and lack of bridge and strings are the missing resonator, plus two tensioning brackets and a tuner. On the plus side the vellum looks ok but all of the missing hardware is going to be difficult to replace, especially the resonator, without having to get another one for parts, so it's likely to be a bit of a project; but it might answer some of my questions about the original manufacturer? And on the plus plus side it's coming with, though equally as beat up, the official Jolli Joe faux crocodile case, and they are a lot rarer than the Ukulele itself, (and super hip to boot!)

Once it arrived it was certainly going to be a project! But with a new tuner button, (to replace the missing one), a bridge and some strings I could certainly make it playable again. I still think I may have to get a second one for parts - or use this one for parts if the second one is better. (It really is a great case though).

Two months later and another one came up at a reasonable, (equally, if not more so bargain), price. This one had everything, (well not the case), resonator all the brackets, all the tuners even a bridge and strings. The down side was it was "collection only" and the other side of the country. Well I have had sellers recently say collection only was a mistake and they were willing to post so I wrote and asked; and the seller said yes he would post. He didn't change the listing though so no one else bid and now it has been posted to Ukulele Corner. It looks pretty perfect and won't need any spare parts from the first one but the one oddity is the red fretboard. I have never seen a Jolli Joe with a red fretboard before so this might be some aftermarket work? the effect is quite striking though so unless I have to I will leave it red. There was no case this time though and like I said the case is rarer than the Banjolele so if nothing else it was worth getting the first one for the case.