Dott. Alfio Leone Musikalia no. 504U

This is a Musicalia 504? Banjo. As it has no bridge or strings I'm not sure if its the Banjo Cavaquinho or the Banjo Ukulele? Since they both have the same model number in the Musicalia catalogue, just with different reference letters at the end, (C for cavaquinho and U for Ukulele), and the only difference in the specs is the strings I suppose it doesn't matter (apart from the 504 with no letters after it is the Banjo Mandolin but as that does have 8 tuners and 8 strings I know its not one of those). The reason for the invite? Well apart from the obvious, I would like something from the Musikalia factory to see how well made they are so I can assess how much I would be willing to pay for some of the more exotic chordophones they make? After all being made in Italy they are all quite expensive usually. The other of my triggers came into play, it was a right bargain! I must have done my Ukulele search on eBay very shortly after the seller put it up because not only did the auction start at a very very low starting price, but when I went in to bid I found it also had a very very very low buy it now price that wasn't a great deal higher than the start price. Certainly not enough to warrant letting the auction run as it would have certainly sold for well above that price if I let others bid on it; so I bought it now and its on the way to Ukulele Corner. As I said previously it will arrive with no bridge or strings so as I have spare Ukulele strings and bridges already, it will become the 504U Banjo Ukulele once I string it up. 

Now it's here and I can tell from the remnants of steel string on the tuners that this would have been the Cavaquinho. However as I have some nylon strings to put on it that won't matter as I will tune and play it as a Banjo Ukulele. Now it is well enough made but some of it, like the tuners, look a bit cheap, so I'm not sure how they justify the RRP?  Like I said I have a set on Ukulele Strings for it and an old 2 foot bridge so I need to string it up and see if the sound can justify the RRP?

Has to be said; it's a good job they don't have much competition for a lot of the instruments they make, because if there was, the unemployment rate in Sicily would go up! It's OK, but really not of the same quality as similarly priced Far Eastern Instruments; or for that matter Portuguese ones