Johnny Key at the June GFS Convention 2015 - George Formby Medleys

Here are two great Formby Medleys from Johnny Key at the June GFS Convention 2015.



Johnny is a Londoner but is a firm favourite at the Blackpool conventions; he has great stage presence and a lovely way with a song - he's a real uke enthusiast, whether Formby on the banjolele or any other genre of music you fancy on wooden uke - and he's there with help and advice if you want it! A lovely chap. I thought I'd posted this ages ago, but I find I hadn't - so here it is. Better late than never!

The next convention is only a few weeks away! 19th September! It's going to be 40's themed... time to get those vintage clothes out!

So.... the Dallas D... that's mine, all mine!

My lovely little Slingerland banjo-uke now has a brother... and he is very handsome. There is a certain art deco beauty about this banjolele; the shiny black binding around the edges of the resonator, the bird's eye maple wood, the arrow-shaped holes in the shiny chromework around the vellum...to quote from Dennis Taylor's web pages,

"A special concert model, it has a birds eye maple neck, body and resonator with inlaid edges and a highly polished finish. The fingerboard is ebony and has sixteen drawn wire frets and pearl position dots. It has an eight inch flush rim, an extra heavy bezel with twelve sunk pull down rods tensioned by removing the resonator to gain access to the tensioning nuts. It is fitted with a metal tone ring and tone plate and has an extension tailpiece and sleeve guard. All the metal parts are chromium plated....."

I stroke it and drool over it like a miser over his stash of gold... I had coveted this banjolele ever since I first laid eyes on it in my local music shop. having identified it correctly as a Dallas D, I knew I wanted it - but it needed some minor work to the fingerboard and frets. The days went by, then weeks and still it wasn't done. I plagued the shop with phone calls... "No, we haven't had it back yet...we'll tell you when it's in..."

And then - it was back. My car tyres left rubber on the road as I scorched off to see it again... such a lovely looking thing, all bird's eye maple and chrome, with the original maple bridge, and the case... AND the tone ring and all the fixings intact under the resonator...

And then - it was mine! LSH was resigned... after all, better to buy a uke that was seen and heard, than an ebay purchase that could turn out to be disastrous... and yes, when I got it home - he agreed, it was lovely. British-built craftsmanship... you just can't argue with that...

And it sounds - great!

More on the Dallas banjo-ukes here on the late great Dennis Taylor's web-pages.

Coming up - The Dallas D that just seemed to have my name on it....

I can report that I am now the proud owner of a Dallas D banjo-uke. Now you may be thinking that I am getting a bad dose of UAS (Ukulele Acquisition Syndrome), bit no, I protest and deny it absolutely!

However, the tale must be told. This banjolele sort of had my name on it, from Day One - which was quite some months ago. I can't wait to tell you about it - but it will have to wait a day or two, as other musical activities (concert tonight) and a house and garden craving attention just have to come first....

Watch this space....

Matthew J Richards - Banjo Ukulele Comparison NO 2

Tomorrow we'll be headed up to Blackpool once more for the September Convention of the George Formby Society... and we'll be listening once again to all those great old vintage banjo-ukes, that just have a great sound all their own.

It's really interesting to hear them compared side by side, and that is what Matthew has done here. These are at the top end of the quality/desirability stakes.

Fancy a Ludwig? So do I.... in your dreams!