If you’re looking for a nice vintage looking model of Banjolele with a whole hell of a lot of twang…..this would be it.
In this review I’m going to go over everything I like and dislike about this particular model in comparison to other Banjoleles I’ve played and try and give the best review I can. I’m also going to talk a little about Recording King and what I love about them as a instrument manufacturer as well. Hope you enjoy it!
Don’t have time to read a full review? This short review is hilarious.
Table Of Contents:
-
Specs
-
About Recording King
-
Pros
-
Cons
-
Conclusion
SPECS:
- Maple Neck
- Maple Rim
- Rosewood fingerboard
- Madison-style peghead
- Coordinator rod
- 10 brackets
- Geared tuners
- Remo frosted head
- Madison style Peghead
About Recording King:
Recording King was started in the 30s, and has basically been stuck there. That’s the way they like it, they build anything considered historic with a focus on higher quality being the priority.
Recording King was actually originally a house brand of the major direct mail/brick & mortar business Montgomery ward, and had a significant role in keeping Gibson afloat in the (Agreement between companies started in 1929, the last time any of the instruments were seen in the magazines was 1940) 30s and 40s. This is because Gibson was the original manufacturer of Montgomery Wards brand Recording King and they also manufactured other instruments for Montgomery ward as well.
Gibson was not the only manufacturer of guitars for Montgomery Ward, other companies such as Regal and Kay and even Martin (Update: Martin actually only sold Ukuleles for them) all contributed.
Note: The older Recording King instruments did not have truss rods, Gibson kept that feature for their own models of guitar.
(Vintage ad picture below credit www.vintageguitar.com)
Look,
Today, Recording King is it’s own company….separate from Gibson all it’s own. They make Guitars, Banjos, Resonators, Lap Steels, Banjoleles, mostly inspired by the 30s.
They show no signs of changing, and they have a pretty large base of loyal fans that seem to really enjoy the products they put out. So, if you’re looking for a historic vintage style piece, these guys are the way to go.
I assume that in the future, Recording King will stick to this model. Only time can tell!
PROS & CONS
Now that you know a little about about their history, time to talk about the actual Banjolele.
This thing packs a lot of sound for being so small, and it is heavy to (4 pounds), like I said in my previous review of my favorite Banjoleles (Link at the end of this article), this is my absolute favorite Banjolele for gettting a good twangy sound out of it.
Just listen to it here:
Apart from the wonderful twangy sound this Banjolele produces, this particular model is built very well, and comes straight from the manufacturer not needing any serious adjustments (Many Banjoleles require a lot of adjustment before they can be played well)
As you can see from the image above, this model is a vintage style and is supposed to look like it came straight from the 30s, and Recording King did a great job of this.
The Madison style peghead looks great (headstock for guitar players), and the woods used on the body with the frosted top remo head all add to the vintage look, I also like how they didn’t add binding around the fretboard (normally I like my fretboards binded for easier movement up and down the neck), but with this model it would ruin the look to have the fretboard bound.
As for the Cons……..
Honestly, I couldn’t find much wrong with this model except I think the price should be a tad bit lower, I took some time for a couple days scouring through forums and trying to figure out what flaws this model has, but came up basically with nothing.
Pretty much the only “flaws” you’d be able to find on this Banjolele all come down to personal preference, there is nothing majorly or minorly wrong with these instruments.
I did however, find some very misled customers on many different comments and reviews talking about how the Banjolele would go out of tune very quickly after being tuned, which makes me assume a lot of the people who have bought this instrument are fairly new to playing any instrument at all, especially ones with nylon strings where the strings should be stretched out quite a bit before they’ll stay in place.
There were some other bad reviews as well, but all of them were insignificant. Everything was just people talking about something that should be obvious to anyone.
All-In-All, Pros obviously outweigh the cons in this case with this particular Banjolele, that is of course if you have the budget for it.
If you’re looking for a really inexpensive Banjolele btw, I’d definitely recommend the KMISE.
UPDATE: I actually decided there is one Con, most places I saw online did not come with a case.
Conclusion:
Recording King makes a fantastic Banjolele, this is the most twangy sounding Banjolele out of all my favorite Banjolele models.
This is my favorite sounding model, however it is not as versatile since it sounds so twangy, It also looks great as well, with that vintage 30s look.
Not much bad to say at all about this model, however I do wish it would come with a case which is a bummer. I should say however that this is a very sturdy and heavy duty I guess you could say instrument. If I drop it I doubt I’ll get more than a scratch, it’s simply built to last like most Recording King models.
I recommend any Recording King, from older models from back in the 30s when they were made by Gibson, and to the models they make today.
More thoughts: I wish they made more models of these, I assume that they just simply aren’t that profitable for Recording King to make, but I do wish they had some more to choose from. There’s not a lot of companies who make actually good Banjoleles, so it would be nice to have more options come from a good manufacturer.