Harley Benton BJU-15Pro Banjo Ukulele Reviews

Quality at a great price

Solid and heavy , love the 'old style' look to it. Action is a little high but still very pleasant to play

very good instrument for the price

i have 2 of these. i converted the second one into a short scale tenor banjo by re-stringing it with nyl-gut strings tuned in fifths c/g/d/a and i like it a lot. it sounds like a tenor banjo. i’ve kept the first one basically unaltered as a banjo-ukulele and while i’m not an expert on banjo-ukes, i must say i’m impressed with the instrument, especially for the price. its very well made and has a great sound. and it’s *loud*. *very* loud. when i received both instruments , the action was high, but that was easily fixed. all in all, i’m happy with this banjo uke.

Superb

Quality and exceptional value for money. Nothing else needs to be said.

Good but not great

Has a nice sound. Looks really nice and is great for what I use it - theatrical performance. The sound is OK. I expected more banjo sound but it sounds more like ukulele. It also has some resonance problem which I couldn't fix myself but it is bareable for what I use it for. I suppose it is just mine with this problem.

Benton the best

Harley Benton instruments fun to play, its just like plug and play every time

Nice for fingerpicking

Bought this about one month ago and have played almost daily. It is heavy and sturdy, feels solid in your hands, and looks beautiful. Tuning is alright but for the A string (which is sometimes quite tricky), but it stays well in tune. Sound is balanced and loud, very good for fingerpicking and clawhammer, though perhaps a bit too metallic when strumming along with a group of ukes. I ended up buying a 100% uke for that, but will keep this banjolele as it is great fun.

superb instrument.

this is a beautiful instrument set up very good too,ive played much more expensive ones than this and theyre not as good,dont listen to negative reviews as your not paying a lot of money but you do get a lot of instrument,i did change strings to living water strings but thats my preference,also when you do change strings put nylon ones on and itll make it sounds better and less harsh,ive played all stringed instruments for years and this is a good banjolele,snobs will say that you get what you pay for.....well i challenge anyone to not say it should be 2 or 3 times more money,i will say that i did have to file the fret ends they were ok but i do like mine silky smooth,so grab one with its all maple body which is the correct tonewood and youll not be dissappointed.

Just the job!

Excellent product for the money! No complaints! Thank you.

Really good and fun instrument.

It's a mini banjo, tuned like an ukulele. The frets are not sticking out of the fretboard too much, but may be a little sharp at the edges. May want to sand them a bit. Tuning keys are pretty good and keep the instrument in tune. The instrument has a bit too much resonance, I had to put a felt sticker on the drum top. That might be a matter of taste.

Overall, good instrument, easy to play and could be a nice addition in your recording/producing arsenal.

Great instrument for a great price!

Bought it for my wife's birthday a year ago, and she loves it! I'm really glad I took this bet, it paid off. I work as a musician, and mostly play guitar, so I don't know a lot about banjos and ukes, but the build is solid, and it seems like it's possible to tweak and change whatever. Oh, and it resonates beautifully, pretty loud! Would use it in a live setting, were I a uke player.

Not bad for the price

I'm satisfied. Lovely looks, not too banjoy sound - it's quiet for a banjo, bit mudded, note separation is tragic and it gets worse up the neck. But it's ok for strumming along when you sing and it's nice companion for a bonfire or a small pub. It doesn't have tonering, so it's light, you can take it backpacking. Tuning pegs are awful, but it's easy to change them. Forget about neck adjustments. Overall, you get what pay for, nothing more.

Great banjolele for the price.

I’ve been playing the banjolele, Formby style for over ten years. This one caught my eye due to the price and other reviews that I head read. It are within a couple of days of the order being placed. I was very pleasantly surprised with how this looked in real life.The quality was really good, well made and beautifully finished. There were no rough fret ends and the neck was aligned very nicely. The open backed tuners worked as they should once the strings had settled. The sound with the plastic remo head wasn’t to my liking and so I replaced it with a calf skin vellum which transformed it, giving it a much warmer tone. This is a very loud instrument and one which projects really well due to the bowl back resonator. To be honest once you have it set up for your style of playing you really can’t go wrong. I gave it four stars as I felt that a better quality tuning peg would have been nice ,not that the ones supplied don’t do there job very well and I felt the remo head let it down on tone. That said both are relatively cheap fixes for a really great piece of kit. So all in all ,turned out nice again.

BJU-15Pro Banjolele

I was looking to buy an instrument to help with my rehabilitation after a brain injury, learning the ukulele was suggested. after looking and listening to reviews on youtube this banjolele seemed the one for me.

I wasn't disappointed when it arrived, which was two weeks early. it was well packaged with a tool for doing adjustments. The quality of the instrument reminds me of ones I looked at that were twice the price of this one.

Pros,

build quality, sound and over all feel of the instrument.

Cons,

A guide to setting up the bridge would have been helpful.

overall I am very pleased with the banjolele and I am going to enjoy learning to play it. I would recommend buying this instrument if you have any feelings about wanting a fun instrument to learn. the only thing I regret is not buying a gig bag when I placed my order, but that has been rectified now as that is my next purchase.

What a beaut!!

Plays lovely, sounds great and looks fantastic. It is just a very nice instrument it feels quality. I've played on a few Harley Benton instruments and have always been very impressed by the quality especially for the the price points. The Harley Benton BJU-15Pro Banjo Ukulele is no exception. Also, it has great potential for future upgrades, if I really wanted to fine tune this thing I could easily change the skin and peripherals, but there's really no need. It was great out of the box, I simply stretched the strings in positioned the bridge and got playing. Great fun instrument and what a beaut!

Circus show

I played two weeks on it in the circus. It us a bit heavier because of the wooden back but I enjoyed the sound. I added a pick up and a strap button.

Excellent value for money ukulele banjo.

Bought for amusing myself at home and I must say that it does the job very well. It is good as, if not better than the banjo ukes at twice the price, one of which I have made a comparrison with.On arrival I found the head to be quite slack but after carefully tightening it in stages it really came to life. I also changed the bridge for a two footed type as I think the original bridge is a bit heavy and cumbersome. In my opinion it now has a great snappy bright and loud sound. Overall I am very pleased with it and would recommend it to anyone interested in buying a banjo uke.

Good for beginning

I enjoy playing this instrument. I played guitar and ukulele before, but now I prefer Banjo. I'm a beginner, but this instrument sounds realy good. I am satisfied.

Can't beat it for the price.

OK so it's not a Ludwig. It has a couple of flaws but they are quite cheap and simple to rectify. First you need to replace the vellum. Like all BJs these days, it's plastic and nasty. Even quite expensive instruments come this way these days so it's no big deal. A calf skin vellum improves it tremendously. Next replace the strings and the tuner heads and you have a good banjolele after setting it all up properly. For the money, you can't go wrong. It can compete with an Ozark which costs 3 or 4 times as much.

Something all Forby fans should have!

This is a great instrument to play and can fill a room with very little amplification. In fact, I did a gig last night and didn't need any amplification at all.

This is a heavy instrument and therefore I would recommend either playing it sitting down or investing in a suitable strap. Unfortunately this does not come with any brackets so these would need to be added manually.

Secondly, you'd best buy an extra set of strings. Ukulele strings are held at the bridge using a simple knot made with an additional wrap-around to double the size of said knot. However Mr. Benton must not have had the time to do this. Upon inspection I realised that there is not much room to improve matters on the strings in place. Therefore, the only solution available until Mr. Benton improves his knots is to order a new set of strings.

Overall this is a good instrument with a good sound. With the above issues taken into consideration you will not encounter any issues.

harley benton bju-15pro banjolele

Bought this banjolele and was pleasantly suprised with the overall quality and workmanship of the instrument.With minimal adjustment had it playing well as action was fairly good out of the box.one thing about this banjo is that it is really loud,but I solved this by making a banjo mute,now I can play at anytime without the wife or neighbours complaining.For the price this banjolele was a bargain and dont be put off by the fact its a harley benton.cheers.