Donner Banjolele 4 String Banjo Ukulele kit

Very nice banjo, love it! Nice sound. Arrived in good condition.

Pretty nice banjo! It looks fantastic, the hardware and setup seem pretty good. It comes without the bridge installed so you need to either take to a professional for installation, or if confident you can find tutorials online (what I did). After setting up the bridge, I set to tuning it. You’ll need to use the included tool to tighten up the tuning machines, as it wouldn’t stay in tune at first. The short 5th string is particularly susceptible to going out of tune. I’m a novice on banjo, so it could just be me. All in all, a good instrument - I’ll have to wait and see if it stays in tune better over time. Most instruments require time for the strings to stretch a bit and to adjust to climate of where you’re using it. It’s a fun way to get into a new genre. I can’t comment if it’s good for experts, but as an entry-level banjo it’s a great option. Comes with a bunch of accessories, including a very nice case and strap. I would have liked some finger picks instead of the pack of flat picks, but I plan to pick up on my own. Give it a try if you need a good banjo at an affordable cost.

Nice banjo, sounds good and is pleasing to look at. Only problem so far is that the strap part broke off very easily and now I have no way of connecting a strap until I get it fixed. With minimal gentle use

Great starter banjo, especially for the price

First off, I am a guitar/ukulele player, but am always looking for new instruments. Always been "banjo curious", so I decided to pick this one up. Pros: Seems to be well made. The gloss finish is perfect on mine, and the build quality is excellent. Has a Remo banjo head, which is nice. I know Remo from their drums, and it's good stuff. Comes with extra stings, tuner, gig bag, strap and picks. Not sure why it comes with picks... Cons: About the only con I can think of here is that it comes with picks, when you really need finger picks to play banjo correctly. Not a big deal, as I bought a set from my local music store for under $5, but it would've been nice if they were included. Final thoughts: Good banjo for anyone who wants to learn how to play, and it's a good price as well. One other thing I will add, is that the top string uses a friction tuner. If you find this slipping, and not keeping tune, tighten the end screw a bit, and that should lock it down.

I've never played an instrument but wanted to give it a go. I LOVE this banjolele! I'm short, and have the short arms and tiny hands to go along with it. My husband's guitars and banjos are too big for me to get my tiny little baby hands around to the frets. This instrument makes it fun, instead of frustrating. It's good quality, and the case that came with it is very handy. For those who haven't purchased something like this previously, know that it's completely normal for it to take a few weeks of needing to tune the instrument a lot - apparently the strings need some time to break-in. I've been using it for a few weeks now, and it holds tune well (I tune it each time I play). This was a great, inexpensive way to have fun and learn something new!

So it sounds decent for the price and comes with a lot of extras which is great. That being said mine arrived with very sharp fret ends. I play other instruments and so I have the tools to address this but they were for sure sharp enough to leave you bleeding if you aren't careful. Also the material it's made out of is quite soft, while filing down the fret ends with moderate pressure I managed to gouge the edge of the fret board on a couple of frets. Lastly the tuners feel awful. They feel like they are toys and are going to break as you tune them

Wow, I really like this banjolele. It is actually my second banjolele. I have been a fan of ukuleles made by Donner for about 15 months now (I have owned and played 4 of them, and all of them were just amazing values for price and great quality), so when I began wishing for a banjolele, I was really hoping that Donner would have one available. After months of waiting and hoping, and both my husband and I doing some research, he gave me a banjolele from another company for Christmas. Just letting you know that for point of reference. It is not from a famous brand, but it is one of a few that we had narrowed down to from research over affordable options, and the company which made it seemed very similar to Donner, which had been so good to me thus far, so…we took a chance. And that banjolele is wonderful. Again—just sharing for point of reference for this detailed review. I was so excited to hear that Donner now had a banjolele available, so I immediately took the opportunity to purchase one and try it out! And how fun that I could now compare as well. The Donner banjolele has a wonderful “plunky” sound, as a banjo should. The drum head has the Remo logo on it, which is one of my qualifications for what I desire in a banjolele, though the skin is a flat white matte, which was surprising to me, as my other banjolele has a Remo skin that has that sort of mottled look to it. Honestly, I don’t notice a difference other than appearance in that respect. This banjolele set comes with a decent gig bag: sturdy material, some padding (so-to-speak, so it is not one of those thin gig bags that feels like a windbreaker jacket), but not quite as awesome as some of the gig bags that came with some of my Donner traditional ukes. I wouldn’t mind a more spacious pocket. It comes with the Donner tuner as all Donner ukes do, which is my favorite tuner. I received another tuner with another brand of uke, and it has been less than pleasing…so glad that I have the occasion to know the difference! The set also comes with an extra pair of strings (but they are not labeled as to which one is which?), picks, a truss rod, and a strap---however the strap might be meant for a guitar or regular sized banjo. It is too long for me even when tightened all of the way. Decent quality, just doesn’t serve my purposes. Granted, I am a petite 5’1’’, but with all of my other ukes, the straps that come with them have been fine. Also, just so you know, one needs to have 2 small strings or ribbons in order to connect the strap to the banjolele (by looping them through the holes at the end of the strap). It’s not an exciting strap, either. Black canvas with fake brown suede/leather ends, but for the right person, it will do the trick, and honestly some of the straps that come with other instruments, ones with crazy patterns- they probably don’t please everyone either. I have been known to buy a particular strap for a particular instrument just because I wanted it to be more “me”. What the set lacked in my case was the special tool for measuring where to set up the bridge, or alternatively, instructions for how to measure without that special see-thru tool that one usually sees with these types of banjolele sets. I found out later that there *should* have been a tool included. Luckily, I had one from my other banjolele, and though they have slightly different lengths of neck/fretboard, etc, when I double-checked using the manual measurement method, it actually came out the same. Interesting. As for comparison, the Donner banjolele drum is about ¼ inch deeper than my other banjolele, and the neck is slightly thicker. I was surprised at this and wondered if it would make it more difficult to play…but actually, the Donner Banjolele is quite comfortable to play! My other banjolele has a slightly brighter sound than the Donner Banjolele, but saying the Donner has a darker sound does not seem accurate…perhaps a bit richer or deeper… The neck and body of the Donner banjolele are a beautiful red wood look, smooth to the touch. I wouldn’t mind a little more texture there for the feel of wood. The Black headstock is actually quite classy looking- I was not sure if I would like that or not, as my other banjolele looks a bit more rustic, but it turns out pleasing to me. I am not sure if the Donner name on the headstock is a sticker or paint. I might have expected something that was etched or punched in, like other products from Donner that I have experienced, but like I said, it is still lovely, and thus far, every Donner product that I have purchased, from ukuleles to other music accessories, has been a home run. So, I am going to give them the benefit of the doubt. I have had my banjolele for about a month now. As can be expected with any new uke (but it not always the case), the banjolele went out of tune pretty quickly in the first week or so, like literally within minutes of playing. However, recently I have realized that it has been holding tune through a 15 to 30 minute practice session, which is also what one could certainly hope for and expect from playing an instrument regularly once the strings settle down. (fyi, my first ever uke was a Donner, and it held tune well from the beginning...I was spoiled! 😉) All in all, another great instrument by Donner, at an affordable price. Super value with great quality.

¡Fantastico! El paquete llegó una semana antes y debo decirlo: buen instrumento. No se mucho sobre instrumentos pero puedo decir que la calidad es bastante buena, lo afine y el sonido es una maravilla. Pronto comenzaré a practicar.

Beautiful little instrument, lovely tones

I was looking for a replacement/upgrade for an old ukulele that I have had for quite some time. I have bought from Donner before and have great experience with them providing quality at a good price and as soon as I saw this banjolele it piqued my interest and thought I would give it a shot. I am glad that I did. This is so much louder than the ukulele that I had been using, and the sound of the banjolele is great. The packaging was very secure. Everything arrived in good condition. Coming with a complete kit including strap, drum head tightener, plectrums, spare strings and electric tuner is very useful to get set up and playing straight away. And there is a great cary case (not a hard case, but well padded and comfortable to cary using either the shoulder straps or handle. I didn’t find a measure with the kit, but that is not important as placing the bridge is pretty easy. Just measure nut to 12th fret and use that as the distance from 12th fret to bridge then - once tuned - use the electric tuner to ensure that when pressing the 12th fret it is the same note (one octave higher) and in tune same as the open string note (if not shift the bridge a touch until the tuning is correct). Once done the intonation was spot on. After a couple of days the new strings were stretched out and keeping in tune well. This is a great little instrument and a lot of fun to play. Uses the same tuning as ukulele but with a banjo sound. The drum head is Remo brand, so a good quality brand name which can be tightened well to influence the crispness of the sound. The back is easily removable by unscrewing the 6 screws so this instrument can be played as an open back banjolele… There is a lot of sound possibilities to mess about with on this instrument. I’m very glad I got this and can already tell I am going to have a lot of fun with it.

I was fortunate to be offered free banjo lessons and enjoyed learning but desperately wanted one of my own to practice and play on. All the banjos I looked at were either ‘antiques’ and not in great shape or were super expensive. I found this one and loved the look and the mahogany AND the price. It’s 5 string, but if you want 4 string it’s easy to mute the 5th string. The 5th string makes it super versatile. You can tune it to guitar or violin(mandolin) for a more classic banjo sound and play around with the extra string. Showing my banjo to my teacher and getting his approval in its sound was the final ‘woohoo’! And I’m pleased with my purchase and the quality of my instrument. It comes with everything, including a very well padded soft case and a tuner with battery. Picks, a strap, all the basics including spare strings! I feel so lucky to have found this instrument, it’s got a great sound and it’s very easy to play. It holds its tuning and tunes easily. It looks beautiful and had a lot of work put into making it

This was a good introduction to the banjolele for me, but if you’re a somewhat experienced musician you’ll notice that this thing has pretty poor intonation and struggles to stay in tune. It’s a neat sounding instrument but leaves a lot to be desired. Lent it to my boss hoping she’d purchase it but she also found the quality lacking. Cool for a beginner but if you’re serious at save another $100 and go for the Gold tone little gem. It might be 2x the price but it’s 5x better