Smakula Fretted Instruments; Unusual Instruments, Recordings, and Electronic Tuners

Smakula

Fretted

Instruments

PO Box 882 Elkins, WV 26241

304-636-6710

Phone Hours; 9:00 AM to 6:00 PM, Eastern Time, Monday through Friday and occasionally on Saturday.

The Unusual contact us...

Page Updated 6-1-2023

Please Visit our Home Page for links to our banjos, guitars, fiddles, mandolins, and more.

Ukuleles, Mandolin Banjos, Dulcimers, and Electronic Tuners

1940's Martin style 1C Concert Ukulele. If you were wanting to go as Roy Smeck for Halloween, it's important note that he played Harmony instruments. But, this stunning Martin uke is era-appropriate, and has an overall luxurious vibe sure to satisfy the needs of professional ukulele players both real & pretend. This style 1C is all mahogany, with spruce braces and bound top and back with tortoise shell colored celluloid binding. The fretboard is Brazilian rosewood with 12 frets, and it still has the original Champion tuners with black knobs. A beautifully resonant, well-balanced, well-playing vintage instrument. Yours for $1,350, including the original brown cardboard case by Silbertone of New York City. Photos

1925 Weymann Style 35 Mandolin-Banjo. This is a clean and interesting piece of Weyman's ingenuity. A 9" maple rim, with clear Remo head and the Weyman patented neck adjuster coupled with a one piece hard maple neck with a 13-7/8" scale fretboard. The big bonus with this instrument is the slip on resonator. Sure it's louder, but you also don't have to feel the neck adjuster dig into your belly when you stand up to play. The straight neck and recently dressed frets make this instrument play like a dream. We also made a custom compensated bridge so it plays in tune. Hmm The best of both worlds? Probably not, but this puppy has the punch to be heard in any jam session. From Jug band to alt rock this one will fit. In excelent condition and the price of $550 includes a decently fitting modern hard case. Sorry, Sold. Photos

AS-IS Instruments

Here are some instruments that we are selling as-is. For details on our as-is pollicy, click here.

1921 Vega Style L Whyte Laydie Mandolin Banjo. This banjo needs a neck reset to be a playable banjo mandolin. But with original Whyte Laydie banjo rims being in demand for converting to 5-string instruments, this one is an ideal candidate. The 10-1/8" diameter rim has a calf skin head and most of it's original metal parts. The tailpiece is a replacement and its maker is unrecognizable. The as-is $800 price includes the original hard case that appears to have been coated with an epoxy of some sort. Photos

Circa 1880's Franz Schwarzer Concert Zither. Those in the know understand that the Washington, Missouri creations of Franz Schwarzer are some of the best concert zithers ever made. This one has Brazilian rosewood laminated to spruce back and top. The sides are a brighter species of rosewood that I can not identify. There are 5 strings on the neck and 27 bass strings. OK, there are tuners for all those strings. This instrument currently has only 10 strings, so you'll have to track down a set of strings and spend an evening with the included tuning wrench to be able to play The Third Man theme, or maybe take a page from Ken Bloom and give delta bottleneck blues a try. But were ever you go with this, make sure you have a zither table because you mother will have your head if you put this zither's three spiky ball feet directly on the family heirloom mahogany dining room table. The as-is price is $450 and includes the original hard case. Photos

ELECTRONIC TUNERS

Planet Waves NS Micro Tuner.
Original peghead tuner $25
Violin mount; $28
Guitar Soundhole tuner; $28
Banjo mount; $26

Snark, Small chromatic tuner that clips on the peghead of your fiddle, guitar, banjo, or bass. We sell the black & red ones; $20

Shipping
We ship most of our instruments via UPS. Cost to ship a mandolin is $20 to $40. Cost to ship a guitar or banjo is $25 to $60. The cost of insurance is extra. We will be happy to quote before shipping.

Small goods like banjo heads and other parts cost $9 per order for Priority Mail shipping in the continental US no matter what the order size. Micro orders weighing less than 12 ounces and valued less than $50 are usually shipped via first class mail for $6. The cost of orders headed out of the continental US will be quoted before they are shipped.

Sales Tax
We are legally obligated to charge 6% West Virginia sales tax on anything purchased here at the shop or shipped within the state of West Virginia. We do not charge sales tax on orders sent out of state.

To Order
Call us at 304-636-6710. For payment we accept checks, wire transfers and MasterCard & Visa. If you prefer Paypal, please send us an email requesting a Paypal invoice.

Email;
Occasionally a customer will let us know that the "Contact Us" button will not work on their computer. If you have that problem, please use sfi<at>smakula<dot>com You will have to change the <at> and <dot> to @ and .