Buying a new bow probably makes sense. The cost of re-hairing one in the USA is higher than a new one from China.
A half-size violin bow is probably a pretty good choice, but also look at child size Cello or Viola bows. They will be a bit heavier.
violin uke
Tuning keys or wrenches are readily available from many places online as are violin bows. I don't have either of my ukelin bows available to measure at the moment, both are with a friends who is going to re-hair them for me, so I can't give you an exact measurement of length. Looking on the internet I found this bow which is probably a little longer than the ukelin bow. It should work fine for violin uke. Violin bow And while this tuning key is a bit more expensive than others you will find on the internet, it is my favorite style. Tuning wrench These are not necessarily recommendations. They were just what I found in a quick search. Of course if you are an Amazon Prime member you'll get free shipping on them. There may be some music stores around or near Manheim where you can purchase them. I have some local music shops up here by State College where I sometimes pick up items like these.
Ken
"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."
Ken- yes, i'm pretty sure it was almost never used. the only info i have on it was that my friend was tasked with cleaning out a friend of theirs home after they died. this person happened to be a hoarder of sorts, and the violin uke was found in a closet, and they asked me if i wanted to buy it. no case, no bow. i've seen some weird instruments over the years and this one fascinated me, so i bought it after doing a little research on it.
I'll dig around for a zither tuning key or whatever is applicable. Thanks for the advice!
Daniel, scroll down three posts and click on the photo.
Ken
"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."
Can you please share a photo hehe
No problem. The violin uke appears to have zither tuning pegs which the Marx company probably used by the millions. It appears to be in fairly good condition.
Ken
"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."
sorry it took so long to get a photo up.
It may be worth while to invest in a wire gauge if you need to replace strings. I have one like this which I occasional use on dulcimer strings.
I would guess that a relatively small number of sizes are required, so you might want to buy coils of wire. Otherwise Folkcraft and others probably have suitable choices, but "too long."
Here is a photo of the tuning wrench which came with my ukelin. I imagine a similar one was supplied with the violin uke.
Ken
"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."
I think most autoharp tuning pins today are 13/64 ths of an inch by 1.5 inches long. I have a ukelin and can check the tuning wrench that came with it to see if that is the same size. Sometimes you can substitute a t-handle tap wrench for tuning wrench depending upon how much space you have between the pins.
Ken
"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."
Made by Marx Co. yeah. It's the violin uke, not the ukelin. There's a guy with a website from the late 90's that did historical research on these things. It was quite informative. I'm not really concerned with restringing it just yet, as i need to figure out the size of the tuning pegs and get the correct tool for them. I went the autoharp route, but they don't even seem to know the size of their tuning pegs, which baffles me. I'll get some pictures up soon.
Are you referring to the instrument made by the Marx Company? It bears a strong resemblance to another of their instruments called a ukelin. The plain (unwound) strings can be replaced with plain steel guitar strings. The wound strings can be replaced with wound guitar strings. You will have a lot of string leftover. An alternative is to use autoharp strings, but it is probably more expensive. Use a micrometer to measure the thickness of the strings. As Nate said a photo of the instrument or several photos will help us better help you.
Ken
"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."
I bought a violin uke from a friend about 2 years ago. After some research, I found this one is most likely from the 50's. I put it away and didn't think about it until I moved and hey, there it was! I think I even found someone that makes replacement strings for it but it's pretty pricey. I discovered someone on here had worked with one of these little monsters and was hoping to get some info. I've tried to find anything about the tuning pegs on this thing and can't find answers anywhere.
Can anyone help?
