Great Ukes: Alvin Keech May or May Not Have Invented the Banjo Uke, but He Certainly Helped Popularize It

BY AARON KEIM | FROM THE SPRING 2025 ISSUE OF UKULELE MAGAZINE

The early years of the banjo ukulele and its origins are somewhat murky. At least two people, John Bolander and Alvin Keech, claim to have invented it. Keech, known mostly for his time in England from 1921 to 1935, was actually born in Hawaii in 1890—a fact that sent me on a fascinating journey to uncover the story of a hardworking, talented, and complex man whose efforts helped popularize the ukulele around the world.

In 1917, Keech was living in Los Angeles, where he secured a contract to teach ukulele to film stars. However, the dry climate of Southern California posed challenges for traditional ukuleles, which were designed for the humid environment of Hawaii. In response, Keech developed the banjulele, a hybrid of the banjo and ukulele. He later explained, “I at once got to work to improve matters, and the result was the banjulele. The banjulele is a combination of the banjo and the ukulele, the patented interior construction and
the tone resonator giving it a beautiful rich and mellow tone superior to the ukulele. The construction is such that its life is indefinite.”

When I began researching Keech, I decided I needed one of his instruments to truly understand his work. The bulk of his output was in the UK, where the banjo uke enjoyed its peak popularity and Keech’s manufacturing flourished. Fortunately, one of my customers, Billy Pither—a talented player from St. Albans, England—had a Keech banjulele and kindly sent it to me for study and repair. I’ll dig into the repair and specifics of this instrument later, but first, let’s get to know the man who created it.

Early Life and Education

Alvin Keech was born in Honolulu, to parents Alvin Welty Keech and Isabella Keech (née Weir). His father was an engineer, employed by the Inter Island Steam Navigation Company, the Honolulu Sugar Company, and the Honolulu Iron Works. Isabella Keech was the daughter of a Scottish blacksmith and married Alvin Sr. at age 18.

Young Alvin grew up during the last years of the Hawaiian monarchy, a time of great change on the islands, and seemed to have a privileged upbringing, with the family’s activities often listed in society columns of Hawaiian and mainland newspapers. He learned to play the ukulele and surf at a young age. His brother Kelvin was also a musician, studying mandolin with Hawaiian music impresario Ernest Ka’ai. It seems the boys were raised by their Aunt Mae, as their mother was institutionalized in a mental health facility sometime before 1910. Keech went to Oahu College (Punahou High School) and St. Louis School before attending Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. 

The California Years

In 1915, Keech moved with his brother to San Francisco, where they opened a music studio and ukulele retail store. The brothers performed, played on the radio, and taught lessons in the area, quickly establishing themselves in the local music scene. During this time, they also authored an instructional book titled A Standard Method and Self-Instructor on the Ukulele. Beyond teaching and performing, they were involved in contracting musicians for the Matson steamship line to Hawaii and other mainland venues, further contributing to the growing popularity of Hawaiian music.

That same year, Alvin founded Keech Incorporated with partners B. Coleman and G.A. Eagan. This venture marked the beginning of his manufacturing and importing business, bringing ukuleles from Hawaii to meet the increasing demand on the mainland. Within two years, he had moved to L.A. and started manufacturing his new invention, the banjulele. These innovative instruments were advertised and distributed by the Geo J. Bickel Company, a prominent Southern California music store. An advertisement in the Los Angeles Evening Express from August 12, 1918, stated, “Free Lessons are given by the Bickel Co. with each ukulele banjo . . . Here is your opportunity during spare hours of summer to learn to play this popular instrument. The lessons are given personally by Mr. Keech, originator and sole manufacturer of the Keech Ukulele Banjo.”

Although Keech was credited as the “sole manufacturer,” it remains unclear who actually produced the banjuleles. It is likely they were made by a separate manufacturer, with Keech’s name applied to the instruments—a common practice of the time.

The England Years

Keech Incorporated closed in 1920, with Keech taking a payout in shares. He traveled to Antwerp, Belgium, to find Kelvin, who was playing in a jazz band in Europe following WWI. By 1922 Alvin was back on his feet, selling banjuleles out of their shop and studio in London. While in England he also taught lessons, broadcast on the radio, made an instructional record, appeared in newsreels, and performed all over. He gigged and broadcast with Hawaiian musicians, most notably Joseph Kekuku, the inventor of the steel guitar, who was in England after leaving the touring company of Birds of Paradise and was advertised as offering lessons at Keech’s studios.

In 1922, Alvin and Kelvin published an updated version of their instructional book, The Keech Banjulele and Ukulele Tutor by the Keech Brothers. This book helped further popularize the banjulele, contributing to its widespread appeal and solidifying the brothers’ legacy as key figures in the development and promotion of this instrument.

From 1926 to 1927 the Keech brothers taught Edward, Prince of Wales (later King Edward VIII), how to play the banjulele. As Kelvin told the North Bay Nugget, of Ontario, Canada, in 1930, “At that time, we had an office in Old Bond Street, the Hawaiian Music Studios, and one day the Prince’s staff got in touch with our office and asked an instructor to go along and teach the Prince. My brother went . . . At York House, he used to go about once a week.”

Along with their book, The Keech brothers’ years in the UK proved influential in popularizing Hawaiian music and the banjulele. As banjo uke historian John Croft writes in his 2018 book All About the Banjo Uke, “The Keech brothers were both extremely successful entrepreneurs, and coupled with Alvin’s astute business sense they took a small musical instrument and made it extremely successful. Without their success there may never have been a banjo uke story at all.” 

Back to the States

In 1935, Alvin Keech closed his London business, owing to the combined pressures of the Great Depression and fierce competition from large musical instrument manufacturers. He moved to New York, where his brother, who was broadcasting for NBC radio, sponsored his passage back to the United States. By the time of the 1940 census, Keech was listed as a musical instrument salesman, living in a rooming house with other working-class men. The census also revealed a stark reality: he had worked zero weeks in 1939 and reported no income from his trade.

Tragically, Keech died by suicide in 1948, the same year his mother passed away after decades of institutionalization. His body was identified by his brother, but no obituary was published. While the first 45 years of his life are well-documented in newspapers, during this later period Keech seems to have retreated from public life. 

Banjulele on the Bench

There were three models of the standard banjulele, known as A, B, and C, with progressively fancier woods and trim. There also was an “alto” banjulele, with a larger body, longer scale length, and bigger resonator. The banjulele on my bench seems to be a Keech model A, made of mahogany and likely built between 1922 and 1930, selling for £3.10.

It had the original case and most of the parts needed to get it playing again. However, a poor neck angle rendered it unplayable in its current state. The many screws, brackets, hooks, and nuts were out of adjustment, which made the head tension and tone ring height incorrect. Once I looked inside, I understood why: the design and construction of the Keech head tensioning mechanism is a genius innovation, but it is probably twice as complex as it needs to be. 

I have studied many banjo ukes in the 1917–25 range. In the beginning, the head mechanisms by Bolander and other California manufacturers were very simple and lightweight. This means that the wooden rim and skin head might be held in place and tightened by a single thin sheet metal ring and a single bolt. These California instruments tend to have a humble and sweet sound, but not much volume or depth of tone. By the mid 1920s, mainland companies that made larger banjos scaled their designs down to make banjo ukes, using the same hardware as the big banjos to stretch the head and hold the neck on. Companies like Gibson, Lyon & Healy, Ludwig, and Bacon & Day used this technology to make professional-grade instruments. These were quite a bit heavier than the California banjo ukes, but were louder, stayed in tune, and were more stable. This Keech mechanism seems to be a compromise between the two designs, but might have been an evolutionary dead end. 

When I took the Keech apart, I found that the wooden rim was actually just a shell surrounding the mechanism. Inside was a single piece of aluminum that had been machined, drilled, and tapped for hardware. This interior casting was likely made at a foundry or machine shop and then brought into a wood shop. The neck, wooden hoop, and tailpiece all bolt onto this, as well as the hooks, and a wooden backplate pushes up an internal metal ring to further tighten the head.

Compared to his early California competitors, this would have been expensive to produce. And compared to the later mainland instruments, it was doubly complicated and nearly as heavy.

When I dug into this banjulele, I could tell that the rim and head mechanism needed to be sorted out first. Luckily, the fretboard is made from good quality Ebony and the tuners are nice mechanical friction tuners. After a host of adjustments—including some new screws, replacing a broken head, recutting the neck, and other amendments—I made a new maple bridge, added strings, and we were ready to play. 

The Keech has a bright and cheerful sound, with some nice depth to it for a banjo uke. Overall, the instrument is solid and a bit heavy in the lap; more substantial than the early California banjo ukes, but not as massive as the later instruments with heavy resonators and fittings. 

On the ebony headstock is a metal badge engraved with the Keech name and “Banjulele Banjo” stamped below. The name “Banjulele” was trademarked by Alvin Keech on December 15, 1925, though the associated number is a bit of a mystery, as it doesn’t appear in patent databases. Interestingly, Keech held no patents in the US or UK, though he did secure a French patent in 1926 for improvements to the banjo mechanism.

The “25” after the slash on the badge might indicate the year of manufacture. On the heel of the neck is a serial number and model designation, “A13125.” Alvin’s signature is scratched onto the wooden back plate—a feature present on all Keech instruments. This could mean Alvin personally signed the instruments at the factory, or that the signature was applied with a stencil or template by someone else. 

The actual manufacturer of these banjuleles in England remains a mystery. During that time, it was common for companies to commission instruments from established factories and have them branded with their name. Some collectors speculate that Keech banjuleles may have been produced by John Grey’s factory, though Abbott or Dallas are also possibilities.