TENOR AND PLECTRUM BANJOS
78-7158 Deering (new) GoodTime open-back 17-fret tenor banjo, #ISI-1809, with zipper gigbag.
The Deering List is $843 and you may phone us for your own low pricing.
78-7158 Deering (new) GoodTime open-back 19-fret tenor banjo, #ISI-1811, with zipper gigbag.
The Deering List is $843 and you may phone us for your own low pricing.
78-7159 Deering (new) GoodTime resonator back 17-fret tenor banjo, #ISI-1808 with zipper gigbag.
The Deering List is $1006 and if you wouldn’t mind phoning or emailing for your own reduced price we’d be right pleased.
78-7160 Deering (new) GoodTime resonator-back 19-fret tenor banjo, #ISI-1810, with zipper gigbag.
The Deering List is $1006 and you may phone us for your own low pricing.
78-7293 Fairbanks by Vega (used, 1922) Style R tenor banjo, #48949, with original hard shell case.
This banjo, which bears the illustrious Whyte Laydie tone ring, has a generous head diameter of 11 7/8". This is the perfect head size for conversion to a Round Peak old time clawhammer banjo, and this is easily obtained by simply adding a 5-string replica neck. This example has the pie plate flat resonator with one screw at the center inside back; said resonator shows a few normal scratches. The back of the neck is golden maple with a central laminated stripe for strength (and vigor) and a pearwood heel cap with walnut/maple purfling. The grained ivoroid bound fretboard is likewise bordered in a black line (the binding on the treble side was expertly replaced and color matched). The ebony fingerboard shows virtually no wear, the frets are round and level, and said board is inlaid with 6 pearl dotmarkers and a large star at the fifth, and a slightly smaller star on the pearwood headplate. Tuners are the original friction machines with grained ivoroid buttons. This is a 30-bracket banjo with a Kirschner Unique/Lyon & Healy, Pat. 12/29/14 and 5/9/16 nickel plated tailpiece that is 2 5/8” long. The skin is old and handsome, and the bridge is correct to the period. The nut is bone, the original slim tubular armrest survives, and the rim is not drilled for nuts and lugs as it has the much desired “bracket band” The worn but original hard case is fitted with a replacement handle. The serial number on the rim matches the serial number on the square dowel, which is stamped with 2 Vegas-in-a-star, a “Fairbanks Banjo made by The Vega Company, Boston, Mass” stamp, “Style R,” and three more patents dated 1890, 1893 and 1909. The sides of the rim, which is largely intact except for missing its metal tensioner at the neck connection, and having paint over the nickel plated guide at the tailpiece side of the rim, has tortoise shell celluloid trim on each side and an ebonized pearwood cap. In the interests of full disclosure, the screw that holds the tailpiece to main lug seems replaced and there is no adjustment screw at the back of the Kirschner. The resonator may, itself be oversprayed but on the inside remain stamped two manufacturer’s logos. We have set-up this banjo nicely and it sings with the voice of the pure and purposeful. It’s best and highest use is as a conversion to 5-string and we are right now interviewing people on the street to see if any passing pedestrian might be a neck maker. So far, none have raised their hand. Remember, this is a 11 7/8” diameter head Fairbanks/Vega Tubaphone. It would make one fine old time 5-string banjo. We’re asking $3087 discount price, $2995 cash discount price, but, knowing that we may not find anybody to make the neck, we may be moved to offering it to you (yes, you) for a thousand dollars less.
78-7096 Bacon & Day Silver Bell No. 1 tenor banjo #26008, full scale, 19 fret, excellent, with original hard shell case.
The most standard and famous model of professional series B&D tenor banjo is their Style 1 Silver Bell. It displays shiny nickel-plated hardware (except for a few areas of normal oxidation), the repeating f-hole flange, and yes it has the “Pat. Pending B&D Soft Pedal” Knee Mute on the side in perfect working condition. The ivoroid bound ebony fingerboard hosts 9 varying design inlays of mostly a floral motif, and the headstock is fancifully inlaid with a wandering fern and the legends “B&D,” “Silver” and “Bell.” The tailpiece is a four-finger Oettinger. The back of the resonator is birds eye maple, the back of the 5-piece neck is flamed the inside of the resonator (and dowel) are original silver. On the top edge of said resonator is the small silvered plaque that reads “Style No. 1, B&D Silver Bell, The Bacon Banjo Co., Inc. Groton, Conn.” Tuners are four Planetary geared numbers with grained ivoroid buttons, each with a single roundhead screw; it has an armrest and in typical fashion is missing one of its four thumbscrews (don’t they all?). Our workshop has provided this banjo a new Remo Weatherking translucent Mylar head and a set up so it sounds and plays like the shining star that it is. $2056 or, at our cash discount price, $1995.
78-7097 Super Paramount Artist Professional tenor banjo #176, with hard shell case.
One of the fanciest production model tenor banjos ever designed and produced, the banjo (along with two others at its exulted level) that put Paramount out of business (who would produce a banjo like this during the Great Depression?) this has a three-tier “wedding cake” structure to the rim, flange and resonator. All is gold plated – the stretcher band with its recessed trough that houses all 24 flat hooks, the middle level that has the 22 large round holes and the 24 smaller holes to allow the brackets to extend downward into the final gold-plated level with its 22 large holes and the 2 connection points for the slide-over clips that hold the resonator on. And what a resonator it is: wood marquetry abounds including repeating-Xs in a parquetry circle in a multicolor band of crème, brown and red, a huge wooden inlaid flower in earth tones at the center of the back of the quilted walnut resonator, and, in a circle around the flower a series of flora including blossoms, buds, leaves and stems! Wow! Then there’s the walnut five-piece neck with the sensual hand-stop (volute) carved behind the nut and the delicate, fancy floral etched and blackened mother of pearl inlays in 7 positions. Some are butterflies, some are leaves and flourishes, and one is the bust of Beethoven with fern-like wings. The headstock is a Rococo Riot, with three banners etched with the various titles and the owner’s illustrious name, flowerpots and ferns and horns and winged creatures. Yes, friends, this is a visual free-for-all from the late, great days of the sadly lamented Paramount Banjo Company which went out with a bang. Our workshop has provided this banjo a new frosted Mylar head and a set up so it plays effortlessly and it sounds as crispy and clean as a chilled cheese canoli. $4639 or, at our cash discount price, $4500.
78-7098 Ludwig Ambassador Tenor Banjo, #8222, gold-plated, fancy, engraved metal, but it has an observable neck bow and no adjustable truss rod.
Our workshop has done a yeoman’s job of cleaning the instrument, installing a new white frosted Mylar head and making it as good as it can be, and it plays GREAT below the 13th fret. Anybody who plays above that fateful fret may wish to raise the action by providing a higher bridge. That said, what you have here is an outstandingly beautiful instrument. The fingerboard inlays are masterpieces, thin stalks of mother of pearl form complicated floral fantasies; the headstock has four levels of multi-armed creatures. $2056 or, at our cash discount price, $1995.
15-7000 Epiphone (used, 1966) Resonator-back tenor banjo, #425890, in very good plus condition with original (Gibson logo) hard shell case.
The case is not surprising since Gibson owned Epiphone starting in 1957 and used their standard techniques to build Epiphone banjos. This banjo, for instance, is very close to the design of a Gibson TB-100, having dotmarker fingerboard inlays in an unbound Brazilian rosewood fretboard; having a small brass bead between skin and rim that’s not actually a tone ring, and this one is a flathead although one well-known reference book says they were all arched top. Go figure. This banjo came in with an actual Joseph Rogers, Jr. skin head on it (we presume that Junior took over the company after his dad, who supply just about every major banjo brand in the ‘20s and ‘30s, cast off this mortal distributor cap). We prefer it when a banjo has a new Mylar frosted banjo head and so we will probably have made that change. The headstock shape is different than the equivalent Gibson – having twin peaks and the Epiphone logo in gold script decal. The truss rod cover is a black spear point, bordered in white, held in place by two round hole Phillips screws so that it can’t run away with the nut (if you know what I mean). The tuners, which are said to have been “plastic tuner button” are gold-plated, geared and cylinder bodied with ivoroid buttons which machines were probably provided as an aftermarket feature since the stretcher band, flange and armrest are all nicely oxidized nickel-plated. This banjo has a one-piece flange (I hope you’re writing this down), three thumbscrews, and 24 brackets, the same U-shaped rectangular cutouts in the flange as a Gibson Mastertone, a standard Gibson stretcher band and worn nickel armrest, and a replaced shiny chrome tailpiece. The banjo shows some dings, but less than expected, normal finish checking overall and some light buckle marks on the back of the resonator. There is one full-length coordinator rod inside the pot, and one stub; the rim of the banjo is black and probably maple while the slim, comfortable 19-fret tenor neck is solid mahogany. In so many ways, including the one-piece flange, this banjo resembles the prewar Gibson TB-1 or TB-11; it would probably make a nice conversion to 5-string with the addition of a prestigious Mastertone tone ring. The brown-finish inside of the back of the resonator has the initials “ER” and the letters “OK” which must have been a crude yet effective signal to the supervisor that “ER” thought the work was okay.
15-6925 “The Gibson” 1924-1925 TB-3 in its early version, having a “The Gibson” headstock logo angled in inlaid pearl, #11039A-41, in very good plus condition with original hard shell case.
This banjo is not a Mastertone model and therefore it will not sell for the price range that a Mastertone sells for. But it is still quite beautiful and with great utilitarian value. It has a first generation tone ring -- a hollow tube with around 60 holes through it, probably with no ball bearings, washers and springs under it. It has two metal coordinator rods inside, and that curious two-piece hinged round, mahogany stained maple flat resonator plate that bears crème binding at its edge. This openable reflector has three positions: closed, slightly open or open 3/4 of an inch. It has an oval, crème bound port, just over a corrugated metal drawer pull that doubles as the device that sets the opening. Around the banjo is found the hollow tube flange, 22 brackets, a nominally 10 ½” diameter replaced frosted Mylar head, an engraved “The Gibson” slide-on tailpiece cover with floral etching, a 19” scale length, 18 ½ frets to the body and three more frets over the head, a sunburst finished back-of-neck, mahogany stained maple rim, and a stretcher band with a single continuous trough in it, like the later ball bearing first issue Mastertone had, into which all brackets rest. Three screws hold the trapdoor plate to the rim; the tuners are the open-gear original, filigreed plate, two-on-a-plate with amber celluloid buttons. While there are some scratches on the back of the instrument, and on the neck, and some finger wear on back of neck below the fifth fret and elsewhere, this is all “honest wear.” This banjo is quite playable and, for the small fingered or the traditionalist, this banjo can be the highlight of a collection. It needs nothing – it is “good to go.” $1644 or, at our cash discount price, $1595.
15-6997 Paramount Leader (used, c. 1929) tenor banjo #13061, with original hard shell case.
The Paramount Leader was the fourth up from the bottom and six down from the top of their line. It is a fine and fancy model, however, like most of the banjos of this period it has developed an observable bow in its pretty little neck for which there is little we can do. I has received, at the hands of our professional staff, a set-up, a new Mylar head and some shims under the neck to lower the action. This banjo has been wholly refinished (including the inside of the resonator), but the job is quite good. The original Page tuners were lost for all eternity (for good reason) and replaced with Planetary tuners; and while they were at it, the banjo’s metal parts were re-plated in gold. There are areas on the fretboard that had been pitted in the past and were filled in with wood putty or something (not by us). The pearl fingerboard inlays have lost most of their original blackened engraving but this is also fairly normal to see. It is, overall, a good player, and, although not entirely original, it is gold-plated, fairly ornate, and it sounds great – like a prewar Paramount. $1,850 or, at our Cash Discount Price, $1,795.
15-6807 Deering (new) Sierra 19-fret tenor banjo, with the three-ply maple rim and the bell bronze tone ring that defines the professional banjo in the 20th century, with hard shell plush lined case.
The Deering List is $2779 and the Deering MAP is $2089. Please phone or email for more information.
If you would like more information on MANDOLIN BROTHERS' products and services, please write, phone, fax or email to mandolin@mandoweb.com.
