5-String Open Back Banjos

Dowel stick construction without tone ring Cooperman 12" 3-ply Maple rim 25.4" scale length/bone nut/1-5/16" nut width Indian Rosewood cap on bottom of rim/dowel stick/heel cap Ebony 17-fret fingerboard with frailing scoop Mahogany neck w/traditional small peghead shape Nickel plated grooved tension hoop leaf inlay on peghead/Elite Amber head 5-Star Planet tuners/2-way adjustable truss rod brown stain and matte finish overall Tweed hard-shell case

Presenting:  Deering's newest professional grade open back 5-string banjo. The Eagle II banjo is a whole new breed. It features the ground breaking, patent pending Twenty-Ten tone ring which is a completely original Deering design that gives the banjo an extremely clear tone.  This is an fine clawhammer banjo! Its neck is maple that’s been stained a dark red mahogany while its fingerboard is natural ebony (which means black).

The Deering List Price is $2249

From day one, way back in 1995, America has had a love affair with the Deering Goodtime five-string banjo.   This economical but incredibly fine sounding instrument not only broke tradition in looks but in volume of sales that made it tough to keep up with demand. Over the years artists like John McEuen, Steve Martin, David Holt, and more recently Rhiannon Giddens of the Carolina Chocolate Drops have sung praises over the  Goodtime as the tone and playability proved out that “a banjo doesn't have to be fancy to be extremely fulfilling and suitable for the beginner. ”

From day one, way back in 1995, America has had a love affair with the Deering Goodtime five-string banjo.   This economical but incredibly fine sounding instrument not only broke tradition in looks but in volume of sales that made it tough to keep up with demand. Over the years artists like John McEuen, Steve Martin, David Holt, and more recently Rhiannon Giddens of the Carolina Chocolate Drops have sung praises over the  Goodtime as the tone and playability proved out that “a banjo doesn't have to be fancy to be extremely fulfilling and suitable for the beginner. ”

This is the supremely fine old time 5-string open-back banjo with the 11”head and the priceless prewar Bacon (pre-Bacon-and-Day) rain-gutter style nickel-plated brass tone ring. Bart also provides a translucent head so you can see this remarkable tone ring from both sides, now. It sounds ultra-great, it is beautiful beyond words, and it carries us back to old Groton, CT like nothing else can.

What a great sounding traditional banjo! The Classic Goodtime Special Openback is louder than the original Goodtime model because it has the patent pending Goodtime tone ring and is great for players who like to jam and want to be heard amongst a crowd. The rich brown stain, planetary tuners, and Deering peghead shape gives the traditional, classic look of a vintage banjo.  The Deering List Price is $939

What a great sounding traditional banjo! The Classic Goodtime Special Openback is louder than the original Goodtime model because it has the patent pending Goodtime tone ring and is great for players who like to jam and want to be heard amongst a crowd. The rich brown stain, planetary tuners, and Deering peghead shape gives the traditional, classic look of a vintage banjo. This versatile banjo can be played in the keys of A, B, or C by using the spikes which are already installed and a capo.  The Deering List Price is $939

The Cripple Creek CC-0T is Gold Tone’s recommended entry level openback banjo.  A world above the standard CC-50 model, the CC-0T comes in a complete package designed to learn clawhammer style banjo.  They sound and play to way a real openback banjo should!  The banjo includes a maple neck, scooped rosewood fingerboard with 5th string capo spike, a Fiberskyn banjo head, No Knot tailpiece, Vega-style armrest, vintage Fairbanks headstock design, and geared tuners.  

The Cripple Creek CC-0T is Gold Tone’s recommended entry level openback banjo.  A world above the standard CC-50 model, the CC-0T comes in a complete package designed to learn clawhammer style banjo.  They sound and play to way a real openback banjo should!  The banjo includes a maple neck, scooped rosewood fingerboard with 5th string capo spike, a Fiberskyn banjo head, No Knot tailpiece, Vega-style armrest, vintage Fairbanks headstock design, and geared tuners.

The Deering website says: Pick it in the parlor, in the park, or any where you go…Deering’s new GoodTime Parlor banjo is light weight and made with a shorter scale to meet a variety of needs for today’s banjo players! Introduced at the industry’s major show in Anaheim recently, the model was very well received by dealers, artists, and other attendees.

All Exotic Wood Series banjos are naturally colorful- no color staining needed. The rich hues of dark chocolate browns with black grain, the purples, the auburn reddish browns all make these banjos incredibly beautiful. Neck and rim bindings are hand made from the contrasting colorful woods adding an elegant look. The fingerboard inlays are simple cut diamonds in abalone, combined with the peghead inlays of the Balladeer.  

This is the standard description beginner model from Deering, sans tone ring, with a bit of a neck bow - a "Handy Man Special" but good sounding and a good banjo to learn on if a person who likes to embrace pain wants to limit the purchase price.  There is no better bargain in an American-made 5-string beginner banjo as this.  All natural maple finish, black dotmarkers, and simple appointments; it is light in weight and functional.   Was $369.  Make us an offer!  Even a much lower offer.  We'll consider it!

Although the Fairbanks and Cole Company predated the solo flight of A. C. himself by 10 years, and in that time the prior partnership built around 15,700 instruments, Mr. Albert Conan Fairbanks went out on his own in 1890. The Whyte Laydie model was introduced in 1901 and then something really bad happened – in March of 1904 the Fairbanks factory had a ferocious fire (factually, a fearsome conflagration). NOW ON SALE!!!  WAS $5213 BUT NOW: 

Behold an actualVega Pete Seeger model from the mid to late 1960s, but with no long yellow rectangular paper label inside the rim, which printed and hand-written label contained the serial number and model name. This is a shame, but name or not it is in every way the bona fide famous Pete Seeger model.